When The Odds Are Against You

AZUH ARINZE

 

Today, I have another short but inspirational story that I would also like to share with all from ‘A PEEP INTO MY JOURNALISM CAREER’. A colleague, at Encomium Weekly, where I worked for 14 years, and rose to become the Editor, Mr. Tolani Abatti, reminded me about it and I’ve entitled it When The Odds Are Against You.

I don’t know about others, but for me, whenever the odds are against me, I do something unusual. Interestingly, it has continued to work for me: I place my right hand on my chest and make this silent pronouncement: I’m bigger than this; I will conquer this; I will overcome this. And believe me; I’ve always come out victorious.

A very good example is this. Sometime in 2004, Nigeria’s most decorated soccer star, Kanu Nwankwo, was getting married to Amarachi Onyeador in Owerri, Imo State. One of my closest friends and ‘paddy’, Mr. Michael Effiong, had just resigned from Encomium Weekly then to join Ovation International Magazine, which raised so much dust and also temporarily ruptured some relationships.

As the new Editor of Encomium Weekly, Mr. Kunle Bakare, my mentor and CEO, suggested I cover the wedding with one of our camera persons, Gbemi Ademokoya (Mrs). We arrived Owerri to discover that the odds were mercilessly against us, as Ovation had gotten the exclusive rights to cover the wedding through one of Kanu’s friends and business partners, Mr. Ayo Gam Ikom. Thus we were restricted and debarred on many fronts.

Instantly, it dawned on me that like we say in the ghetto, there’s truly “no paddy for jungle”. My paddy, Mr. Effiong and I who used to be inseparable barely exchanged pleasantries in Owerri. We both maintained straight faces. But being at an advantageous position, I could hear him dishing out orders and instructions to his team on how they would navigate the terrain.

Oh, Ovation came with their ‘full’ squad while Encomium had only two persons. And to compound our ‘woes’, we were also not accredited officially to cover the wedding!

I retreated to my room at All Seasons Hotel with Gbemi to restrategize and map out plans on how to wriggle out of the ‘journalistic logjam’. On our emergence, I repeated the above pledge. Then, added that no matter what, Encomium will have the best coverage of the wedding. I also resolved to explore angles that others, including Ovation, were not likely to. Beyond the blow by blow account of how the wedding was going to unfold and unfurl, I wanted exclusive interviews with Kanu and Amara, which Evangelist Myke Ikoku (may the Lord forever bless him) eventually facilitated while Gam and his retinue of security people were fast asleep; the cost and interior of the presidential suite where Kanu and wife began their honeymoon; the cost and photographs of all the cars in his convoy; all his alleged girlfriends; his road to stardom; his days in Owerri; the best dressed men and women at the wedding; the cost implication of the Concorde Hotel angle; who handled what and the cost; plus interviews with his father in law, Engr. Onyeador and his wife; his closest friend, Promise Nwachukwu (he too assisted a great deal after Evangelist Myke Ikoku had secured his support); Ogbonna, his younger brother, Adams Oshiomhole, Ben Bruce, Tricia Eseigbe, Efe Sodje, Ben Iroha, Babajide Rogers, Martins Agbaso, Sunmonu Bello-Osagie, Francis Ogboru, Angela Onyeador, Julius Agwu, Kola Ayanwale…Whaaooh! I could go on and on, but we really, really worked.

In fact, hours later when we returned to Lagos, and after writing all the stories and transcribing all the exclusive interviews, nearly half of our edition for that unforgettable week was devoted to the wedding, which in my own estimation ranks among my best stories in a career, spanning over 20 years.

Above all, however, was the joyous fact that on the stands also, the edition recorded over 95% in terms of sales.

The lesson, therefore, in all of this is that the odds, rather than deter us, must always bring out the best in us. Nobody, as a matter of fact, is permitted to make us feel inferior without our consent. We also do not fail until we accept defeat, imbibe it and internalize it.

Our success and our failure are dependent on us. Not any event or circumstance; in fact, the only person granted that right is the Almighty God.

So, I implore you to go out there, today and always, and make a difference. It’s your call. Not mine. And not anybody’s.

 

 

Azuh Arinze is the Publisher/Editor-In-Chief of Yes International Magazine and author of The CEO’s Bible