Dirges are an eerie end, perhaps distant to the dead.
Yet, inevitable recollection of human deeds.
To the late Dr Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan:
“Asamaigor.” I have always loved the poetic resonance of that pet name. To this day, I have never ever asked any of my Itsekiri friends what it means. I am just content with the phonetic delight of Uduaghan’s alias.
My association with the late Uduaghan was quite exciting.
As a moderator of DRTV Warri’s flagship news and current affairs programme- FOCUS, which aired from the 1990s to the late 2000s, I regularly hosted Uduaghan. He was the centre of the interactive gathering. Calm in gait. Cerebral in contribution.
He dissected local and international issues with elaborate elan, alongside guests such as Professor Patrick Muoboghare, late Professor Abednego Ekoko, EJ Pessu also deceased, Professor Douglason Omotor, Chief Mrs Christiana Etaluku and Dr Mrs Veronica Ogbuagu among others.
As chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Delta State Council, my relationship with Uduaghan reached its apogee. Beginning from 2011, my tenure proved outstanding. A combination of personal determination and grace.
With all modesty, I sought glory more than gifts. I became the first chairman to serve two terms (2011–2017) in the history of a union known for institutional turbulence. Uduaghan contributed immensely to that success.
I was determined to do something meaningful and memorable for practicing journalists in Delta state, for giving me the opportunity to serve them.
First, I contacted the Reuters Journalism Institute in London to arrange international training. I exchanged over 100 emails with the institute’s head of training, Belen Bacera, a shrewd Spanish-British media personality.
After weeks of rigorous engagement, Reuters agreed to train Delta journalists. I was so happy. But there was a huge hurdle: funding.
I took the proposal to Uduaghan through the then Commissioner for Information, the debonair Barrister Chike Ogeah, and received prompt approval.
Between 2012 and 2013, about 60 Delta-based journalists were flown to London in two batches for life-changing media training at Reuters, acclaimed as the Harvard of journalism.
Another defining moment came when we sought to build a permanent press centre during my tenure. Delta NUJ had operated from rented accommodation since the creation of the state in 1991.
Following the preliminary architectural design, the union leadership approached Uduaghan through the office of the then Secretary to the State Government, Comrade Ovozourie Macaulay.
The governor, through the Ministry of land of lands and surveys, initially allocated a piece of land for the proposed NUJ Press centre behind NTA Asaba, near the spot where Brand New supermarket now stands. But I politely rejected it with the then secretary of the union, Comrade Gomo Oyiborhoro (now late), because the location appeared too remote.
Uduaghan provided another land along Marian Babangida Way, Asaba, and laid the foundation stone of the press centre on November 18, 2014, during the annual NUJ Press Week. Among our invited guests was Mr Femi Adesina, then president of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE).
We developed the building to roof level, through the office of the SSG, before an order of an Asaba High Court stalled construction amid a protracted land dispute involving the union and the managing director of Anioma Petroleum Services.
The land dispute was eventually resolved in favour of the NUJ by the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, which also ensured the completion/official opening of the press centre on October 28, 2022 and handed it over to the Micheal Ikeogwu- led NUJ.
Moreover, the government of Uduaghan donated two vehicles to the NUJ: a 2012 Toyota Corolla car and a Toyota Hiace bus. Since my tenure, successive chairmen of the council, have used the Corolla as their official car.
Uduaghan loved journalists and treated them with much respect.
He was civil and completely detribalised. Many journalists, both Deltans and non-Deltans, built their own houses and bought cars under his administration. Some of those the union took to London for training were not indigenes of Delta
His impact extended beyond Delta, touching the lives of journalists and other media personnel across Nigeria. Even as governor, he worked hard to unite the people and foster peace in multi-ethnic Delta.
What a legacy for a good man!
If Delta NUJ cannot name the press centre after the departed governor, it should immortalise him by designating the conference area “UDUAGHAN Memorial HALL.”
But if truly there is reincarnation, the late Uduaghan, a medical doctor might return as a journalist. He was a reporter of good news.
Indeed, journalists lost a friend!
Norbert Chiazor (Phd)
20th October 2026