Ajunwa: One Year as Chief Press Secretary

Ajunwa: One Year as Chief Press Secretary

By Madubuko Hart

It was Mahatma Gandhi, the once reformist from India, who said that man often becomes what he believes himself to be. Gandhi goes further to elucidate that if a man keeps on saying to himself that he can or cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that the man may end up by really becoming capable or incapable of doing it. So, it was not out of place when Governor Theodore Ahamefule Orji of Abia State announced on October 22 2013 in a press briefing by his Chief of Staff, Mr. Cosmos Ndukwe, saying that Mr. Charles Ajunwa is the Chief Press Secretary (CPS), replacing one Mr. Ugochukwu Emezue.

It is unmistakable one year after that Ajunwa has proved himself capable of the position of the CPS, having done well as one of the humble and finest reporters in the Nigerian media industry when he pitched tent with the famous ThisDay newspapers. The governor was clairvoyance in seeing Ajunwa and appointing him to serve him as his CPS, a position that requires hi-tech diplomacy and leadership tactics, of which Ajunwa has been showing that he was grounded in all of that.

Ajunwa’s humility and total submission to Jesus Christ and with his utmost characteristic to being God-fearing endear him to all and sundry that have investigated him or have had the opportunity to be in contact with him or have heard about him. He is a man of few words, but with positive actions that have enlivened the government he serves and brought about media respect against dissenters. Unlike what it used to be before he came in: Dissenters to the government were hounded and labelled kidnappers and anything unprintable, which were not supposed to be so.

From all indications, Ajunwa is not representing his boss with brickbats and wickedness, but with respect to the individual’s right to freedom of speech, when any airs his or her opinion that may not be truth against the government he serves. Ajunwa comes out and responds to such opinion by pointing out what the government he serves has done right and has been doing right and intends to do right in respect to the opinion, thereby putting the dissenter through with the rightful information that the dissenter had lacked.

Looking at the obedience with which Ajunwa handles his office, it reminds one with the phraseology by one Israelmore Ayivor thus: “You are your own canoe and you are your own paddle, so paddle your own canoe. Society had taught us to give away our power and abilities by making us to believe that other people are responsible for our success and failure. That is not fair!”

Yes, since Ajunwa assumed office one year ago, he has seen that it is not fair to molest opposition politicians or writers, but to always inform them with the information about the government he serves they perhaps had, but pretend they do not have and prefer to cast the public against the government. This graduate of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), Ajunwa who began his journalism career with the Daily Times in 2000 after his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme at the Guardian Newspapers, has lowered the tension that once circled around the government in Abia State, thereby making nonconformists to see the government of Governor T.A. Orji through the lens of objectivity and constructiveness, not through the destructive lens.

To be frank, with the information that circles around Ajunwa while investigating him in the cause of this essay, he is a prudent and prodigious man who is always concerned about his family name and his to always represent in the positive. Many people both in the ThisDay and Post Express Newspapers, where he later joined and worked in the Politics Desk before moving on to the African Economy, published by Development Economic Resources (DER) from where he joined THISDAY in 2008, have all said that Charles Ajunwa is an enchantment; a man who uses his quiet and calm voice and enviable brain to disarm any riotous or calamitous situation. A peacemaker, they have said he is.

Like Robert Kahn would say that new capabilities emerge just by virtue of having smart people… it is essential to say that humanity and the people of Abia State are lucky with a Chief Press Secretary to the governor like Charles Ajunwa whose word is his bond; a man who does not tell lies just for the lucre of power and position. Ajunwa who was also the National Assembly Correspondent for The Country Newspapers before his appointment as CPS, have shown that he has the talent to unearth potentials. This is plain in the creditability that Abia State has been enjoying in and out of the media since his emergence as the CPS.

Again, with the dexterity with which Ajunwa works shows that he loves the government that appointed him and he is working for, showing the government that it is  much more than the sum of its achievements. Possibly, Ajunwa is a student of Israelmore Ayivor thus: Those who mistrust their own abilities are being too wicked to themselves, discouraging themselves from doing what they should have been excelling in. If you are good at discouraging yourself, you can't be a good leader because leadership is built on inspiring others to face challenges. Probably, Ajunwa has been applying the words of Thomas A. Edison, which says that the first requisite for success is the ability to apply your physical and mental energies to one problem incessantly without growing weary.

Ajunwa is not a man of small moments of honesty. He is always an honest man. He has been showing the clause in Orison Swett Marden’s “Learn to Expect a Great Deal of Life”, which is: “The greatest thing a man can do in this world, is to make the most possible out of the stuff that has been given him. This is success, and there is no other.”

Thanks to His Excellency, Governor Theodore Orji of Abia State for his prescience in exploring Charles Ajunwa and appointing him as his Chief Press Secretary. While Ajunwa is showing that he is a man of honesty, the government and him are wished success, as the government lasts. According to Charles Luckman, success is that old ABC meaning ability, breaks and courage.

Madubuko Hart writes from Lagos.