Abike Dabiri-Erewa: A well-deserved honour

ABIKE Dabiri first made her name as one of the shining stars of broadcast journalism in the 1990s with NTA Network Service.

Her knack for breathing life into what might otherwise have passed as nondescript features made her stories on Newsline, the popular human-angle Sunday night programme on NTA, unforgettable. She naturally became the choice to take over as anchor of the programme after the departure of the effervescent Frank Olize.

Abike had a heart for people; her strong sense of empathy was evident in the stories she told. She had a passion for the underprivileged and she demonstrated that not just in the stories she brought to our screens, but in the humanitarian interventions she championed.

It wasn’t just about the stories, it was the way she told them. Her delivery left no one in doubt about the kindness of her heart and the genuineness of her connection with the people whose stories she shared.

She wrapped her heart around the subjects of her stories, often ‘ordinary’ people, leaving viewers emotionally entangled and thirsting for more.

At the time, I was only just cutting my teeth in broadcast journalism and she was one of the people I paid close attention to and looked up to.

Even though I would eventually step aside from the profession a few years later, I never fully disengaged from the industry. Soon after, I was back, moonlighting as Producer of MEE & YOU Show for MEE Mofe-Damijo, even while holding a full-time job in a bank.

It was in the course of producing that TV programme that our paths formally crossed. She had only just launched the story of the ‘miracle baby’, an intriguing account that would capture the nation’s imagination for almost a decade. It was a story that would define her sterling career as a broadcast journalist and cement her place in the history of journalism in Nigeria.

It was the story of 65-year-old Mama Wuraola Abayomi, who claimed to have miraculously given birth to a baby. When that story broke, it set tongues wagging, including those at the Nigerian Medical and Dental Council (NMDC).

I remember accompanying Abike Dabiri, along with NMDC officials led by Dr Nwokoro, to Mama’s home in Ojota, where doctors conducted an examination that didn’t suggest Mama could have been the baby’s biological mother.

But Mama insisted she was the mother, even when she appeared on our programme alongside the proprietress of the clinic, Mrs Esther Kobari, and was questioned by the doctors present.

The story eventually became a full-blown saga, with three women, Mama, Folashade Adeyemi, and Kikelomo Obikoya, all laying claim to the ‘miracle baby’. It took years and a forensic test for the matter to be resolved: the baby was found to belong to Kikelomo. Mrs Kobari later ended up in jail.

For Abike Dabiri, it wasn’t just a story that ran for years; it was a lifelong commitment to the child caught in the saga. She took personal responsibility for the education of Mary, the ‘miracle baby’, and saw her through to graduation.

It was no surprise, then, to see Abike Dabiri take to politics, given the ease with which she connected with people at the grassroots. Elected for three terms in the House of Representatives, she distinguished herself as Chair of the Committee on Information and Spokesperson of the House. So, it came as a surprise when she was later assigned to the Committee on Diaspora Affairs; at the time, a posting that looked more like a journey to Siberia.

But Abike Dabiri made lemonade of the lemons handed to her. She deserves credit for virtually single-handedly bringing diaspora affairs into the national consciousness. Perhaps on account of her record in the House, she was appointed in 2015 by President Buhari as Senior Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Matters, and in 2019, as Chairman/CEO of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission.

The passion and dedication she brought to that assignm