The Ogun State governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, in a statement he personally signed, said: “Since it rolled out its first lead story titled ‘Chemists protest’ on November 16, 1979, the Nigerian Tribune has been a beacon of excellence in journalism.
“The paper was founded to combat colonialism and bad governance, and it has stood gallantly for these causes in the last 75 years, often at great personal cost, including state repression, detention of its reporters and editors as prisoners of conscience, seizure of its copies and the use of other newspapers to undermine its work.
“It has navigated Nigeria’s turbulent political and economic terrain with aplomb and constantly reinvented itself to be ahead of many of its competitors.
“It is Nigeria’s most celebrated political and business newspaper, a definitive and authentic authority on Nigerian history; the quintessential African newspaper of unblemished repute. The Nigerian Tribune is a national treasure.
“If, today, the Nigerian Tribune is a paper of record and Nigeria’s oldest surviving privately-owned newspaper, it is because of the genius of the Founder, Chief Obafemi Awolowo (SAN, GCFR), the excellence of its craft, the unique ability to be deeply introspective and analytical, even about its own operations, and the passion and dedication of the owners to the cause of the emancipation of the Black race in general and Nigerians in particular from mental slavery.
“On behalf of the people and government of Ogun State, I celebrate the Nigerian Tribune at 75. I congratulate its reporters and editors, columnists and other members of staff for their dedication to the propagation of the ideas of our sage, Papa Obafemi Awolowo, a towering African giant, and urge them to remain steadfast and resolute in informing, educating and entertaining Nigerians with the best journalism on offer.”
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