Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole has commiserated with the Ibru family over the death of their son and Publisher of The Guardian, Mr. Alex Ibru.
In a press statement issued in Benin, Oshiomhole said the country had lost one of the pillars of modern journalism in Nigeria.
He said, “After the epic contribution of the media to the anti-colonial and post-colonial struggle for the building of Nigeria, The Guardian, founded in 1983 by Mr. Alex Ibru, could be said to have defined the agenda of the democratic struggles particularly from the early 80s.”
Noting the tremendous impact of not only the intellectual journalism genre foisted by The Guardian, especially the editorial discourse by the newspaper, Oshiomhole said that Ibru has left a void too big to be filled. “No doubt Alex Ibru has left his invaluable imprint on the sands of Nigerian journalism. A mighty tree propelling the development of the Nigerian media has indeed fallen.”
With reference to Alex Ibru’s brief sojourn as Internal Affairs Minister under the military dictatorship of General Sani Abacha, Oshiomhole said Ibru’s commitment to the democratic ideals made it possible for him not to mortgage the interest of the newspaper during this period.
“No doubt he was not rewarded gladly by those who wish to clobber the democratic rights of the people, but his contribution for making The Guardian not to buckle under at a defining moment in the nation’s political history stands him out as a colossus”, he said.
Expressing his grief to the Ibru and The Guardian family, Oshiomhole said they should take consolation in the fact that Alex “offered meritorious service to his country and trod a path golden to behold”.