The Senior Special Assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, Malam Garba Shehu, has described the late Mallam Wada Maida as a mentor, facilitator, and a caring Godfather to him.
He spoke yesterday in Abuja during the renaming of NAN headquarters to Wada Maida House, for his landmark contribution to the agency.
“I think that those who are coming behind them are too much in a hurry. So if you ask me what is the important thing they should learn from him, it is to be patient in everything, in our lives, good things will come when you wait.”
“In terms of professional conduct, be patient, don’t rush the story, get all your facts and be thorough and present it as factually as can possibly be done,’’ he said.
According to Shehu, these were the things the late Maida stood for.
He added that at a personal level, Maida brought him close to NAN at the National Theater in Iganmu, Lagos, where the agency started long before its Abuja headquarters was built.
“I spent quality time in this building with him, at his home and in his business place.
“I have known NAN as a user of their product, I had edited newspapers, I had worked in television station before.
“And I know that the newspaper will never go to bed until the NAN bulletin had come because it had everything.
“In fact, with NAN, you don’t have to have a reporter in every state of the country, because newsmen brought the news and the pictures to you in the newsroom,’’ he said.
Late Mallam Wada Maida died on August 17, 2020.