David Hundeyin
Africa’s foremost investigative journalist, David Hundeyin, practically broke a family code to become a journalist against the wish of his family.
In his new book, he tells his story in the most compelling and poignant manner that curates his stumbling, sometimes steady, steps to becoming one of Africa’s most celebrated investigative journalists.
Below is a brief of how the boy has transformed to a great bard as captured by him on his Facebook Wall:
The first time I ever wrote something that someone read and went “This is pretty good actually” was in the year 2000. Mrs Amelia Obianife Dafeta was my Primary 6 class teacher and English teacher at Corona School Gbagada, and she was where it all began. Three years later, Mrs Sena Adepoju, my JSS2 English teacher at Atlantic Hall School encouraged/forced me to put in an entry to a nationwide essay contest which I ended up winning.
Three years after that, Mr Kunle Ogunyebi, another English teacher, this time at Oxbridge Tutorial College made me put in entries to the Royal Commonwealth Society’s global essay competition and the Ovie Brume essay competition, where I came 3rd and 2nd respectively. At the time, I was unhappy in school because, like a good, smart Hundeyin is supposed to do, I was taking a Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Math and Add. Math, combination on my GCSEs, whereas I was secretly more interested in the arts and humanities.
Mr Kunle was the angel who (unknown to him) completely changed my future with just one sentence: “Why don’t you do what you’re good at?” I had gone to him to get a UCAS reference for an undergraduate Business Management program at Nottingham Trent University, and he queried my chosen course with that single sentence above. Whatever I have become ever since that fateful day in late 2006, the world has Mr Kunle to thank or to blame.
I ended up embracing a new identity as the D.F. Hundeyin family’s black sheep. I decided I wanted to become a journalist, but my parents just did not understand it. “Why do you want to waste this brain on journalism of all things?” Where my 4 siblings had studied Science or professional courses and had become an Engineer, a doctor, a banker and a stockbroker respectively, I studied Creative Writing and Media, Culture & Society at the University of Hull and I embarked on a career path that nobody understood or took serious. And what a ride it’s been.
I wonder how 10-year-old me would react if you were to show him this book the day my writing journey began under Mrs Dafeta’s watchful eyes all those years ago in Gbagada.
‘The Jungle: A Personal Journey With the Enfant Terrible of Nigerian Journalism’ goes on sale in UK bookstores on January 25, 2023.
