Under President Shehu Shagari, media houses were opened and closed like daily markets, but at least, journalists like Dele Giwa had their day in court. Those turned out to be the good old days. Under the Generals Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha regimes, journalists went through hell. One day in 1990, under Babangida's regime, some colleagues and I listed journalists we demanded the regime to set free, they were nineteen. Their alleged offence? Coup plotting! Under Abacha things became so bad that some had to flee into exile. One of them, Dapo Olorunyomi, was then with The News Magazine. Before he fled, he had to go into hiding. When I visited him in his underground base, surprisingly, I met Bagauda Kaltho, the magazine's correspondent in Kaduna who was also in flight. We agreed Bagauda had to relocate from that city. He returned to Kaduna to pack a few belongings but unfortunately fell into the hands of security forces and has not been seen since then. Shortly after Olorunyomi went into exile, his wife, Ladi, also a journalist rushed to my house to alert me that a mutual friend and professional colleague, Gbolahan Olalemi, now of the Continental Television had just been seized by the dreaded Directorate of Military Intelligence(DMI). She reasoned that if the quiet Lemmy whose pro-democracy activities were largely unknown could be detained by the DMI, then I was in far greater danger. She asked that I go into hiding immediately and flee the country. I agreed. That same night, the DMI invaded Mrs Olorunyomi's home and seized her. That was the beginning of her long spells in DMI dungeons. I just read a 2010 book, Murder Of Dele Giwa: The Answered Question by the chronicler of this generation, Richard Akinnola. He dedicated it to five journalists who were murdered in cold blood in the past few years, by yet unidentified assassins; Godwin Agbroko, Omololu Falobi, Abayomi Ogundeji, Bayo Ohu and Edo Ugbagwu. The marked difference between journalists and miners is that while the danger to the latter is primarily through accidents, that to the journalist is usually planned and carried out by professionals like the letter bomb that killed Dele Giwa on Sunday October 19, 1986. Since we are not about to change profession and the hazards we face are not going to reduce, it is clear that a basic need in journalism is a good condition of service including life insurance. This is precisely what we don't have! So journalists are like a modern SWAT team but with no bullet proof vests or vans, helmet or even arms! It is a tragedy that journalists who so courageously fought