Vunderkind
Social Member
News that General Muhammadu Buhari has banned AIT from making coverage of his activities has been greeted with social media outrage, with the general color of discussion suggestion that we may be seeing a whiff of the old dictator.
A cursory examination of the news says that adverse security reports and ethical issues facilitated the decision/action against AIT.
AIT officials, when informed of the blacklist, refused to budge, saying they were yet to be 'formally informed,' and also, they couldn't leave, as they had a job to do.
“Yes, we were told but we cannot just leave; we have a job to do. In any case, we have not been officially informed about what we have done wrong,” one of them said.
Is this a full-ban? Will AIT no longer be able to report ANYTHING with the word 'Buhari' in it? And what's the linear distance between this development and, say, a full ban on social media across Nigeria tomorrow?
Today, however, a spokesman for the president-elect has explained that the AIT has been asked not to cover Buhari's personal life. Basically, they are asked to stay away from his life and family (the reason is not far-fetched; the news station dragged the entire institution of journalism in the mud and then through a guillotine during the March 28 elections. One might say Buhari is just getting warmed up as he preps to get his pound of flesh. Others might describe the president-elect as being petty.)
Whatever the case, the spokesman has said: “AIT has been asked to stay aside based on security and family concerns. In addition, General Buhari has decided that they will have to resolve some issues relating to issues of standard and ethics.
“We will be talking with them to try and resolve the matter but for now, the station has been asked to stay aside because, like I said, there are some family and security concerns.
“They have been asked to step down their coverage until we resolve the matter with them on ethics and standards.”
Quotes gotten from PUNCH.
A cursory examination of the news says that adverse security reports and ethical issues facilitated the decision/action against AIT.
AIT officials, when informed of the blacklist, refused to budge, saying they were yet to be 'formally informed,' and also, they couldn't leave, as they had a job to do.
“Yes, we were told but we cannot just leave; we have a job to do. In any case, we have not been officially informed about what we have done wrong,” one of them said.
Is this a full-ban? Will AIT no longer be able to report ANYTHING with the word 'Buhari' in it? And what's the linear distance between this development and, say, a full ban on social media across Nigeria tomorrow?
Today, however, a spokesman for the president-elect has explained that the AIT has been asked not to cover Buhari's personal life. Basically, they are asked to stay away from his life and family (the reason is not far-fetched; the news station dragged the entire institution of journalism in the mud and then through a guillotine during the March 28 elections. One might say Buhari is just getting warmed up as he preps to get his pound of flesh. Others might describe the president-elect as being petty.)
Whatever the case, the spokesman has said: “AIT has been asked to stay aside based on security and family concerns. In addition, General Buhari has decided that they will have to resolve some issues relating to issues of standard and ethics.
“We will be talking with them to try and resolve the matter but for now, the station has been asked to stay aside because, like I said, there are some family and security concerns.
“They have been asked to step down their coverage until we resolve the matter with them on ethics and standards.”
Quotes gotten from PUNCH.
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