By Milcah Tanimu
Phrank Shaibu, the Special Assistant on Public Communication to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, has raised allegations against the Federal Government, claiming they are attempting to stifle the media ahead of what he calls the “release of President Bola Tinubu’s records by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
In a statement released on Sunday, Shaibu asserted that Tinubu’s administration had grown frustrated with Chicago State University. He also suggested that the recent threat by the National Broadcasting Commission to sanction Arise Television News was just the beginning of a larger agenda.
Shaibu stated, “The NBC has now been co-opted into a grand plot to gag the media over Tinubu’s certificate scandal. Having lost the battle in the court of public opinion, they are now trying to use the powers of the state to browbeat the media into silence. This is indeed shameful for a man who claimed to be a hero of the June 12 struggle.”
He further added, “But this is not the time for the Nigerian media to show any weakness. The trove of documents that the FBI is set to release this month will expose details of the investigation that tied Bola Tinubu to heroin trafficking. The dissemination of this information must not be left to social media alone. The media must rise to its role as the watchdog of society as enshrined in section 22 of the 1999 constitution.”
In response to these allegations, the Director of Publicity for the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bala Ibrahim, criticized Atiku for not upholding the image of a statesman.
Ibrahim stated, “He (Atiku) has lost at the polls, in the court, abroad and is on the verge of losing to the media. Therefore, he is always in this blame game because he has lost everything, including his integrity. What we are saying is that this is a man who has risen to the position of second in command in the country. This is a man who should behave as a statesman and lay the foundation so that he bequeaths to others what can be said to be fair and reasonable. It is not for him to be beating about the bush every time there is an issue and be looking at it from a perspective that is unethical.”
