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| General Muhammadu Buhari
AIT: We look forward to healthy relationship with
president-elect
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The president-elect of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari, has
instructed all his staff, including the security personnel attached directly to
him, to steer clear of all dealing with the media, and leave all media
activities to his official media team.
In a statement released in Abuja Wednesday by the Directorate
of Media and Publicity of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential
Campaign Council, Buhari aligned himself with the pronouncement of his party,
the APC which had earlier expressed disagreement with the temporary barring of
the Africa Independent Television (AIT) from covering his activities.
“I would like everyone to henceforth stay within his/her
defined area of responsibility,” Buhari said.
The president-elect added that his media team should be left
to deal with their media colleagues as they best knew how.
According to the statement, Buhari was neither consulted nor
informed about the barring of AIT, and only became aware of the matter after the
public uproar it generated.
“The time of ‘Change’ has come,” he said, adding that
“and we must avoid making the same mistakes that the outgoing
government made.”
Meanwhile, Daar Communications Plc, the parent company of
AIT, has disclosed that it is looking forward to a progressive and healthy
relationship with the incoming administration.
It added that it
hoped the rights and freedom of the media would not be impeded in the discharge
of its collective duties and responsibilities.
In a statement made available to correspondent the management company said AIT, from its
inception, had always strived to ensure it provided the public with all the
facts and angles of any issue without bias and the same opportunities were
provided to all parties, which contested the 2015 general election.
The statement read: “The justification for this action has
made it necessary to officially respond to this regrettable development. By Section
22 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria ‘The press, radio,
television and other agencies of the mass media shall at all times be free to
uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people’”
“We consider it a worrisome development if ‘security and
family concerns’ are used as a justification for censoring AIT or any other
media organisation from covering and reporting the activities of the
president-elect, his incoming administration or any other public officer.
“We wish to state categorically that the allegation of
‘security issues’ against our organisation is not an issue that the appropriate
security agencies should view lightly. We want this incident appropriately
investigated. We have never and shall
never be involved in any security activities that will compromise state
institutions, personalities or any other interest whatsoever.
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