Presidential candidate of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), Oby Ezekwesili, has criticised the Minister of Information and the National Broadcasting Commission for threatening to shut down media stations.
The former minister was speaking at the opening of the 71st General Assembly of the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON).
According to reports, Ezekwesili made the remarks while she was presenting a keynote address on the theme, “Broadcasting and the Changing Media Landscape”.
She was angered by the General Manager of Nasarawa Radio and Television, Yusuf Musa, who interrupted her while she was making her presentation.
Concise News gathered that before going into her address, Ezekwesili made off-the-cuff comments on the presentations earlier made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Ishaq Modibbo-Kawu.
Mohammed was represented at the event by the Director of Public Relations and Protocol, in the Ministry, Sunday Baba.
Ezekwesili said: “My brother, Kawu, I listened to you with rapt attention, you are not speaking like yourself.
“You are threatening to shut down broadcasting stations. Similarly, the speech presented by the representative of the minister is also full of threat. This cannot happen in a democracy that we fought hard to attain.
“Patriotism is to support government when it deserves it and to support the people at all times. Anything that can be a hanging threat against the media must be rejected.”
At this point, Musa hectored at the guest speaker, asking her to go straight to her paper rather than making comments and “embarrassing” the minister and NBC DG over their speeches.
Ezekwesili then said: “A gentleman is shouting at me there, that is typical of an overzealous person, telling a fellow Nigerian to shut up.
“Forget about our very animated government official who is defending the government. We know them, when the current administration is over, they will sing a new song.”
And while the altercation continued, Ezekwesili, added, “You were not invited here to the podium, I am. Please let me go into my presentations.”
