Badeggi FM: Northern broadcasters threaten to boycott Bago
The Arewa Broadcast Media Practitioners Forum (ABMPF) has threatened to boycott all official activities of Niger State Government if it continues to undermine the freedom of the press. The Forum’s Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Yelwa, made this threat in a statement he signed after meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Badeggi FM Minna. Bago had […]
The Arewa Broadcast Media Practitioners Forum (ABMPF) has threatened to boycott all official activities of Niger State Government if it continues to undermine the freedom of the press.
The Forum’s Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Yelwa, made this threat in a statement he signed after meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Badeggi FM Minna.
Bago had last Friday directed the state Commissioner of Police and Commissioner for Homeland Security to seal the independent media outlet, revoke its license, and profile its owner.
The government almost moved to demolish the station, a move that triggered backlash.
In a statement issued by the ABMPF, Alhaji Yelwa was quoted as saying, the station’s CEO Mohammed Shuaibu Badeggi, confirmed that the Radio is fully operational in spite of the governor’s illegal orders.
He also accused him of deploying the use of state machinery to further harass the station and stop it from carrying out its constitutionally guaranteed duties.
Alhaji Yelwa expressed appreciation for the steadfastness and professionalism of the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, in declining the orders of the governor, for the closure of Badeggi FM, Minna.
He equally praised the Minister of information, Mohammed Idris Malagi, for reminding the government that it has no authority whatsoever to regulate an NBC licensed radio or television station.
The statement read: “We call on the Niger State Governor to call his foot soldiers to order, failing which we may be members of our Forum in Niger State to boycott all future activities of the forced to direct Government.
“In this period of insecurity and multi-dimensional poverty in Nigeria, those in authority should learn to be more tolerant and accommodating of alternative views and to remember that they are in authority not for themselves but for the people they govern.
“Time has come for our leaders to develop new attitudes in their engagement with the press. The media is not the enemy, but only the mirror for the society to see itself.
“The attitude of our leaders where the Lagos-Ibadan axis of the Nigerian press is given preeminence over local media should stop hence with. Billions of Naira are spent annually by Northern governors in patronizing Southwest media while indigenous local Northern media are left to die. Those that persevered, like Badeggi FM, are daily being threatened with closure.
“Our Forum calls on all member stations facing harassment and intimidations from any authority to furnish our Secretariat with details for a collective action to stop the unhealthy practice.”