Exposing injustice on radio is risky but worth it – Ahmed Isa

Your listeners have continued to increase since the programme started in 2009, how do you intend to maintain that audience? We will just keep working.  We step on powerful toes in the course of our programme on daily basis, so I expect anything any time. It’s either we continue at it, always seeking justice for […]

Your listeners have continued to increase since the programme started in 2009, how do you intend to maintain that audience?
We will just keep working.  We step on powerful toes in the course of our programme on daily basis, so I expect anything any time. It’s either we continue at it, always seeking justice for the deprived, or the powerful forces stop the programme because of the way we question or expose them.  We do not do the programme today with firm assurance that we will do it the next day. Threat to the life of the programme comes from different quarters.
I will tell you the reason I ask people to swear to an affidavit on their allegations.  It’s because of me that they introduced that bill (what became known as the anti-social media bill in the Senate). They have not passed it as law but I have started implementing it. If you come to us to complain about anybody or organisation, you first go to court and swear to the honesty of your intention before we listen to you and possibly treat your case. After we’ve listened to you, we call or invite the person, group or organisation that you’ve come to complain against. We proceed from there based on the facts we establish.

You have had brushes with some adversaries and you once narrowly escaped assassination. How would you describe the experience?
Those who were not comfortable with how I blast them on air were behind it. They do what they like to people and they hate me because when people come here to complain I try to help. You heard that lady narrate how a policeman got involved with people who collected her car which she put up for sale but are now playing tricks. The policeman she mentioned on the programme called to threaten her life for mentioning his name. I have asked that the lady be brought to my office so that I can hand her over to the FCT police commissioner for safety till we sort out the case. That’s how it goes. I’m not the only one who is frequently threatened.

You keep presenting the Brekete Family despite the risks. What drives you?
My mainstay is conviction. I’m convinced about the importance of what I am doing to be stampeded out of it. I enjoy what God uses me to do. It’s where I function best. I can’t accept a political office. I’m too pointblank to survive there. I can’t be where I will bend and keep bending to godfathers, political associates, party leaders and so on. Some people have suggested politics to me. They say, ‘Ordinary President’, you are popular, people will support you and you can get the office you want.’ I tell them, No. I will never go for or accept any political or public office.

Some people wonder about the genuineness of your intentions.  How do you respond to that?
The programme speaks for itself. Nobody can say that I take money from them to work on their cases. Instead, when some of them come, I give them transport money and feed them when I see that they need such financial intervention. I spend money that God gives me because I believe that I’m doing a godly thing and the testimonies are loud enough. The masses appreciate us. The thousands who have benefitted directly from our programme appreciate us. One Joseph Juliana wrote back to thank us. She said, “May heaven respect your needs when you bow down in prayers. May heaven recognize you when you lift your voice in worship. May you live to see the fulfillment of your heart.” Such goodwill resonates with me.
I started this programme not to gather money but to make an impact on my generation. That is my heart’s desire. And what gives me fulfillment is the joy people radiate when we get them the reprieve that they seek. And I get enough goodwill from appreciative people out there. But for the fact that the people praying for me are more than those against me, we would have parked up long ago.

The programme went off air for some week three years ago…
They used some people. The programme was banned at that time. After a while, my wife died.

How is the Brekete Family programme funded?
It costs millions of naira to present the programme. We are able to pay because when I work as a Master of ceremony or engage on private productions, I make money and I don’t live an expensive life. The people that work with me are volunteers. When rain falls small and there is something, they know. When there is nothing, they understand. If people think I make money from the programme, then they are wrong. I can’t position myself for bribery and I won’t take if you give. Had it been I was receiving bribe, I would have lost my voice long ago. Those who listen to the programme know that I speak my mind on the cases that come to us. If I accept support from people in high places against those who bring complaints to us, where will I find the moral courage to move or even talk against them?

How do you achieve success beyond just highlighting the complaints on air?
We follow cases up. You know how I use my phone to call people whose cases are brought and how I confront them to the hearing of everybody. That’s usually the beginning. After the programme every morning, we start follow-up visits.

Can you mention some of your most memorable successes on the programme?                                                                   
We’ve come a long way. How many can I remember? Let’s start with the most recent edition. You were on the programme this morning. You heard the reinstated FRSC man speak of how he was wrongly dismissed in 2012 and how we took the matter up and how the Industrial Court ordered his reinstatement. You heard those two ladies talk about their cases: the one whose car was taken by buyers who started playing tricks after paying just N150,000 out of N450,000 and the one whose deceptive boyfriend collected over N3 million from her only to back out of agreed terms. We will get the men to behave and for the ladies to recover what the men think they have taken. There was a case that was more serious than that of the FRSC man and the success more profound: the case of a policeman who had been dismissed for 21 years and the case considered dead and buried before God used me to get him back his job. The cases have been numerous and diverse, but using my knowledge as not just a media person and broadcast journalist but also a chartered mediator, we solve knotty problems.

Shall we go to some of the basics of the programme. The name of the programme itself, Brekete Family: How did you come about it?
Brekete is my coinage and it carries the sense of many. Most people say berekete but we are Brekete. We’re a family of people of diverse backgrounds united by a common wholesome purpose. We – the staff, our partners, those whose issues we treat on air and follow up, our listeners, supporters – we are a family dedicated to all that is good for humanity. Other programmes enjoy listenership, but Brekete Family Radio Television Reality Programme enjoys followership. That’s the difference between us: trust, belief and everything. What they hear from us is like a doctrine. People have come to believe in us because we’ve built an enduring image over the years of a programme that says it as it is irrespective of the personality involved. We have complainants; people who bring cases against other people only to have the table turned against them right here because we establish a certain truth along the line. You can’t use our programme to fight imaginary enemy.

Why are you called the Ordinary President of the Brekete Family? They even call you Ordinary Ahmed Isa. Why the word ordinary?
Because I am actually an ordinary person, except that God has been using me to do extraordinary things. I insist on the word ordinary to remind me to be humble always.