Nigeria's Buhari and the media
June 26 2015 By Abi Giwa
President Muhammed Buhari taking the oath of office
If there was anything myself and my late brother (Dele Giwa) former Sunday editor at the Concord Press and first chief executive and editor-in-chief of Nigeria's Newswatch Communications agreed upon without expressing it, it was his rejection of an invitation from the military government led by Muhammed Buhari for him to be information minister in 1984.
Myself and my brother disagreed on his departure from the Daily Times to the Concord Press. When he told me he was going to the Concord Press as Sunday editor, I queried his decision. I explained to him that he had made a name in the Daily Times, that with time if he should decide to begin his own paper, the sky would be his limit. He immediately told me he had already accepted the offer from the Concord, and that he merely wanted to know what I thought about it.
I couldn't tell him that I saw the appointment to the Concord as a trap and that the end there seemed to me to be clouded in uncertainty. By the time a letter arrived on Moshood Abiola's desk as proprietor of the Concord Press from the military government asking him whether or not my brother was available for the post of the minister of information, Abiola and my brother were already at loggerheads over a personal issue, and probably prompted Abiola to tell the government my brother wasn't available for the government's appointment.
Thus when my brother arrived his office and he was informed that the government had sent a letter to know whether or not my brother was available to be appointed as information minister and that Abiola had told the government he wasn't available, my brother said that though he was not available, he was satisfied to be a reporter for life, he rejected Abiola speaking for him. He said Abiola would have allowed him to express his decision himself, notwithstanding the closeness and rapport between the them.
What reminded me of my brother's rejection of General Buhari's offer of expression to make him Minster of information was Buhari's recent expression of the reason behind his appointment of Femi Adesina as his media and publicity chief during a chat with the State House media corps in Abuja. “It is not by accident that I got one of the best of you to be my Special Adviser. One of the positions that I had to get cleared from the Senate to get approval, he was the first in the 15 the Senators agreed that I can have as Special Advisers.’’
News reports said Buhari said he appointed Adesina to use him as shield against the media. “I got one of the best of you so that he can consistently defend me against you. Whether his job is difficult is up to him. “Here, I thank you in advance for even for what you are going to do to me."
Obviously, there is what seems like the fear of what the press is capable of doing to checkmate his government as a watchdog, so the president is not hiding his effort to compromise the press to do his bidding. It is here that the wisdom in my brother's rejection of Buhari's offer for the position of minister of information becomes clearer to me, against Buhari's search for the best of the media men to use to get the media to do his bidding.
When I remember Buhari's effort to appoint my brother as information minister in 1984 and his recent appointment of Adesina as special assistant on media and publicity and the reason he has advanced for his selection, I see an instinct on Buhari's part to deliberately tailored toward making appointments to take the media out of the way of scrutinizing his government. It will be recalled that the major battle against his government as a military head of state was the enactment of Decree 4 against the media and the subsequent jailing of two reporters for reporting nothing but the truth under the obnoxious decree.
Myself and my brother disagreed on his departure from the Daily Times to the Concord Press. When he told me he was going to the Concord Press as Sunday editor, I queried his decision. I explained to him that he had made a name in the Daily Times, that with time if he should decide to begin his own paper, the sky would be his limit. He immediately told me he had already accepted the offer from the Concord, and that he merely wanted to know what I thought about it.
I couldn't tell him that I saw the appointment to the Concord as a trap and that the end there seemed to me to be clouded in uncertainty. By the time a letter arrived on Moshood Abiola's desk as proprietor of the Concord Press from the military government asking him whether or not my brother was available for the post of the minister of information, Abiola and my brother were already at loggerheads over a personal issue, and probably prompted Abiola to tell the government my brother wasn't available for the government's appointment.
Thus when my brother arrived his office and he was informed that the government had sent a letter to know whether or not my brother was available to be appointed as information minister and that Abiola had told the government he wasn't available, my brother said that though he was not available, he was satisfied to be a reporter for life, he rejected Abiola speaking for him. He said Abiola would have allowed him to express his decision himself, notwithstanding the closeness and rapport between the them.
What reminded me of my brother's rejection of General Buhari's offer of expression to make him Minster of information was Buhari's recent expression of the reason behind his appointment of Femi Adesina as his media and publicity chief during a chat with the State House media corps in Abuja. “It is not by accident that I got one of the best of you to be my Special Adviser. One of the positions that I had to get cleared from the Senate to get approval, he was the first in the 15 the Senators agreed that I can have as Special Advisers.’’
News reports said Buhari said he appointed Adesina to use him as shield against the media. “I got one of the best of you so that he can consistently defend me against you. Whether his job is difficult is up to him. “Here, I thank you in advance for even for what you are going to do to me."
Obviously, there is what seems like the fear of what the press is capable of doing to checkmate his government as a watchdog, so the president is not hiding his effort to compromise the press to do his bidding. It is here that the wisdom in my brother's rejection of Buhari's offer for the position of minister of information becomes clearer to me, against Buhari's search for the best of the media men to use to get the media to do his bidding.
When I remember Buhari's effort to appoint my brother as information minister in 1984 and his recent appointment of Adesina as special assistant on media and publicity and the reason he has advanced for his selection, I see an instinct on Buhari's part to deliberately tailored toward making appointments to take the media out of the way of scrutinizing his government. It will be recalled that the major battle against his government as a military head of state was the enactment of Decree 4 against the media and the subsequent jailing of two reporters for reporting nothing but the truth under the obnoxious decree.
