The Nation Newspaper

Tag: AIT

  • Court restrains NTA, AIT over anti-Osinbajo documentaries

    Court restrains NTA, AIT over anti-Osinbajo documentaries

    The Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained Daar Communications Plc and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) from broadcasting any video documentaries against All Progressives Congress (APC) Vice-Presidential candidate Prof Yemi Osinbajo (SAN).

    Justice John Tsoho made the order Wednesday following an ex-parte application by Osinbajo.

    Daar Communications (owners of African Independent Television (AIT), NTA and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) are the respondents. The suit is numbered FHC/L/CS/277/2015.

    Justice Tsoho ordered that status quo be maintained pending the hearing and determination of the applicant’s motion on notice for interlocuctory injunction.

    The motion ex-parte, filed on March 10, was moved by Osinbajo’s counsel Mr. Femi Falana (SAN).

    The judge ordered: “That an order of interim injunction shall be considered with notice to the respondents. Generally, however, the status quo as at today shall be maintained pending hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice.”

    Justice Tsoho also granted the applicant leave to serve the Originating Summons and other accompanying court processes on the respondents in Abuja, which is outside the court’s jurisdiction.

    Osinbajo had prayed for “an order of interim injunction restraining the respondents, their agents, privies, representatives and other media entities under the control of the third respondent (NBC) from any interference with or violation of the applicant’s right to dignity of human person, right to privacy and right to life and/or livelihood whether by means of publication or dissemination of any video documentary or by any means whatsoever pending the hearing and determination of the Motion on Notice for Interlocutory Injunction.

    Justice Tsoho adjourned till tomorrow for hearing of the motion on notice.

    Osinbajo alleged that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had been sponsoring defamatory documentaries against him.

    AIT and NTA had, for weeks, been broadcasting a documentary detailing the “atrocious” past of the APC presidential candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd.).

    The station also aired a similar documentary on APC national leader, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, chronicling his series of alleged financial misconduct.

    Osinbajo maintained that the documentaries, which allegedly contained untrue information and injurious falsehood, constitute a personal attack on his person.

    He argued that the videos were being aired in violation of his fundamental human right to dignity of human person, right to privacy and family virtue and right to life and/or livelihood as protected by Sections 33, 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution.

    “Unless the respondents are restrained in the manner requested in this application, damages will be grossly inadequate to compensate or redress the unquantifiable, unwarranted and malicious damage to the applicant’s right to dignity of human person, right to livelihood and privacy guaranteed and protected under Sections 33, 34 and 37 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

    After listening to Falana’s submission, Justice Tsoho ordered that NTA and AIT and any other broadcast station should forthwith stop the broadcast of the damaging documentary which the applicant complained of until the determination of the substantive suit.

    Tinubu had threatened to sue the management of Daar Communications for the defamatory content of the documentary.

    His counsel Mr. Tunji Abayomi, through a letter delivered to Daar Communications, asked the organisation to apologise for the content and stop its airing.

    The letter reads in part: “…You aired an hour-long documentary focusing on our client (Bola Tinubu). Clearly pre-occupied with political resentment and hatred neither warranted, necessary, proper, or justified, you published several false allegations against our client… More disturbing is your misrepresentation that the said documentary was “sponsored” without disclosing the “sponsors”. You cannot under law hide under media freedom to maliciously injure a citizen’s reputation”.

    The letter also demanded N20 billion as cost of damage done to the reputation of Asiwaju Tinubu, failing which the client will sue the company.

    “To affirm the right of our client against your defamatory publication, we demand that you confirm to us within 24 hours of receipt of this letter, an apology and retraction of the said publication/documentary,” the letter added.

  • AIT, now FG’s megaphone?

    SIR: EVERY single business person that is benign enough to set up an establishment like AIT (Africa Independent Television) needs to be congratulated especially in a country that is not investor-friendly.

    It is also praiseworthy, if the prefix of the organisation’s name is ‘Independent’. One imagines it therefore, to be as independent as the BBC in the discharge of its duty without seeming to be choked especially –  if it is not government funded, and run.

    I have followed this station over the years from its unsettled days in the mid-1990s up and until this moment. How can I forget Jika Attoh’s Kakaaki back then? The packages those days were first class, but, the station is quickly losing its respect by my assessment.

    In 2009, when I watched without fail, I noticed that guest analysts invited to the studio used to be skewed in favour of the masses such that government policies were queried impartially but it is different these days especially during this political dispensation.

    I have noticed that no day passes by these days without a negative advertisement on Buhari. Not that this is bad. Politicking involves the throwing up of sludge and flak on opponents and, it is up to the masses to filter the tall tales bandied on the screen of truth.

    Buhari as a political figure ought to know that politics is murky as well. What is disturbing is that there isn’t such balance with regards to the opposition. I do not see the advertisement of the opposition (APC) aired as frequent as that of the ruling party (PDP).

    The times I saw advertisement by the opposition, the catch word, ‘sponsored’ was boldly displayed on screen.

    But this is not always the case with damaging advertisement on Buhari. Some do not state that they are ‘sponsored.’

    Is that station becoming insularly partisan, the same way NTA became many years back which made many a Nigerian to look elsewhere for current news (the bulk of my television watching on NTA today is the nine o’clock news). Is it any wonder then, that another television house for eight years non-stop has won the television station of the year. Could they have achieved this feat if they were partisan?

    I watched a people’s parliament on AIT on the need for the placement of the military at election centres for the elections. All of the reactions aired supported military’s presence in the forth-coming elections. To think that government supports the use of the military: Is it possible for a journalist to go to the street in quest of views only to come back with same findings?

    Is it also possible to distribute questionnaires and then have responders submit same conclusions with no variance?

    The female anchors on Kakaaki who interviewed the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President GoodLuck Jonathan, on Thursday, March 5, need be reminded, that a feature interview, with a statesman on sensitive national issues, must be handled with such proficiency, as is, done at other mass media like CNN, Aljazeera, Sky News etc. without an intermittent, informal, laughing gaffes, as exhibited on that day: for the hope of many Nigerians rest on what a sitting president have to say.

    There is the need for Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON) to set up a television watch body because the importance of television cannot be over emphasized. Millions of people watch feature interviews, documentaries and news daily but what should they be watching? Especially as it doesn’t require much effort to watch television as much as the tortuous mental strain required to read newspapers. Any negative appearance aired certainly will linger in the minds of people.

    I hope AIT can be as independent as other international broadcast media to give us a bird’s eye view as well as a worm’s eye view of all issues.

    I hope its management also take criticisms seriously with the view to firming up the Nigeria’s news media.

    Could the management also separate its views from that of the advertised views aired on its channel: this will let us know that it is not pandering totally towards the present federal government.

    But should it want to be a pro-government news media, could they let us know, so we know what to expect daily. Just the way some Americans of the Republican Party tune in to Fox Channels daily to catch up on anti-Democratic news or Aljazeera which is slightly anti-America.

     

    • Simon Abah

    Port-Harcourt, Rivers State

  • Tinubu threatens to sue AIT over defamatory documentary

    Tinubu threatens to sue AIT over defamatory documentary

    ALL Progressives Congress (APC) National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has threatened to sue the management of Daar Communications Limited, owners of the Africa Independent Television (AIT) for the defamatory content of a documentary aired on Sunday.

    His counsel Mr. Tunji Abayomi has, through a letter delivered to Daar Communications yesterday afternoon, asked the organisation to apologise for the content and stop its airing.

    The letter reads in part: “…You aired an hour-long documentary focussing on our client (Bola Tinubu). Clearly pre-occupied with political resentment and hatred neither warranted, necessary, proper, or justified, you published several false allegations against our client… More

    disturbing is your misrepresentation that the said documentary was “sponsored” without disclosing the

    “sponsors”. You cannot under law hide under media freedom to maliciously injure a citizen’s reputation”.

    The letter also demanded N20 billion as cost of damage done to the reputation of Asiwaju Tinubu, failing which the client will sue the company.

    “To affirm the right of our client against your defamatory publication, we demand that you confirm to us within 24 hours of receipt of this letter, an apology and retraction of the said publication/documentary,” the letter added.

  • Jonathan rules like Abacha, says Amaechi

    Jonathan rules like Abacha, says Amaechi

    Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi has likened President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to that of late Military Head of State, Gen. Sani Abacha.

    Amaechi said the use of the military under Jonathan was “alarming”.

    He spoke in Abuja on an African Independent Television (AIT) programme, tagged: ‘Focus Nigeria’, which was monitored by The Nation.

    Amaechi, who dwelt on the rift between him and Jonathan, said: “The President is the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I am the Governor of Rivers State. It is an issue between the president and the governor. He presides over the country, I govern Rivers State, and he cannot govern Rivers State on my behalf.

    “The wife (Patience Goodluck Jonathan) should stop interfering with the governance of Rivers State. Is that a lie? Is that not a problem now in PDP? Oyo complained; Rivers State is complaining; everybody is complaining about that. I complained earlier. I want to be left alone to manage the responsibilities of governance.

    “The fact is that you can compare his government to Abacha’s government; what is the difference? If you compare again the use of military under Abacha and how the President is using the military against the people, can you see the truth?”

    On the election of Governors’ Forum, Amaechi explained: “The President has no business interfering with the election of the Chairman of Governor’s Forum and I did advise them to please advice the President not to interfere because I will defeat them”.

    On Ogoni, the governor noted: “Nothing has happened as regards the clean-up of Ogoni. What will he tell the Ogoni people when he starts campaigning? What about trust?

    “It is not personal; I respect the President as a person. There is no morality in governance, and there is no goodness in governance, if you want to be moral or be a good man, go to church.”

  • What does Fani-Kayode truly want?

    SIR: IT is stress-free to be titled as a statesman in Nigeria. All it takes is to be loyal to public figures and to causes even though not good enough, and in your journey you may be recognized and-given a government appointment or conferred with a national honour. Appointments to – and recognition of- citizens if merited are not immoral-because the country belongs to all citizens and as such have equal stake in her affairs as those in authority.

    But the eerie fact about most self-styled Nigerian statesmen is that instead of using their time outside of government work to positively sway direction of thoughts, engage government on good governance and – promote humanitarian global best practices, you find them either vilifying their protégées, persons with influence, pitting regions against one another or even religious bodies – all at a cost to national growth.

    Some of these vituperations are on the spur-of-the-moment instead of-as a consultation conscientiously arranged over time which-could be up to a decade as -in some rational well-coordinated climes.

    Femi Fani-Kayode was an unfamiliar persona to me the first time I saw him on national television many years ago- on Segun Arinze’s ‘No holds barred’ show on AIT in Lagos. The discussion with his other guest on that day moderated by Arinze focused around General Olusegun Obasanjo and – was fiery to the point that it audaciously almost saw both discussants- exchange fisticuffs and Arinze had a tough time controlling his guests.

    It was with bafflement – that I saw this man- full of commotion a moment earlier on television-made minister of the federal republic under Olusegun Obasanjo administration and all I could mutter was, ‘no wonder’, which totally agrees with my opening statement. The sun beams have shone on him ever since particularly for his overbearing stances on national issues.

    Real statesmen are trained to say less- they skirt around issues when goaded especially when they are not official spokespersons of government but Femi bares it all as a matter of course.

    Before now President Goodluck Jonathan was a ‘president without balls’, (Femi’s widely circulated article in the newspapers about this president) but today he is a self-styled government spokesman defending the use of a civilian private jet to purchase arms from South Africa. This is not about the intrinsic worth or otherwise of using Pastor Oritsejafor’s private jet to procure arms, but it begs the question: is Femi Fani-Kayode eminently qualified to speak on behalf of this government on matters of state that concerns national security?

    A moment ago, this same man left the ruling party for the opposition and whilst there he overwhelmed those of us who must read the newspapers with daily articles on the misgovernance of this administration and to the eternal praise of his principal (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) who in his surmise is the best president this country has ever produced- so far.

    Since when then did President Jonathan become a ‘president with balls’ enough for Femi to not only return- to the party but- to rationalize the importance of a covert arms deal? How come he finds it convenient to support a team he once belittled with so much gusto?

    This man is blessed by God – he had a prominent father and went to renowned institutions around the world and observers expect him to use this God-given exposure rightly instead of wooing needless diatribes.

    It is obvious that the ruling party has a high threshold for putting up with all manner of politicians – the reason why people like Femi assumes wrongly that all Nigerians suffer from amnesia. What does Femi Fani-Kayode truly want from Nigeria?

    • Simon Abah

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State

  • Matriarch of the Ogungbes goes home

    Matriarch of the Ogungbes goes home

    OTUNBA Letticia Onojoke Ogungbe, the late Iya Ijo of Methodist Cathedral Church, Imere, Ago-Iwoye, was committed to mother earth recently. The funeral service was held at the Methodist Cathedral Church, Imere, Ago-Iwoye. She is survived by children and grandchildren, among whom are Chief Mrs. Moji Dokpesi, wife of Chief Raymond Aleogho Dokpesi, founder and chairman, Africa Independent Television (AIT); ace broadcaster and music label executive, Kenny Ogungbe and his twin brother, Taiwo; popular TV personality, Idowu Ogungbe; label executive and artiste manager, Taiye Ogungbe; gospel music sensation, Kenny Saint Best.