…Expresses fear over 2023 elections
Nigerian journalist and CEO of Radio Now, Kadaria Ahmed, received what she called a mix-bag of commentaries for accusing the British Broadcasting Corporation, (BBC) Africa Eye of fuelling terrorism in Nigeria through its latest documentary, titled: ‘The Bandit Warlords of Zamfara’.
Some Nigerians who lashed at her for turning against the BBC, are angry because her Op-Ed about the documentary was believed to have spurred the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, into announcing sanctions against the BBC and other affected media. In addition, they believe that the BBC’s documentary only confirmed their conviction that government knows the terrorists’ hideouts but are unwilling to deal decisively with them.
So far, the Government has gone ahead to carry out its threats to sanction the media in question but Ahmed who raised the dust before the Minister came up with the idea of sanctions, does not support the move. She said: “I’m totally against sanctions, I don’t believe in muzzling the press. I don’t believe the Government should be in the business of trying to threaten the media, regardless of the mistakes the media make. But I also believe the media should be able to hold itself accountable. Our job is to hold power accountable”.
In an attempt to make people understand her position on the matter, she said to her interviewers on a television programme during the week that, “In a place like Nigeria, which is deeply divided, there’s a lot of fracturing that is going on; there are a lot of divisions, people are traumatised. So, they want the Government to take responsibility for the things they are getting wrong; but what that trauma does sometimes is that it makes people want to vent.
She went on to suggest better ways through which the BBC would have passed its message across like, putting the terrorists in silhouettes or darkening their faces.
Another issue that informed her comment on social media regarding the BBC interview with the terrorists traumatising Nigerians according to her is the issue of double standards. She, however, insisted that even if BBC wanted the terrorists to be heard, they should have presented them in such a way that wouldn’t glamorise them, or make them seem invincible, or allow them to boast and brag.
Ahmed, who maintained her position as a big fan of the BBC having been trained by the organisation, further disclosed that “My issue is this specific programme, BBC Africa Eye because it also has a pattern, like I said in that article, time and time again we’ve seen them play around with the ethics, they have dubious editorial judgement in terms of the way they do stories in Nigeria and I have no apology for saying that”. She condemned the government for its response on the matter, noting that “They are not doing a very good job”.
The way forward Ahmed suggested is for “Nigerians to tell politicians that it is time to have a bipartisan approach to insecurity because that’s something that’s going to consume us. It’s not asking who is PDP or APC. The politicisation of insecurity portends a serious danger to Nigeria because we are dealing with an existential threat”.
