A leading pro-democracy and Non-governmental organisation- Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has described as reckless display of amateurish executive rascality, the reported clampdown by the APC card-carrying member Alhaji Modibbo Kawu who heads the National Broadcasting Commission(NBC) of the African Independent Television.
HURIWA, condemned what it called the ‘cowardly’ behaviour of the ‘ethically’ challenged Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission, Modibbo Kawu, saying that he took the illegal action against AIT just because the ex-chairman of the media house led a street protest today against the NBC’s atrocious and politically biased Modibbo Kawu’s headship/leadership since the advent of the Muhammadu Buhari’s regime in 2015.
In a media statement Thursday night and signed by the National Coordinator Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director Miss Zainab Yusuf, HURIWA has asked President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to sack forthwith the ‘unqualified’ Director General of the troubled media regulatory Agency (NBC) Alhaji Modibbo Kawu (who ran to be governorship candidate of APC at the last primary and lost woefully) who has shown crass incompetence and a total lack of objectivity and professionalism because of his entrenched loyalty to a political party.
“Modibbo Kawu Sees himself as an APC propagandist who is on a mission to intimidate and harass all independent minded broadcasting outfits. The Courts of law must rapidly save media freedoms from being emasculated by Buhari through his foot soldier in NBC Alhaji Modibbo Kawu of APC”, HURIWA said.
HURIWA added that the head of such an independent body like the broadcasting media regulatory authority must never be such a ‘shamelessly rabid fanatical’ member of one of the over 90 registered political parties, and called for the dismissal of the DG of NBC Modibbo Kawu, stressing that he is not a fit and proper person to head such an illustrious body of media regulators giving his open partisanship.
HURIWA said the illegal ban of African Independent Television must be overturned forthwith because the Independent African Television is about the only truly privately independent television that the APC led administration has been unable to financially induce to stop featuring human rights activists and advocates with independent bent.
The Rights group has also asked all credible non governmental bodies and lovers of democracy and press freedoms to pour out on the streets all over the country in protest to compel President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to re-open AIT and sack Modibbo Kawu of APC who in any event is facing a criminal trial over alleged misapplication of N2.5 billion Digital Signal Operations Fund which he allegedly paid to a private communication firm who had paid an initial licensing fee before been accredited as one of the two national DSO signal operators.
The matter it would be recalled, is before a high court of competent jurisdiction.
