Chairman and Director of Daar Communications PLC, Raymond Dokpesi, has stated that the President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari has no powers, to bar one of its subsidiaries, Africa Independent Television (AIT), from covering his activities.
Speaking in a telephone interview with Premium Times yesterday, Dokpesi said attempting to stop AIT would amount to breaking the law adding that General Buhari should be reminded that he cannot return Nigeria to the era of Decree 4.
“I am sure that the President-elect needs to be reminded of Decree 4, and he should be clearly reminded that section 32 of the constitution makes it mandatory for the media to hold public officials accountable to the people.”
“The president-elect said that he does not want to be covered by AIT, but AIT has a responsibility to the Nigerian public to report the things that are happening,” he said.
“There are three national networks available for national coverage in Nigeria, the NTA, AIT and Silverbirds. You cannot stop a foremost private station from reporting in Nigeria, it brings us back to Decree 4 era.”
And on the documentaries aired on the station about Buhari. Dokpesi said, “If they had produced their own documentary to say this is what we want and AIT did not publish it, then that is another matter.”
“What is obviously very clear is the fact that AIT believes that the historical information about the President elect that were ran, were factually correct. Nothing was done to defame him or impinge on his character or integrity.”
“We take responsibility for the running of these items and I as an individual is satisfied because due diligence was followed in ensuring that the things that are contained were factually right”.
Credit: Premium Times
