Shaibu, who made the allegation in a statement issued on Sunday said that with the release of the President’s Chicago State University documents and the scandal surrounding it, Tinubu’s government had become frustrated and was plotting a massive offensive in the coming days as the investigation files from the FBI was expected.
Phrank Shaibu, Special Assistant on Public Communication to the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 presidential election, Atiku Abubakar, has accused President Bola Tinubu’s government of planning to gag the media as the United States’ FBI is set to release the “details of the investigation that tied Bola Tinubu to heroin trafficking”.
Shaibu, who made the allegation in a statement issued on Sunday said that with the release of the President’s Chicago State University documents and the scandal surrounding it, Tinubu’s government had become frustrated and was plotting a massive offensive in the coming days as the investigation files from the FBI was expected.
According to him, the threat of sanction issued to Arise News Television by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) is only a fragment of the move by Tinubu’s government to gag the media.
Shaibu accused NBC of being partisan and biased in favour of the government.
According to him, NBC was silent when media platforms like Television Continental (TVC), which is owned by President Tinubu, constantly attacked Atiku.
He said, “Back in February, the NBC tried to show a bit of fairness and fined TVC for unprofessional broadcasts including the airing of the joint media directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council press briefing where Festus Keyamo said Obasanjo and Atiku ran a criminal enterprise, and an empire of fraud in Abuja.
“However, since Tinubu became president on May 29, the NBC has become more partisan than ever. The NBC boss, Balarabe Ilelah, is obviously seeking to retain his appointment and is now dancing to the tune of the APC and their master at the Presidential Villa.
“The NBC has now been co-opted into a grand plot to gag the media over Tinubu’s certificate scandal. Having lost the battle in the court of public opinion, they are now trying to use the powers of the state to browbeat the media into silence. This is indeed shameful for a man who claimed to be a hero of the June 12 struggle.
“But this is not the time for the Nigerian media to show any weakness. The trove of documents that the FBI is set to release this month will expose details of the investigation that tied Bola Tinubu to heroin trafficking.
“The dissemination of this information must not be left to social media alone. The media must rise up to its role as the watchdog of society as enshrined in Section 22 of the 1999 constitution.”
The former Vice President’s aide further said that the hypocrisy of the Tinubu government and the APC-led Senate was legendary, saying that a ministerial nominee from Delta State, Stella Okotete, a director at NEXIM Bank, was denied ministerial confirmation over alleged certificate forgery even though she made frantic effort to defend herself.
Shaibu asked why the standard for being Nigeria’s president was lower than that of a ministerial nominee and Mmesoma Ejikeme, who forged her Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results.
He said, “Okotete claimed to have graduated from Benson Idahosa University in 2007 with a second class lower grade in International Studies and Diplomacy and completed the compulsory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Kebbi State in 2009.
“However, amid allegations of certificate forgery, the Senate refused to confirm her while the authorities continued to investigate her. However, in the case of Tinubu, who holds the highest office in the land, they want Nigerians to overlook it. They are asking Nigerians to focus on governance instead.
“Isn’t it ironic that the bar has been lowered for the office of the president? Is it not mind-boggling that people who would not employ even third-glass graduates in their private companies are the same ones now defending certificate forgery? The hypocrisy is indeed disturbing.”