The All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State has tasked the Director-General of Radio Nigeria to call the General Manager of Ekiti Progress FM, Kayode Akinsola, to order over his anti-President Muhammadu Buhari materials he daily ditches out on the station.
The APC spokesperson in the state, Taiwo Olatunbosun, in a statement on Saturday frowned at the reckless use of anti-Federal Government materials daily on the station to discredit President Buhari.
Olatunbosun explained that more worrisome is the alleged complicit roles of the General Manager working in cahoots with Governor Ayodele Fayose to broadcast materials that cast aspersions on the integrity of the Federal Government, including painting Buhari in bad light.
He said: “We are sick and tired about Akinsola’s antics whose partisanship towards the PDP-led government in the state is palpable. We have complained and appealed to him on several occasions to at least give the APC a voice on the federal radio station but he has always rebuffed our appeals.
“The general manager will never use any press release by APC in response to Fayose’s abuse of President Buhari, yet he allows Fayose a free reign to abuse President Buhari regularly on that station.
“The latest of this is a programme aired by the station on Wednesday, February 10, 2016 between 1.30pm and 2pm where Governor Fayose called President Buhari many unprintable names and discrediting the Federal Government that is his employer.”
Decrying the partisan disposition of the GM, Olatunbosun said: “Since he took over as the General Manager, he has not hidden his preference for the promotion of Fayose’s propaganda and overt support for PDP leaders and their activities while treating APC with disdain.
“It was so bad that reporters of the station who file any report that is negative to Governor Fayose’s preference are verbally queried and harassed even if the stories are true.
“We made several representations to him to adhere strictly to airing programmes that will promote fairness, unity and decorum, but he prefers to work for Fayose who, we gathered, specifically requested for his transfer to Ekiti State under the last administration to work for him.”
Olatunbosun argued that the station is supposed to be a replica of the Radio Nigeria, Abuja headquarters, at the local level by giving fair airing of President Buhari’s laudable programmes as well as giving the opposition PDP space to ensure equity.
“Instead of keeping to professional etiquette of fair-play and equity, Akinsola prefers spotlighting Fayose in most of the station’s public and political platforms to take President Buhari to the cleaners, including discrediting Federal Government’s programmes.
“Besides, our people are denied quality Federal Government programmes on air while the GM has turned the station to the mouthpiece of Fayose who makes divisive and provocative outbursts in clear breach of the mandate of the station to mobilise Nigerians for unity and progress of the country.
“We have it on good authority, and Governor Fayose has often boasted publicly, that he brought Akinsola as GM to Ekiti to work for him and he has been doing that diligently while APC’s voice is completely drowned, as none of its press releases has ever been broadcast on the station.”
The party urged the Director-General of Radio Nigeria to investigate Akinsola, asking him to explain why he always approves airing offensive programmes targeted to instigate Ekiti people against the Federal Government, including using the station as a medium to abuse President Buhari on daily basis.
“The earlier Akinsola is cautioned and sanctioned the better so that the Federal radio station is salvaged from its present status as another extension of the state broadcasting station where the ethics of journalism have been thrown to the dogs,” Olatunbosun concluded.
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