SAN FRANCISCO, August 31, (THEWILL) – A coalition of Nigerian youths, Youths For Change NG, on Thursday advised the media to stop giving undue attention to ex-Aviation Minister, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, stressing that his ranting and increasingly unsubstantiated claims are becoming embarrassing to youths who had see him as a role model.
In a statement issued in Lagos by its national leader, Mr. Seun Bobade, the group said that the media should have asked Fani-Kayode to substantiate his allegation that the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, and the National Broadcasting Commission, NBC, threatened to shut down a TV station if it airs his interview.
”The media must hold Mr. Fani-Kayode to a higher standard. They should not just regurgitate his baseless and malicious allegations without asking him to substantiate such. After all, it’s trite-law that he who alleges must prove.
”The former Minister should have been asked to provide incontrovertible evidence of the allegation he made, including to identify the television station by name, as well as naming the
particular fellow at the TV station who was threatened over his interview.
”We say this because previous allegations by Mr. Fani-Kayode in the past have proved to be a mere hoax. For example, on July 13th 2017, he told the Punch newspaper that the President was on life support, that he could not even recognize anyone and that he would never come back to the country as President. One would have expected that when the President eventually returned healthy, Mr. Fani-Kayode would be challenged. Instead, the media has indulged him by publishing another unsubstantiated allegation from him, which he must have designed to cover his earlier statement,” the group said.
Youths For Change NG maintained that it is inconceivable that Mohammed, Adesina and the NBC will be threatening any station over an interview with an opposition politician, because this will run counter to the Buhari administration’s stated commitment the to freedom of expression.
The group advised the minister and the presidential spokesman not to
lend any credence to Fani-Kayode by responding to the allegation he made on Twitter which, it likened to someone’s imagination running wild.
It also slammed the former minister for continuing to employ very crude and abusive language, sometimes bothering on hate speech, in public discourse, saying the government should not hesitate to rein him in if he continues along that path.
”On June 4th 2017, we had a reason to issue a statement warning Mr.
Fani-Kayode to stop his penchant for resorting to the use of base and
abusive language in public discourse, saying such behaviour has no place in the Nigeria of our dreams.
”Obviously, Mr. Fani-Kayode, a husband, a father of grown up children and a supposedly-responsible political leader, has not changed his ways, going by the incredibly disparaging adjectives he employed against the government in his latest tweets. We have therefore taken it upon ourselves to take on him every time he exhibits such disgraceful and unedifying traits. Enough is enough!
”We the youths want a country in which government and opposition figures engage in public discourse in an atmosphere devoid of personal insults, acrimony and sheer hatred. Mr. Fani-Kayode and his like are not showing us the path to that country of our dreams,” the statement read.
