NPAN, NUJ, NGE wade into Arise TV, Tinubu/Shettima fued

Three media groups have waded into the lingering disagreement between the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) and THISDAY/Arise TV.

The media groups are the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN), the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).

The PCC and the media organisations have been engaging in open confrontations since the commencement of campaign activities ahead of the 2023 elections.

The friction between the two parties could be traced to the decision of the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, and his media team to shun the open invitation of the television network for an interview and the presidential town hall series.

Furthermore, the PCC had expressed concerns over the reporting of the alleged 1993 money laundering and drug-related case in the United States, where the presidential candidate of the APC forfeited £460,000 in connection with the case.

In November, the Director of Strategic Communications of the PCC, Dele Alake, on behalf of the campaign council wrote a petition against Arise TV, a move that got the station sanctioned by the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

Mr Alake’s petition was in respect of news aired by Arise TV that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was considering investigating Mr Tinubu’s involvement in the 1992 drug case. INEC, however, refuted the report.

In the petition, Mr Alake said the TV station allowed guests on their shows to label Mr Tinubu as “indicted” despite the evidence available to them.

Mr Tinubu has repeatedly refused to participate in a town hall series organised by the television station and some media organisations. The APC candidate’s campaign team has constantly attacked the media organisation and accused it of bias, just as it urged its supporters to boycott the television station because of its posturing on Mr Tinubu.

But in a joint statement on Thursday, representatives of the three media groups said a meeting involving the two parties were held on Sunday with a view to end the disagreement.

The statement was jointly signed by the NPAN President, Kabiru Yusuf, the NGE president, Mustapha Isah and their NUJ counterpart, Chris Isiguzo.

A former Governor of Ogun State, Olusegun Osoba, and the publisher of Vanguard newspaper, Sam Amuka, were in attendance during the meeting.

The meeting, which was at the instance of the NPO, held at the residence of Mr Osoba, according to the statement.

Gbenga Adefaye, the general manager of the Vanguard newspaper and the acting provost of the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, was also in the meeting.

The Arise TV/ThisDay was represented by Nduka Obaigbena, its founder alongside two of his managers – Eniola Bello and Kayode Komolafe.

The PCC, on the other hand, was represented by Mr Alake, the strategic communications director of the council and Olawale Edun, another member of the council.

“The meeting resolved that considering the fellowship among us and overall interest of press freedom in the country, the disagreement between the two parties should be settled amicably and without any preconditions,” the groups said.

The groups said, in the spirit of “gentlemanly agreement,” they had decided not to issue a statement about the meeting but made a U-turn due to media reports which “misrepresented what happened.”

“We wish to draw the attention of our friends in the media and the public at large, that the main parties in this dispute, have agreed to let bygone be bygone and that any embellishment on the outcome of the meeting represents the figment of the some people’s imagination,” the groups stated. -Primetimes