The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, has described The Punch new editorial policy as a sinister motive to destabilise the country.
Earlier on Wednesday, The Punch Newspaper adopted a new editorial policy, saying it will prefix President Muhammadu Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the 80s, in all its publications in protest against the rising disregard for the rule of law by his administration.
In an editorial entitled ‘Buhari’s lawlessness: Our stand’, on Wednesday, the newspaper said it will also tag the President’s administration as a regime until it purges itself of ”contempt for the rule of law.
“As a symbolic demonstration of our protest against autocracy and military-style repression, PUNCH (all our print newspapers, The PUNCH, Saturday PUNCH, Sunday PUNCH, PUNCH Sports Extra, and digital platforms, most especially Punchng.com) will henceforth prefix Buhari’s name with his rank as a military dictator in the 80s, Major General, and refer to his administration as a regime, until they purge themselves of their insufferable contempt for the rule of law,” it revealed.
In a statement issued by Shehu, he described the decision by the newspaper to add the prefix ‘Major-General’ to the president as “self-evident.”
He noted that the president earned the rank by a dint of hard work and excellence, pointing, however, that the newspaper has gone aboard calling a two-time democratically elected president a “Major-General’ in a democratic administration.
“The paper claimed that it is changing President Buhari’s official title to Major General because of his government’s alleged disregard for the rule of law. Major General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd), for that, is his title, and he was indeed a Major General, but today retired from that position and now twice democratically elected president of Nigeria – is not the choice of Punch Newspaper’s editors and owners, that is clear. He is, however, the two-time electoral choice of the voters of Nigeria, those very people who Punch Newspapers described this morning as “lethargic”: a disdaining epithet apportioned to decent hard-working, everyday Nigerians for not agreeing with, and for not having voted in line with their publication’s editorial and political opinions”
Mr Garba Shehu said that the editorial stance of the newspaper to uphold the rights to holding and exercising the right of free speech and freedom of the press is a testimony to the prevalence of the freedom of the press and expression in the country.
“In countries around the world where this right does not exist, newspapers do not publish articles such as the one Punch did today; nor do they get to express political opinions contrary to that of government. The exact freedoms Punch claims are missing is self-evident here – in print, on the internet – for all Nigerians and the whole world to see. There is nothing wrong with expressing contrary opinions to this government – nor being in opposition to the president: this is the right of every Nigerian” he said.
He, however, said calling for an armed putsch of a democratically elected administration depicts the newspaper alliance playing partisan opposition politics which has nothing to do with journalism, adding that it is unprecedented and crude in the political age of the country. He noted that the government would welcome the paper’s contribution to the national debate, alluding to the repressive era of the military junta in the country as truly deserving the prefix.
“Calling for the armed overthrow of the democratically elected administration is a different matter entirely: this Punch has in no way done – but others who they seek to defend, have. There is a difference. Punch: oppose the government as much as you want to. We welcome your contribution to the debate. But we ask you not to throw insults at the good voters of Nigeria for not agreeing to your choice at the last election. Oppose in good humour: for that is the mark of the true democrat – that which you purport to be.
He continued: “It is not within the power or rights of a newspaper to unilaterally and whimsically change the formal official title or the designation of the country’s President as it pleases. It is unprecedented and absurd in our recent political history. The Punch never changed President Olusegun Obasanjo’s title from the President to General Obasanjo, despite the latter’s refusal to comply with Supreme Court judgment, ordering him to release N30 billion of Lagos State local councils funds. When General Ibrahim Babangida who wasn’t democratically elected assumed the title of President, why didn’t the Punch challenge him or address him by any title it so desired? In fact, IBB closed media houses for several months and years, including Punch. But the paper didn’t stop addressing him as President, despite the fact that he wasn’t elected.”
Mr Garba, therefore, charged the newspaper to sieve the chaff from the grain, advancing that the stance taken by it is purely political capable of destabilising the country.
“The Punch newspaper should separate journalism from partisan politics. What it is embarking upon is purely political and it is designed to play to the gallery and cause confusion. Punch Newspaper’s double standards in cuddling some of our past dictators and their open contempt for President Buhari clearly show that the paper has sinister motives for its current curious editorial judgment. Its personal hatred towards President Buhari should not be allowed to becloud its good judgment.” he added