Presidency Lambasts Journalists over Benue Killings

Speaking while briefing State House correspondents at the presidential villa on Friday, the presidential senior special adviser on media and publicity, Mallam  Garba Shehu strongly condemned what it calls “an upsurge in the promotion of hate speech by the media” especially as it relates to the farmers/herders crisis in Benue state.

He said the frequent expressions of hate speech published by newspapers, in news stories and especially in columns have become a source of concern to all Nigerians.

“We want to state emphatically that a segment of the Nigerian media is sinking deeper and deeper into the mesh of hate speech in spite of repeated appeals by recognised and reputable media bodies, the Government and concerned Nigerians,” he said.

“Unfortunately, self-regulation which is the norm in civilised societies has taken flight from many of our newsrooms.

 “For instance, a recent column published in a national newspaper (The Sun newspaper), said ‘‘President Muhammadu Buhari was the first to endorse the Benue massacre’’ on New Year Day. The same columnist described the Minister of Defence, Mansur Muhammad Dan-Ali as ‘‘a dyed-in-the-wool Fulani irredentist who places trade over and above human life’’.

 “The diatribe went further to invite citizens of the country to arm themselves and fight each other. In addition, one of the newspaper’s Saturday headlines proclaimed: ‘Expect More Blood in Benue…’,” he said.

Mallam Garba Shehu also said apart from the basic tone of respect expected from an individual who is “supposedly intelligent and educated enough to know better since they have been granted space to write in a national newspaper, there is the risk of inciting the public to actions that will have gory consequences for the entire nation for generations to come.”

He also reminded those “beating the gongs of war and fanning the embers of discord” to remember what prevailed in Rwanda before the genocide of the early 90s, during which hundreds of thousands of lives were lost as a result of consistent hate speech spewing from that country’s media.