Benchmark Naija

As reactions from well meaning Nigerians, both at home and abroad are still trailing the banning of coverage of African Independent Television of President-Elect, General Muhammadu Buhari’s programmes of activities until further notice, a human rights group in Nigeria, the Centre for Human Rights and Social Justice (CHRSJ) has strongly condemned Buhari’s action over the plan to resuscitate the anti-democratic ethos in a democratic setting, noting that General Buhari’s action shown that the President-elect has hidden agenda in governance of this country for the next four years. The rights group however declared that General Buhari should be tutored on how to conduct the act of governance in a democratic era, believing that democracy was new in the President-Elect dictionary and strange to his nature because of his military dictatorship background, stressing that the Freedom of Press is one of the ground norms of entrenching democracy in the world. The group therefore urged the genuin...

Change is set to hit the country and there has been cases of several leaders in Nigeria turning a new leaf. Its no news that Nigeria is a very great country with a capacity of greatness. The country is endowed with vast human as well as natural resources. Despite the high revenue generated by this country from oil which is supposed to be a blessing, Nigeria has been hit by the resource course theory. This means the oil factor has been a deficiency to the development of the country. This has encouraged a high rate of corruption and desperation for political power. Several politicians have used political power as a gateway to enrich their pockets. With the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as the new leader of the country, there seem to be so much fear in Nigeria among politicians who have massively siphoned public funds. Rumours have it that Buhari is bracing up for a massive clampdown on all corrupt officials in Nigeria. The petroleum Minister, Diezani Alision Maduekwe was smart enough to...

The All Progressives Congress, APC, has reversed the controversial decision taken by President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, to bar the Africa Independent Television, AIT, from covering his activities. The party said all accredited media organizations in the country, including the AIT, are free to cover the activities of the president elect. AIT journalists were on Monday denied access to Mr. Buhari’s temporary office when they showed up to cover his official engagements. His spokesperson, Garba Shehu, cited family and security concerns for the decision. “AIT has been asked to stay aside based on security and family concerns. In addition, Buhari has decided that they will have to resolve some issues relating to issues of standard and ethics. “We will be talking with them to try and resolve the matter, but for now the station has been asked to stay aside, because like I said there are some family and security concerns. They have been asked to step down their coverage until we res...

Security advisers of the President-Elect, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari on Monday barred the television crew of the African Independent Television from covering the activities of their principal until further notice.      It was gathered that the security team cited adverse security reports and ethical issues as reasons for their action. Members of the AIT crew, who were at Defence House, venue of a meeting between the President-elect and a visiting Cuban delegation, led by its Ambassador to Nigeria, were asked to leave the vicinity until further notice. The crew, who did not speak on record, insisted they would remain and continue to do their jobs because they had yet to be “formally informed.” “Yes, we were told but we cannot just leave; we have a job to do. In any case, we have not been officially informed about what we have done wrong,” one of them said. Director of Press of the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Organisation, Mallam Garba Shehu, conf...