How Ex-NTA DG Was Punished For Censoring Hate Campaign

Musa Mayaki, the immediate past acting director-general of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), has said that he was rebuked by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan for daring to censor inciting comments made by some prominent members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during on-air campaigns.

Musa Mayaki, the immediate past acting director-general of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA)

Mayaki, who was the acting director-general of the NTA between 2012 and 2014, was not confirmed as the DG but was, instead, removed and replaced by Sola Omole as the DG.
In an exclusive chat with Leadership over the weekend, Mayaki noted that on several occasions, he was queried by Chief Mike Oghiadomhe, former President Jonathan’s chief of staff (CoS), for trying to prevent live transmission of some very abusive comments and hate speeches made by some members of the then ruling party.
The former acting director-general of NTA, added that what saved him from being fired much earlier was the intervention of Labaran Maku, the then minister of information, who, as a professional journalists himself, understood that he was doing the right thing.
Mayaki said his struggles started as far back as the last governorship election in Edo state when the PDP paid NTA about N35 million to carry a live coverage of its campaign rallies.
The former NTA boss noted that PDP members who spoke during the campaign resorted to reigning abuses on the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate during the live transmission of the rallies.
He said he paid dearly for taking such professional measures as the PDP later reported him to the presidency where he was immediately issued a query by the then chief of staff to the president, adding that he would have been summarily removed had it not been for the then information minister.
The former DG added that his cordial relationship with Maku infuriated the presidency even more and the result was that he got queries upon queries.
Mayaki further urged the federal government under President Muhammadu Buhari to be very careful about the way NTA goes about broadcasting activities in the country, because as the largest network in Africa, the station is a sensitive government media organisation and, as such, is capable of setting the whole country on fire by its broadcasts.