Buhari won't demand 'killing' of stories - Adesina

ITRealms:

The Special Adviser to President Muhammadu Buhari on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, has reassured Nigerians and media practitioners that his principal, would not request any journalist to ‘kill’ stories for him, reports ITRealms.

Speaking at the weekend at a dinner hosted the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), Adesina said that instead, the administration would encourage newsmen to run stories that will critically examine the workings of government and provide it with the way forward.

President of GOCOP, Mr. Malachy Agbo, was quoted in a press statement available to ITRealms as saying that Adesina gave this assurance on Thursday at a dinner held for him and other presidential spokesmen by the online publishers.

Agbo also said that at the dinner hosted by GOCOP members were the Senior Special Assistant on Media to President Buhari, Malam Garba Shehu, and the Senior Special Assistant in the Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande.

In his remarks, Adesina said the first thing the President told him when he assumed office was “Always tell me the truth,” stressing that Buhari was emphatic when he equally told him that as a General he loved to argue, but would always bow to superior arguments.

"The President told me 'Please do not fail to argue with me,'" Adesina who is one of GOCOP Trustees said, insisting that Buhari has vowed to run an open and transparent government so much that he would have nothing to hide and would have no cause to want to ask for any story to be ‘killed’.

Equally he revealed that the only thing Buhari asked is that for any news item, the Presidency should be allowed the opportunity to state its side before being putting same in the public domain or the going to press.

Adesina applauded the online publishers for coming together to form a group, advising GOCOP to look out for spoilers, gate crashers and those who might hide under the canopy of online publishing to damage the reputation of innocent public officers.

"There is a saying that one bad coin can spoil hundreds of other coins. My advice is that you should not allow any of your members to use the platform to malign innocent people. You should also find a way of sanitising the social media practitioners who just sit in their bedrooms to churn out news without professional touch," he counselled.

Also speaking, Garba Shehu expressed thanks to GOCOP for the support they gave him when he handled the media and publicity department of All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council as Director.

According to him, the APCPPC was the poorest in terms of resources, “but the richest in terms of people’s goodwill. And the online publishers were the greater part of that process."

Similarly, Laolu Akande, acknowledged the contributions of online media and social media in the actualisation of the Buhari Presidency. 

He advised Nigerians to adopt the government as their own because “this is the change we have been talking about.”

Welcoming GOCOP guests earlier, Agbo assured the presidential spokesmen of the support and cooperation of the members, even as he appealed to them to always make themselves available for any news item that requires clarification.

He was confident that members of GOCOP, who are veterans in the journalism profession, would continue to support them with prayer to achieve success in their assignments.

Several other GOCOP members who spoke at the occasion commended the presidential media team for recognising the important role of the online media in modern information dissemination and appealed to them to keep it up.

+ITRealms DSA +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) 

 
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GOCOP dinner: L-R: Senior Special Assistant on Media to the President, Malam Garba Shehu; Special Adviser on Media to the President, Mr. Femi Adesina; and the President, Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP), Malachy Agbo, at the dinner for the presidential spokesmen.