Gov Abba Yusuf, are you kidding me?

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4 hours ago

A man once stated at a public forum that he does not call his children ‘kids’. He said for him, it was a matter of principle and that he had been very intentional about making sure that he does not call any child a ‘kid’. Many people at the forum cast strange looks at him. The vociferous asked him why. The questions shot out from everywhere around the room like they were on cue. But the man didn’t see the reactions to his disposition as anything extraordinary. His wife, who was smiling assuredly beside him, didn’t budge either. She was used to it. Her husband too was used to such reactions and he waited patiently for the murmuring, shuffling and what not to die down. Then he continued and calmly said: “I still believe that the original meaning of the word ‘kid’ has not changed. It still means the ‘baby or child of a goat’. My wife is not a goat, and I am not a He-goat either. So, that is it.”

This gentleman generated quite a plethora of reactions and arguments that bother on the Nigerians’ knowledge of the English language. He stirred the room indeed. You can guess what the scenario his opinion created might have been like. You can be sure a lot was said about grammar, etymology, syntax, verb, noun, adjective and their brothers and sisters, not leaving out a touch of “dynamism of language.” A man said he doesn’t call his children ‘kids’, and that is it. Why then argue with him? What is the point?

Today’s offering is not on the man or why a man would be ‘kidding’ an entire gathering of adults. He chose not to say what some people found to be the perfect language. He said it is an insult to him and I agree. Or, are you kidding me?

Well, you might think I am ‘kidding’, but I am not. In street parlance, may I say: I am not whining you o! There is a serious matter bordering on ‘kidding’ and I think it might be a trigger for some other kinds of rights infringement in the country. The matter at hand is that ban placed by the Kano State government on political programmes on all media platforms.

Yes, the Kano State government recently announced a ban on live political programmes in the state. In other words, Nigerians in Kano State are barred from holding political views or opinions. Even if you do, you are banned from airing them on the radio, television or social media platforms. If you have an opinion, keep it to yourself. If we need your opinion, we will give it to you.

Sam Levenson said in his autobiography “Everything But Money” that his father was the owner of that hypothesis. Nigerians, a governor has set the foot on actual gagging of the mass media — the Fourth Estate of the Realm — and I think he is the one kidding!

I’m not kidding you! The ban has taken effect in the state. It is now in force, and any radio or TV station that does not want their property burnt or destroyed, or get their staff brutalised must now comply. Of course there are hundreds of willing foot soldiers who would help the government and its acolytes carry out the enforcement of the bizarre ban.

The controversial ban has seen stakeholders in the media industry in the state singing discordant tunes. The state’s Commissioner for Information and Internal Affairs, Ibrahim Abdullahi Waiya, in announcing the decision said it was to protect the dignity of the Kano society and stem public discourse from degenerating. Commissioner Waiya said in a statement signed on his behalf by Sani Abba Yola, a director in the ministry: “The government’s position is not intended to stifle opposition or restrict freedom of expression, but rather to protect the dignity of our society and ensure that public discourse does not degenerate into hate speech or defamation.”

To give this ban a perspective, Waiya said media houses in Kano State agreed to the ban (suspension they called it). He said they reached the consensus to stop airing live political programmes in the state at a quarterly engagement with media executives in Kano. “Among the key resolutions reached at the meeting with media executives were the suspension of all live political programmes to prevent the dissemination of inflammatory or defamatory content. Any guest invited for a media interview must now sign a pre-interview undertaking to refrain from making offensive, abusive, or culturally inappropriate remarks.”

However, when the expected backlash began to rush in, rather than double down, Commissioner Waiya said it wasn’t him, nor was it the Kano State government. He said it was the media houses that proposed the repressive ban. He found an alibi somewhere in the house of the media practitioners.

A group of public commentators in Kano which they call The Gauta Club said they were in support of “the resolution to censor content before it goes on air.” As an aside, it is worthy for you dear reader to note that the club was “recently revived by the state government” and Hamisu Danwawu Fagge was made the club’s chairman.

Another supporter of the media gag gang from within the media fold, Ado Sa’idu Warawa of Freedom Radio, said the ban was the idea of the media houses and not the government’s. He said it was a means of self-regulation! Warawa said: “If this ban succeeds, then Kano has succeeded in returning to the right path of sanitising our political space and eliminating hate speech. But claiming that it was imposed by the Kano State Government, the commissioner, or even the governor, is incorrect. We, the heads of broadcast stations in the state, were the ones who recommended it in a bid to improve the quality of our work.”

Curiously, Warawa, a station manager, did not know who came to his station or how to regulate them. He and the others in their club needed the government of Kano State to help them with these basic, statutory journalistic duties?

Are you kidding me? So, they had to see their guests through the lenses provided by the state government of the day?

Seriously? How else do you define media repression?

Then, this? Any guest invited for a media interview must sign a pre-interview undertaking to refrain from making offensive, abusive, or culturally inappropriate remarks. A guest on a live broadcast programme needed to be told this? What kind of guests do we have in Kano? What kind of content do they create in that state?

It is however gratifying that not all journalists and broadcasters in the state are facing the same direction. Another station manager, Suyudi Jibril Bichi, said he is not and would not be part of such repressive arrangement. Bichi of Guarantee Radio: “I was not contacted, nor was I part of any meeting that discussed this. I don’t know when or where it was held, or who attended it.” So, those who attended the meeting and took the decision “acted on our behalf but without our consent.”

Bichi saw what could result from such obnoxious step: “In fact, even the commissioner (Waiya), seeing the public backlash, later clarified that the government did not enact any law on the ban, but merely advised broadcast stations, which then adopted it.”

The Kano State government, regardless of how much they want to sugarcoat this, goofed big time. Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf is the one ‘kidding’ me, and I hope I would find a company if I say that Governor Yusuf is kidding us!

Why would a governor of a state leave the serious issues that should resonate with him and decide to roll in the mud of the jejune? Our governors are beating the drums, they are the same people dancing to the beat. They do not want to hear any beat that may sound contrary to what they want to hear. They are not comfortable with beats that do not emanate from what they are used to hearing. Governors who abhor opposition or dissenting voices should not be encouraged. Indeed, it should be nipped.