President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday in Abuja expressed his dissatisfaction with media reports since the 2019 general elections. The protested that the media are still reporting electoral issues as though the elections are still in progress.
The president, through his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, complained that the media have continued to report electoral matters with bitterness.
Garba Shehu speaking on Good Morning Nigeria programme on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) in Abuja, monitored by National Daily from Lagos, expressed that media covered the 2019 general elections with mindset expectations of the outcome and have continued in the same manner. The President’s SSA stated that the media have continued to report political issues as if the outcome of the 2019 elections did not reflect their expectations, that the media have already taken side.
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Speaking as the world marked Press Freedom Day on Thursday, Garba said that there’s total freedom for the media in Nigeria. He said that under the President Muhammadu Buhari leadership, the media have freedom to publish anything, adding the that there no restraint on what the media can publish.
He lamented that the social media has brought negative pressures on the traditional media.
The presidential aide acjnowledged that the media play crucial role in the development of the country.