“We Never Maltreated You During The Elections” – You Lied, AIT Tells Buhari

Daar Communications Plc, operators of Africa Independent Television and RayPower FM, on Wednesday described as lies reports credited to the Senior Special Assistant (Media and Publicity) to the president, Mallam Garba Shehu, on how AIT and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) allegedly maltreated the All Progressives Congress (APC) and President Muhammadu Buhari, during the campaigns for the 2015 general election.

“On the allegation of maltreatment through the rejection and denial of political campaign space on our station, we wish to state categorically and emphatically that at no time did we reject or deny the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) broadcast space on our station –AIT,’’ the management of Daar Communications said in a statement in Abuja.

The broadcast media outfit said it had always been its policy to open up the democratic space to all the broad spectrum of actors in the political horizon.

The station therefore, challenged the presidential spokesman to, for the benefit of ‘’discerning’’ members of the public and political academics who will obviously document some facts for historical purposes and the stock of public information compendium, state the names of the officer(s) and the department(s) that he dealt with, wherein the materials that he wanted aired were out rightly rejected.
The management also challenged the presidency to state the officer(s) who returned the monies for the commercials that it claimed were rejected.

As a broadcast organisation, the Daar Communications said its management had always been guided by the provisions of the Nigerian Broadcast Code and its entire operational modus operandi based on the provisions of the code.
‘’We subscribe to the laws of the land as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, and other Acts of the National Assembly,’’ the station added.

“We are guided by the tenets of media practice which are professionalism, fairness, objectivity and balance irrespective of political affiliation.

“At the beginning of the electioneering process meant to herald the 2015 elections and as has been our practice since 1999 we opened our stations to all the contesting political parties and their respective candidates on all our broadcast platforms; RayPower FM, Faaji FM and AIT.’’

The station added that in the course of appraising the media bookings by all the political players, it realised that between the two major political parties, the APC’s media bookings were rather low, adding that without prompting, the management constituted a marketing committee deliberately for the party, which was headed by Hajia Nafisat Aliu.

The broadcast station added: “In accordance with the ethics of our business; media bookings, the terms of the contract, the discount offered amongst others are usually contractual obligations which are sacrosanct and exclusive only to the parties involved but if and when the need arises, we are willing and ready to tender all the contract documents to the public for their information and knowledge.

“We feel pained, disappointed and betrayed by the allegation of maltreatment of the APC’s Presidential Campaigns by Mallam Garba Shehu, who at various times requested for unusual discounts and concessions, at short notices, which we often obliged in our spirited efforts of ensuring that we engaged all political parties, most especially the APC in our broadcasts so that we would be fair to all parties.’’

The management further stated that since the elections had been won and lost and as an organisation, it would now focus on continuing to build and develop the nation.

“We have extended our patriotic hands of fellowship to all the political actors and indeed everyone to pull together for the sake of our dearly beloved nation – Nigeria. This, is the global best practice, after elections and the attendant politics, national interest takes the centre-stage,’’ the station added.