BBC Defies Pressure From Presidency, National Assembly From Airing Aisha Buhari Interview

The Hausa Service of the BBC is defying presssure from the Presidency and National Assembly trying to stop it from airing the controversial interview the wife of the president, Aisha Buhari, granted it.

A source within the Abuja Bureau of the BBC told Daily Trust that there was a letter from the Presidency asking the Hausa service of the BBC not to air the interview.

The Speaker of the Hausa of Representative, Yakubu Dogara, according to the source, also tried to informally dissuade the BBC from airing the interview.

A son of Buhari’s powerful nephew, Mamman Daura, is also said to have called to get the BBC not to use the interview.

However, the source told Daily Trust, the BBC wouldn’t backdown on its promise to air the interview as an independent media organisation.

The source said the only condition that can make the service not air the interview is for the interviewee, Aisha Buhari, to decided against it. Even in that case her voice recanting what she had said in the interview would be aired.

Therefore, a part of the interview will be aired in the service’s morning broadcast tomorrow. It will be aired in full on its programme, ‘Gane Mini Hanya’ on Saturday.