By Oguwike Nwachuku
Those who developed the concept of newspaper reviews on the television and radio stations, for all intents and purposes, mean well for the society.
To them, the reviews are part of measures to deepen conversation on the public understanding of the role played by one of the oldest, yet modem modes of communication, information dissemination, education and entertainment in our society
– the newspapers.
Besides, it helps to bring the newspaper reading public to speed as regards happenings around them.
But more importantly, media houses, through the reviews, are directly and indirectly put on their toes or if you like, held responsible and accountable when it comes to stories they published, stories they missed, packaging of copies and if possible, marketing of the brand.
Before now, those who featured as newspaper reviewers on television and radio stations were men and women of impeccable character. They were people with firm grip of the issues at stake and deep understanding of what the newspapers have to say, and to a large extent, the implication of what was published on the larger society.
That explains why most of those assembled to review the newspapers by television and radio stations were mainly media practitioners with track records of performance and excellence in the industry. I mean media professionals to the core and not those who became practitioners and answer media managers by hook or crook.
Today, not a few persons share in the thinking of yours sincerely that majority of those the public are served as reviewers of newspapers on televisions and radio stations have no business being there. I will explain shortly.
On Wednesday, June 28, 2023 to be precise, one of such persons who was featured as a newspaper reviewer on Kakaaki, an African Independent Television (AIT) morning programme, further lowered the standard of newspaper review when he completely went off tangent by making Governor Hope Uzodimma of Imo State the subject of the review.
Mr. Chuks Akunna, a supposedly Executive Director in Authority Newspaper, threw caution to the winds and descended on Governor Uzodimma in a manner that suggested he was paid to appear on the Programme to rain invectives on him while hiding under the Kakaaki Programme of newspaper review.
Even though Mr. Akunna claimed to be advising the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun on how to deal with the (in)security around the country, particularly as it concerns states of interest to him like Kogi, Benue, Plateau and Imo, he did not hide his disdain for the Governor of Imo State as he kept reminding the presenter and his viewers about how many times he had called the governor out on the programme. Obviously, he was saying so to impress those who have paid him to castigate Governor Uzodimma.
Mr. Akunna had used his outing at the Programme to expose where he further appears – his political antecedent, friendship with former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives and former Governor of Imo State, Rt Hon. Emeka Ihedioha.
It was even laughable when Mr. Akunna said that because of insecurity in Imo State, most dignitaries stayed away from Ihedioha’s mother’s burial, a clear fabrication on air when viewed against the backdrop of the number of persons who graced the burial of which Ihedioha himself acknowledged.
It is in public domain that Mr. Akunna is a media consultant to the People’s Democratic Party and that alone says much about the gibberish he vomited during the Programme.
To demonstrate that he was hired to denigrate Governor Uzodimma using the newspaper review on Kakaaki as cover, Mr. Akunna went into full scale politicking about (in)security in Imo State, coming to the thoughtless conclusion that the whole idea was orchestrated by the government of the day in Imo State for the purpose of re-electing the Governor in November. How callous an idea!
In a sane society, characters like Mr. Akunna that are easily bought and lack the discipline, temperament, training and experience to advise the public on how to deal with matters as complicated as insecurity, should not have any business appearing on such Programmes.
As someone who is cocooned in Abuja and only visits his State, Anambra State, at his convenience, it is obvious Mr. Akunna does not have the slightest knowledge of what the current (in)security situation in the South East is. If he really does, he would have been circumspect and not be in a hurry to conclude that Imo State is the nucleus of insecurity in the zone?
When every right thinking fellow from the zone is lauding Governor Uzodimma for not allowing his State in particular and South East in general to go the way of the North East as far as the impact of insecurity is concerned, because that is the wish of those Mr. Akunna is working for, he is still asking what Governor Uzodimma is doing as the Chief Security Officer of Imo State.
The tragedy of people like Mr. Akunna is that they talk before they think, speak without information, gloat over hearsay and beer parlour rumour and what is worse, think they are the best thing to happen to the society. I am sure that was what his mind was revealing to him as he was puffing at the Station and dancing around the matter before him.
Of late, we have seen too many Akunnas trying to make (in)security the centre piece of conversation for the November 11 governorship election in Imo State. We know for sure that what Mr. Akunna was paid to say at the camouflaged newspaper review in Kakaaki is consistent with what his ilk have been doing in the past one week around the State, but meeting with brick wall with the highly informed Imo electorate. It is simply a hard sell for them, something akin to pulling the horse through the eye of the niddle.
The riddle they are finding difficult to solve as they approach Imo people with their campaign of calumny with insecurity in the State is how to convince the highly informed Imo electorate that the projects that litter the nooks and crannies of Imo were not done by Governor Uzodimma.
Truth is that Governor Uzodimma has worked so hard to downgrade insecurity in Imo State. He has invested fortunes to protect the lives and property of the people he swore an oath to protect, but those Mr. Akunna consults for in Imo State have remained undaunted in seeing that (in)security is used as a factor to scare the people and discredit the government in power.
It is on record that the Nigerian Military, the Nigeria Police, the Accountants, the Lawyers, the Editors, the Catholic Bishops, and many other national and international associations have held their conferences in Imo State. I am sure Mr. Akunna and his likes knew and read about the events but mischievously chose to glibly brand Imo as the nucleus of insecurity in the South East because hatched job is believed to be in their DNA, hence they are amenable for hire by those who see Governor Uzodimma as their political foes.
Perhaps Mr. Akunna ought to be reminded that available intelligence suggests that the pockets of kidnappings, armed robberies, murders and other lethal crimes which the security operatives strive daily to contain in Imo State today are linked to hardened criminals with Anambra as their haven.
One of the greatest challenges the security agencies face trying to rid Imo State of crime today comes from the State’s border town of Ihiala.
Mr. Akunna should be bold enough to ask his Governor, Prof. Chukwuma Soludu, what he has been going through since assumption of office trying to contain the huge criminality that has become part of the communities in Anambra where kidnapping for ransome has become a way of life and has completely replaced the people’s traditional vocation, which is trading.
While the criminal aspect of sit at home order has almost lost its potency in Imo State and other South East States, it is still morning in the day in Akunna’s Anambra State, yet he had the termerity to malign Imo State and the Governor as the centre of insecurity.
Let me remind Mr. Akunna, however, that Governor Uzodimma is not going to fret over the November governorship election. He will win convincingly and overwhelmingly because the people will troupe out enmass to corronate him as their beloved governor with their votes.
He will not also be distracted by his unpopular view on Kakaaki since more weighty views earlier masterminded by his pay masters could not stall the laudable programmes Governor Uzodimma embarked on since taking over the reins of governance in Imo State in 2020.
As far as Imo people are concerned, the records of Governor Uzodimma’s superlative performance are there to speak for him unlike his co-contestants who have nothing to campaign with and so resort to blackmail the electorate with (in) security.
That said, newspaper reviews, like journalism practices, are about objectivity. They are about verifiable things and not conjecture or outright falsehood and fake review. They are not about robbing Peter to pay Paul which the likes of Mr. Akunna are trying to make the public to understand.
It is therefore high time the television and radio stations took more seriously the kind of guests they invite to take a look at the newspapers as the character of such guests also speak volume about the intention or otherwise of both the presenters and the owners of the organisation.
● Nwachuku, Chief Press Secretary/Media Adviser to Governor Uzodimma writes from Owerri