NTA Point Blank With Prof. Jibril Aminu

By

Ihas Idriess, A.

ihas@bluewin.ch

I am among the majority of Nigerians who have little or no regard at all for the PDP government of the country and by extension have little or no trust and respect for the members of the government and the party, for a very long time I have stopped listening to them for I see it as waste of time, having said that, on Thursdays 21^st April, I have decided to wait late into the wee hours of the night to watch the much advertise program on the NTA network POINT BLANK in which the guest of the day was the educationists turn politician Prof. Jibril Aminu.

My decision to watch the program was mainly for two basic reasons; one was to ascertain the rumors that is making round that the host of the program Mr. Tony Iredia since his return from National Orientation Agency have developed the PDP syndrome, of letting the sleeping dog lie, for those reading this article outside the shores of Nigeria let me digress a bit and tell you all about the program POINT BLANK, just like the name goes, it was program that was started during the late Abacha’s era, where guest were drilled POINT BLANK by the host without fear or favour, it was a program those days that will be, the envy of Tim Sebastian or Zainab Badawi all of BBC Hard Talk, it was a program where you see guest having to answer well researched questions about the issues of the day affecting their departments, ministries or even personal life, from the host Iredia.

The program went off air after the advent of the so-called democracy in the country, because the host was given a post in the government, with his returned to NTA after being sacked from the post the program as well returned and since the return of the program so much tongues were wagging, people believe that the host having served the illegitimate and corrupt government of the day have lost credibility and have no more moral standing to drill his guests, as it was reported through out his era in the government his department the National Orientation Agency was never audited, he spend money at will and therefore he lacks courage to play in some areas now for the fear of getting the “what of you” question from his guests.

So my decision to watch that night was to really see how true is the word going round and also to see how my distinguish??????? Senator Jibril Aminu is fairing after all the hulabalu about his ‘come back’, and by God after watching that program that night, I can not help but to agree in totality with what is going round.  Mr. Iredia was abysmal in his performance; he was literally not only shying away from issues but actually running away from them.

To start with, this is a Senator who did not win an election, he is a man that was reported by not only one national daily, but several that he actually conceded defeat and congratulate his opponent this was widely reported in the press, yet Tony Iredia did not see that part of the senators’ life worthy of questioning; he just put it to the Senator??? tenderly that he heard people saying he did not win, and the senator respond that he have all the papers to prove that he won the election and that it was one opposition reporter that started the rumor, please my dear reader what do you think or expect if it were Zainab Badawi or Tim Sebastian will do?, personally I was expecting Mr. Iredia to have a follow up question by quoting the newspapers and even inform the senator that it was not one but several papers that reported the issue, in fact I was expecting Iredia to even draw the attention of our distinguish??? Senator that those papers that reported were credible and why should we believe him, that it was just an opposition reporter that started the rumor, he should even ask him to name the reporter he alleged started the rumor.

He also asked the Senator that their was a moved recently to call him back from the senate and why, the senator simply answered that it was the VP and the governor of his state that were behind that move to bring him back, he did not tell us why the governor and the VP want him back and again no follow up question(s) from Iredia, I guess the expectation of myself and millions of Nigerians and Adamawa citizen in particular was for Iredia to asked Aminu when did he started having problem with Boni and Atiku and what was the reason for the frictions, because not quite two months before the ‘come back’ move, Aminu like many PDP hooligans in the state together with the Governor and VP were busy calling the respected Judge, Justice Zanna all kind of unprintable names for simply ruling that Boni did not win the 2003 elections in the state and ordering a re-run in some parts of the state.  It was expected that Iredia should even quote the senator when he was saying if not because he was a descendant of Judge he would have beat the living day out of the Judge, I expected Iredia to asked him what did he see in Boni then, that have made him abundant his scholarly and respected posture and descend so low to act that way, is it because Boni has brought so much development in the state or why?, because that act was unacceptable from a respected??? Senator, we expected Iredia to have asked the respected educationist turn gutter politician, if it were in America where he served as ambassador if such happens, what will have been the respond of the government and the judiciary, I expected Iredia to read to the Senator what people from his constituency are saying in the media after that incident.  But alas Iredia is seeing the whole thing with different eyes. He act as if he was not privy to all those things, who knows may be he was busy telling people how not to protest during democracy even if they were cheated in an election.  Because that was the only thing Iredia did all his stay in Orientation Agency, that was the Gospel According to St. Obj that he preached until his sack recently.

The saddest part of the 40 or 60 minutes program was the fact that Tony Iredia choose to discuss with Aminu issues that were of no relevance to today’s happening or issues he choose matters that everybody knows and Aminu himself have dealt with, many many years ago.  It’s a pity that, as much as Iredia try to make the discussion exciting it was dull and without flavor and to say the least insulting on all the viewers.

But one thing is certain; Tony Iredia of today is not the Iredia of the Abacha days,

 as much as I do not want to believe the rumors making round, I am left with no option but to believe in totality the saying, Iredia after Orientation Agency is not the Iredia we use to know…. ayya how time and post change people, the man is looking more like a goon than a journalist. God save this country!