Headline

Obi-Datti: Tinubu Petitions NBC, Wants Channels TV Sanctioned

Published

1 year ago

March 30, 2023

The President-Elect, Asíwájú Bola Tinubu has petitioned the National Broadcasting Commission NBC, urging it to sanction Channels Television for allegedly breaching the Nigerian Broadcasting Code.

“In line with Section 14.0.1 of the Nigerian Broadcasting Code 6th edition stating the duty of the National Broadcasting Commission to accept complaints from aggrieved persons, bodies or members of the public and investigate as well as apply sanctions where necessary, the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council hereby petitions the Commission on what it considers breaches by CHANNELS TV last week on its programme ‘Politics Today’ which airs daily at 7pm on weekdays”, Tinubu said in the petition dated 30th March, 2023.

In the petition signed by the Director, Media and Publicity, Mr Bayo Onanuga on behalf of the Special Adviser, Media, Public Affairs and Communications, APC Presidential Campaign Council, Tinubu accused the Labour Party LP Vice Presidential candidate Datti Baba-Ahmed of making several incendiary comments impugning the integrity of the 25 February 2023 Presidential elections.

Part of the petition reads; “He (Datti) said the Labour Party won the elections. This is a fallacy and not correct. According to the Code, a Broadcaster is liable when his guest is allowed to make a wild statement that is inaccurate and not based on fact. The only factual figures empirically collated as the final result is the one released by the Independent National Electoral Commission which placed Labour party as third.

“The guest on the programme in question Datti Baba -Ahmed said the President of the country Muhammadu Buhari should not swear in the President -elect because he did not score 25% vote in the FCT, being one of the prerequisites for being declared winner.

“This is a subversive statement since the matter is before the tribunal and is among the issues submitted in their petition to the courts for adjudication.

“Therefore until and unless the court rules otherwise, the status quo is the INEC position as declared in the final results.

“The guest Datti Baba Ahmed’s comments about Labour Party winning the presidential vote undermines constituted authority given to INEC in the 1999 Constitution as the body vested with the powers to conduct and announce the results of national general elections in Nigeria. Any other figures will have to be certified by the tribunal as the authentic one

“Therefore Mr Datti’s comments that the INEC certificate of return issued to the President-elect is a “dud cheque” and is null and void is not only divisive, subversive but also inciting and inflammatory.

“The Code states in Section 3.8.1(b) that ‘A Broadcaster shall ensure that no programme contains anything which amounts to subversion of constituted authority or compromises the unity or corporate existence of Nigeria as a Sovereign state’.

“The statement by Mr Datti Baba-Ahmed later on the same programme that if ‘President Buhari should hand over to the President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu by May 29, that would be the end of democracy’ is another case of unguarded utterance.

“This is in breach of Section 5.3.3(b) which states that – ‘A Broadcaster shall avoid inflammatory and divisive matters in its provocative form in using political material’.

“Furthermore, Section 3.0.2.1 states that- ‘No Broadcaster shall encourage or incite to crime, lead to public disorder or hate, or repugnant to public feelings’ materials that cause disaffection.

“By denying the authenticity of the INEC Presidential election results Mr Datti is at liberty to seek for the voiding of the results, but until the court or tribunal upturns those results they remain the authentic results. Channels TV cannot encourage him to use its platform to create anarchy by disputing results on air without corroborating his facts.

“In asking the President not to swear in the President-elect he is subverting the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC’s constitutionally guaranteed authority.

“In using words like ‘handing over to the President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be the end of democracy’ he is not only promoting a threat but instigating a call to rebellion against the state. This is antithetical to the use of the media for social harmony and peaceful

“It is our considered opinion that the guest Datti Baba-Ahmed was not only provocative but also inciting the public and the Labour Party followers to delegitimise the outcome of the elections but also propagate resistance against the incoming dully elected administration. of Bola Ahmed-Tinubu and Kashim Shettima.

“We therefore urge the Commission to invoke the necessary sanctions on Channels TV for the breaches enumerated above”.

Headline

400 Bodies Found In Mass Grave In Gaza Hospital

Published

10 hours ago

April 28, 2024

Editor

The government in Gaza have concluded their search of mass graves at a hospital in the south of the strip and said they have uncovered a total of 392 bodies, including some still wearing surgical gowns.

Speaking at a Thursday news conference at Rafah, on April 25, an official from the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza said workers have identified 165 bodies at the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the area earlier this month.

According to Mohammed Al Mighayyer, they are still examining the remaining 227 bodies to determine their identities.

“We found three mass graves, the first in front of the morgue, the second behind the morgue, and the third north of the dialysis building,” he added.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said any suggestion that it had buried Palestinian bodies in mass graves was false, and that a grave at the Nasser complex was dug by Palestinians in Gaza some months ago.

The Gaza Civil Defense acknowledged that around 100 bodies were buried in graves at the Nasser hospital before the IDF operation there.

CNN reports that people had buried the bodies of family members who had been killed on the grounds of the hospital as a temporary measure in January but when they returned after the Israeli military withdrew on April 7, they discovered the bodies had been dug up and then placed in at least one collective grave, not all in the initial spots they were buried in.

The Palestinian Civil Defense also showed graphic images on a TV screen at the news conference showing several almost unrecognizable bodies at the complex and bodies of decomposed children.

Al Mighayyer said the Civil Defense “witnessed the presence of children’s bodies in the mass graves at the Nasser Medical Complex, which proves crimes of genocide.” While the group says it is still examining the bodies, they suspect at least 20 civilians were buried alive in the complex, but it did not explain how it knows this, or offer proof.

Al Mighayyer also claimed there had been cases of executions of patients who had been receiving treatment at the hospital. He said several bodies were found with gunshot wounds to their heads and injuries to their bodies.

Al Mighayyer said at the news conference that the Palestinian Gaza Civil Defense in Gaza “discovered torture marks on [some] bodies.” CNN cannot independently verify these claims.

“Israeli forces buried several bodies in plastic bags at a depth of three meters, which made them decompose quickly.”

“The occupation deliberately concealed evidence of its crimes in the Nasser Complex by changing the plastic shrouds more than once,” he claimed. Video recorded by CNN shows bodies wrapped in three different coloured shrouds: white, black and blue.

Amnesty International has also called for an investigation into the mass graves at the two Gaza hospitals.

I’m response, the Israeli Defense Forces, IDF said:“During the IDF’s operation in the area of Nasser Hospital, in accordance with the effort to locate hostages and missing persons, corpses buried by Palestinians in the area of Nasser Hospital were examined. The examination was conducted in a careful manner and exclusively in places where intelligence indicated the possible presence of hostages.”

The IDF continued: “At the end of February, IDF forces conducted a precise and targeted operation against the terrorist organization Hamas in the Nasser Hospital area. During the operation, about 200 terrorists who were in the hospital were apprehended, medicines intended for Israeli hostages were found undelivered and unused, and a great deal of ammunition was confiscated. The activity was done in a targeted manner and without harming the hospital, the patients and the medical staff.”

Headline

Watch Of Richest Titanic Passenger Sells For £1.17m

Published

12 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Editor

A gold watch found on the body of the richest passenger on the Titanic was auctioned in England for £1.17 million ($1.46 million) on Saturday.

It was a record sum for an object linked to the notorious 1912 shipping disaster, said auctioneers Henry Aldridge & Son.

A US buyer won the bidding war, smashing the auctioneer’s pre-sale estimate of between £100,000 and £150,000.

The watch, engraved with the initials JJA, belonged to the US business magnate John Jacob Astor.

Astor was 47 when he died as the Titanic sank in the early hours of April 15, 1912. He was reputed to be one of the richest men in the world at the time.

He died after having helped his wife, Madeleine, on board one of the lifeboats. She survived the disaster.

Astor’s body was found a week after the disaster, with the watch among his personal belongings.

“The watch itself was completely restored after being returned to Colonel Astor’s family and worn by his son,” said a statement from the auction house.

Headline

Popular Iraqi TikToker Umm Fahad Gunned Down Outside Baghdad Home

Published

12 hours ago

April 27, 2024

Editor

Popular Iraqi social media star Ghufran Sawadi, better known as Umm Fahad, was shot dead outside her home in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, on Friday night.

According to CNN, a Baghdad police source disclosed that the attack occurred in the Zayouna area east of Baghdad.

The source added that the tragic incident was captured on video by a surveillance camera and shared on social media.

The video showed a gunman riding a motorcycle shooting and killing Sawadi on the spot. A Baghdad police source confirmed the authenticity of the video to CNN.

The country’s Interior Minister announced on Friday that it was “forming a specialized work team to find out the circumstances of the killing of a woman known on social media by unknown assailants.”

Sawadi was popular on TikTok, where she shared videos of herself dancing to pop music in form-fitting clothes. In the past, these videos were deemed inappropriate by Iraq’s judiciary.

Sawadi was sentenced to six months in prison for “the crime of producing and publishing several films and videos containing obscene and indecent language, violating public decency and morals,” an Iraqi judiciary statement said.

Other Iraqi social media personalities have previously been targeted in deadly attacks.

Most recently, another popular Iraqi TikTok personality, Noor Alsaffar, known as Noor BM, was shot dead in Baghdad in September 2023, an Iraqi security source told CNN at the time.

Alsaffar, who had over 370,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, posted short videos about fashion, hair, and makeup, also often dancing to music.

Following news of the shooting, many posted comments lamenting Alsaffar’s death, though others applauded it, celebrating the man who fired the shot.

Alsaffar’s killing came as Iraq cracked down on LGBTQ expression and moved to criminalize it in law.