PDP Govt Shut Down Channels TV In 2009 Over Yar’Adua Report – Keyamo

Minister of state for labour and employment Festus Keyamo has urged the opposition not to play innocent following sanctions on Channels TV for interviewing spokesman of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) a proscribed group.

The Peoples Democratic Party had on Monday faulted the caution issued by the National Broadcasting Commission to the broadcast station.

The party said the disposition of the NBC “could be counter-productive and heighten the already tensed situation in our nation at this critical time.”

However, Mr Keyamo said in a tweet on Tuesday that he was not airing his personal opinion on NBC’s action, but was reminding the PDP it did something similar in 2009.

“I am NOT airing my personal opinion on NBC’s action here, but let me remind PDP how its govt treated Channels TV when it merely (and correctly too) reported the ill-health of President Yar’Adua. See it here and don’t EVER attempt to deceive Nigerians,” he tweeted with a link from a report by the Voice of America.

According to the report, the PDP-led government shut down Channels TV for broadcasting a story that former President Umaru Yar’Adua would resign for health reasons.

“The government is really serious about this report. It has shut down one of the main private TV/radio stations in Nigeria. It is called Channels TV. And not only that, the government also descended on the station with plainclothes security people, who chased out all the staff and sealed up the station. Information Minister John Odey was very, very angry at the station, saying the station reported the supposed resignation of President Umaru Yar’Adua without confirming the story,” a VOA correspondent said.

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