FBI investigation: Atiku’s aide, Shaibu, alleges Tinubu govt planning to gag media

Phrank Shaibu, Atiku Abubakar’s Special Assistant on Public Communication, claims that the Bola Tinubu administration has perfected a complex and evil scheme to suppress the media before the records pertaining to his criminal investigations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States are made public.

In a statement on Sunday, Shaibu stated that the Tinubu administration had grown angry over the Chicago State University (CSU) controversy and that it was preparing a major offensive.

The National Broadcasting Commission’s (NBC) threat to penalise Arise Television News was simply the tip of the iceberg, according to Atiku’s aide.

He said the NBC had been watching as Tinubu’s media platforms like Television Continental (TVC) had been constantly attacking Atiku and had refused to even air opposition views.

Read Also: Atiku accuses Tinubu’s aides of twisting facts on his academic records

Shaibu added, “Back in February, the NBC tried to show a bit of fairness and fined TVC for unprofessional broadcasts including the airing of the Joint media Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign Council press briefing where Festus Keyamo said Obasanjo and Atiku ran a criminal enterprise, and an empire of fraud in Abuja.

“However, since Tinubu became president on May 29, the NBC has become more partisan than ever. The NBC boss, Balarabe Ilelah, is obviously seeking to retain his appointment and is now dancing to the tune of the APC and their master at the Presidential Villa.

“The NBC has now been co-opted into a grand plot to gag the media over Tinubu’s certificate scandal. Having lost the battle in the court of public opinion, they are now trying to use the powers of the state to browbeat the media into silence. This is indeed shameful for a man who claimed to be a hero of the June 12 struggle.

“But this is not the time for the Nigerian media to show any weakness. The trove of documents that the FBI is set to release this month will expose details of the investigation that tied Bola Tinubu to heroin trafficking. The dissemination of this information must not be left to social media alone. The media must rise up to its role as the watchdog of society as enshrined in Section 22 of the 1999 constitution.”

Earlier, Atiku filed new documents against President Bola Tinubu before the Supreme Court in which he accused the President of forgery and lying under oath, and should therefore be disqualified and removed from office.

The evidence filed by the former vice president was the academic records of Tinubu, which were handed over to him by the Chicago State University on Monday following the order of an Illinois court in the United States of America instructing the institution to release the academic records as requested by Atiku.

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