Stella Oduah and media extremism

THE advent of social media networks in the early 1990s brought radicalism into journalism as a pro­fession. This was made possible by the high rate of internet users that joined social media networks within a decade. There is no doubt that social me­dia platforms have not only helped in information dissemination across the globe but also increased the consciousness of the general populace as re­gards developments around them. Social media revolution also brought with it what I refer to as media extremism cum rascality.

One offspring of internet revolution is online media. Since the emergence of this social media-driven journalism, the media world has never been the same again. With the massive availabil­ity of internet-accessed configured phones, online blogging cum
social media networks have gone a long way in providing billions of bytes of infor­mation to a lot of people who ordinarily wouldn’t have had access to such torrents of information at the speed of light and the comfort of their mobile phones and computer apps.

With all the merits and demerits of social media news platforms which are too enormous to men­tion for want of space, of much concern to me, are the recent activities of the online news medium called Saharareporters.com Though, this New York-based whistle blowing website has helped in the fight against corruption in Nigeria by exposing acts and persons allegedly associated with corrup­tion in the past, its recent publications call for con­cern, especially from discerning Nigerians, who understand the limits of freedom of information as regards rights to fair hearing and news reportage.

Senator Stella Oduah has been at the receiv­ing end of the excesses of Sahareporters.com. Since her days as Aviation Minister, this online medium has been the major propaganda tool deployed by aggrieved elements, who felt that Princess Oduah’s unparalleled reforms in aviation sector pulled the rug off their legs. The ignoble role played by some media houses in blackmailing Sen. Stella Oduah out of of­fice as Aviation Minister, using yet-to-be substantiated bullet-proof cars “scandal”, is still fresh in the minds of Nigerians.

Very worrisome in all these is the sustenance of this media blackmail against this woman even after leaving office as Aviation Minister few years ago. It is an irrefutable assertion that those accusing her of cor­ruption are yet to prove it in the court of competent jurisdiction. Sen. Oduah’s offence in the eyes of some media organizations is her gender and ethnic origin. No month will pass without a media house running one propagandist story on Senator Stella Oduah, just to massage the bloated ego of its paymasters.

There is no justification for the jaundiced journal­ism and media tyranny targeted against this woman— who has proved herself, both in private and public service, other than gross abuse of people’s fundamen­tal human rights of unbiased and balanced reportage. In the last few weeks alone, Saharareporters.com has churned out unsubstantiated reports and innuendoes published as ‘breaking news’ using headlines like “How Oduah looted Aviation Sector Dry”, “EFCC Traces N2.5 billion to Oduah’s Housemaid Account”, “How Oduah acquired $13million dollars vessel be­fore being sacked as Aviation Minister”, “Oduah’s Dirty Deals Exposed”, “Oduah Caught Fighting with her Domestic Aides Over Washing of Plates” , and so many other sensational headlines just to misinform the public and paint Sen. Stella Oduah in bad light.

Ironically, any discerning mind that goes beyond the propagandist headlines will always discover the shallowness and unsubstantiated allusions of these sa­lacious stories against Sen. Oduah.

For example, the most recent publication that Sen. Stella Oduah bought $13m vessel before being re­moved in 2014, is a blatant lie. Princess Oduah’ com­pany—Sea Petroleum Ltd, was among the first indig­enous oil and gas companies to own vessels in 1996. Where did Saharareporters.com get its information that she acquired $13m vessel in 2014 before her ap­pointment as Minister of Aviation?

If Saharareporters’ fixation with Sen. Oduah is not qualified to be defined as an erosion of age-long ethics and values of journalism, I wonder what else will.

It’s glaring that the aborted move by the Senate to initiate anti-social media bill was conceptualized to curtail the growing excesses of reckless media outfits As much as I remain an ardent advocate of free press in respect of the anti-corruption fight, there should be a decent boundary between freedom of information and individuals’ right of protection against blackmail and libellous stories, aimed at destroying their hard-earned reputation. Someone cannot be feeding Nigerians with falsehood.

Without a doubt, this online medium cannot engage United States Senators or citizens in this type of un­censored, un-edited and unbalanced reportage, with­out being over-burdened with libellous litigations that could even end in a jail term (if found guilty).

We, as a people, cannot be portraying our countrymen and women in bad light, particularly wrongly and still expect other nations to respect us as an independent entity. It is the job of anti-graft agencies like EFCC and ICPC to fight corruption within the ambit of the rule of law, not propagandists masquerading as whistle-blowers.