In the aftermath of the not-to-recent decamping of some People’s Democratic Party stalwarts to the major opposition party, All Progressives Congress, the Niger State Governor, Babangida Aliyu, has vehemently denied ever encouraging the Rivers State Governor, Rotimi Amaechi and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, to leave the Peoples Democratic Party to contest the presidential election next year.
He said this through his Chief Press Secretary,Israel Ebije. In a press statement release, the governor pointed out that Ameachi who is alleged to have made the revelation has personally denied knowledge of the story and has distanced himself from the online publication (Not The Herald) which accused him of doing so.
He therefore, refuted the allegations that Governor Sule Lamido of Jigawa State and himself had deceived to leave the PDP for the opposition to pursue political ambition as Vice President in the next general election. He has declared the allegations as not genuine which was aimed at misleading people.
He said, “Let me state clearly that Lamido and I never asked Amaechi to contest the 2015 presidential election with Tambuwal. Why should we be the ones to ask him to run for Vice President when he is capable of pursuing any career of his choice without our counsel?
“I believe those behind the publication have been hired to mislead Nigerians. They intend to engage in wrong claims purposely to satisfy the narrow interest of their paymasters.”
The governor however didn’t fail to express his displeasure at the way and manner online media platforms have been taken over by mercantile reporters who do not have the ethical practice associated with traditional journalism.
He therefore urged online journalists to desist from “rogue journalism”. He advised them to imbibe the ethical requirement of verifying claims before circulating information made available to them by enemies of democracy.