‘Some private radio stations in Oyo inciting public against govt’

A forum of Oyo and Ogbomoso professional elite known as PEACOCK has raised the alarm over what it referred to as ‘looming dangers’ on programming being broadcast by some private radio stations in Oyo State.
At a maiden media briefing held in Oyo town, the group’s acting President, Mr. Olaoluwa Abdulrahaman, said “contrary to people’s expectation of credible, informative, educative and distinctively
entertaining programme broadcasting, what some of the private radio stations air to the public, to say the least, are outright incitements and mere political acrimony deliberately attempted to fan embers of disharmony, chaos and civil disobedience”.
Buttressing his submission, Abulrahaman informed that whenever these private radio stations are reviewing daily newspapers in Yoruba language, what their anchor persons translate for the unsuspecting public is not what is really contained in the newspapers.
“We stand to be challenged. Our painstaking findings revealed that some of these radio stations not only select for their anchor persons stories that are against the current administrations both at the state
and federal levels, but mandate them to exaggerate those stories to the annoyance of the public”.
 He explained further, “this is in addition to other programmes  which
ought to be educative, but are veritable avenues not only to misinform
the public about governance, but to pollute mental magnitudes of the teeming uninformed populace towards disorderliness in the society. We
are a non-political body, but concerned elite keen about progress and development of the state”.
“Upon enquiries, we also discovered that the motive of these radio stations is to create bad blood between the peace-loving people and
the constituted authorities, as part of grand standing secret plan
towards 2019 general elections. We then ask that who are the founders,
owners and financiers of these incredible private radio stations in the state? Is this new tenet in modern day broadcasting? Are the media being looked upon for authoritative and untainted information about happenings around the globe, should be seen to be biased, deceitful and pawns in the flesh of peace, progress and development?”
 Abdulrahman, who wondered why the Ibadan zone of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has been shirking in its responsibilities of close monitoring of these radio stations, argued that if the
regulatory body had been equal to the task, “sharp practices of these stations would have been curtailed”.
The forum also called on the Broadcasting Organisations of Nigeria (BON) to put its house in order, by ensuring that only credible media outfits with personnel skilled in absolute professional dexterity, and not political jobbers, “are allowed into the noble field”.
On how to check corruption which has assumed epidemic proportions in the public services of the country, the Forum calls for legal provisions that will mandate all political appointees to declare their
assets annually, by making annual asset returns every January.
This, Abdurahaman pointed out, is because the extant provision that requires assets declaration every four years have several loop holes that are being exploited by public servants.
“The CCB should create a unit within it for the continuous tracking of asset returns of politicians holding public office, senior civil and public servants, etc, similar to what the CBN does to check money laundering through the banks. Government should also reform the justice delivery system by replacing the status quo with a jury verdict system, through the ongoing constitution amendment process. By this, one can trust the people to do justice to those who are corrupt, as members of a jury.
He added, ”government can also make it mandatory for the police to release everyone arrested without warrant within 12 hours, and as well remove police discretion to detain anyone beyond 12 hours except for crimes such as treasonable felonies and murders. This is
vital because abuse of human rights and “sale of bail” is a lucrative practice in all divisions and units of the police. What obtains now is that the report of a crime in any neighborhood is an invitation for the police to line their pockets through indiscriminate arrest of
everyone in that neighborhood for “bail rent”.
The Forum also advocated routine and quarterly assessment of all occupants of police detention cells, custody rooms and those in prisons awaiting-trials, by the Minister or Commissioners for Justice
and Attorneys-General through Directors of Public Prosecutions, as well as Justice Departments, in order to deliver time innocent Nigerians from the corruption and inhumanity of the police.