THE Zamfara State Government has shit down the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN) Pride’s FM and the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Gusau for allegedly disobeying a government order and engaging in unethical journalism.
This information may be found in a statement made public yesterday in Gusau by the commissioner for information, Alhaji Ibrahim Dosara.
Other media organizations, according to the commissioner, included the privately owned Gamji TV, Gamji FM, and Al umma TV.
Dosara said the media houses were shut down because they “violated their professional ethics”.
He added that they attended a rally organised by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state which was earlier banned by the state government for security reasons.
He said: “The state government has suspended all political activities in the state due to security challenges but the PDP ignored the order and held a rally in Gusau, the state capital where one person was killed and 18 others were injured.”
Dosara stated that despite being aware of the state government’s ban on political gatherings, the media organizations attended the event to cover it.
According to him, the State Security Council approved the closure of the stations, and it is effective right away.
He added that the Commissioner of Police had been instructed to detain and prosecute any impacted station employees who are found to be in violation of the directive.
The owner of one of the impacted stations informed correspondent that the Forum of Private Media Owners will convene and would then announce their opinion.
I’m not the chairman of the Forum, I don’t want to preempt our chairman. So after the meeting, our position will be made known,” he said.
