2019: Television Station Sacks Journalist For Supporting Buhari

Agency ReporterNovember 9, 2018

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Umar Ridwan, a presenter of Youth and ‘Gari ya waye’ programs at Kaduna based broadcast medium, DITV-Alheri Radio, owned by an ex-ally of Pres Buhari, Hakim Baba-Ahmed, has been sacked for posting pro-Buhari comments on Facebook.

Mr Baba-Ahmed was co-agent to President Buhari during the 2015 elections before defecting from APC to PDP.

He is now the Chief of Staff to the Senate President Bukola Saraki, another arch-rival of Mr Buhari.

It was gathered that Ridwan was sacked because of a post he made on his Facebook page concerning the activities of President Buhari.

In the letter dated October 15, the organisation terminated Mr Ridwan’s appointment without stating clearly the offence(s) he had committed.

However, Mr Ridwan pointed out that his sacking might not be unconnected with his Facebook post concerning the activities of President Buhari, which allegedly angered the proprietor.

According to him, the station had earlier given him two weeks suspension for posting political matters on his personal social media pages.

“After some consultations with industrial law experts, I discovered that the station has no right whatsoever to interfere with my personal activities, as long as it does not affect my duty as a presenter.

So, on my resumption from the suspension, I shared a Tweet on the defunct Nigerian Airways pensioners’ fund release, posted by the Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed, the management apparently got angry and decided to fire me.”