Opinion
By Southeast Reporters
Dr Reuben Abati is a university lecturer turned journalist who hails from Ogun State, Nigeria. He is 59 years old.
He was former Chairman of the Editorial Board of Guardian Newspapers before President Goodluck Jonathan appointed him Presidential Spokesman in 2011, a position he held till 2015.
These days, he is one of the presenters of “The Morning Show”. arguably the most popular political show on television. It shows on Arise TV and is aired between 8 and 10 am every weekday.
He presents the Morning Show alongside Rufai Oseni and Ojy Okpe.
The Morning Show is considered by many as the voice of truth and the conscience of the nation. Before now, those presenters have been perceived as being fearless, speaking up for the masses and speaking truth to power.
Unfortunately,in the past three days,Dr Reuben Abati has severely dented the credibility and hero status of the Morning Show and its presenters.
At a time when the Igbos and indeed Nigeria are mourning the death of Senator Ifeanyi Ubah, Abati chose to show his true colours as a man who has deep seated, longstanding hatred for the Igbos.
As they were analyzing Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s speech at late Senator Ifeanyi Ubah’s Night of Tributes where the Igbos were praised for their resilience, enterprise and investment in the Nigeria Project, Reuben Abati chose to veer off the issue at hand, using the Morning Show platform to falsely accuse the Igbos of refusing to sell land to Nigerians from other tribes.
The following day on the Morning Show,Ojy Okpe his co presenter,raised the issue again, giving him an opportunity to either rephrase or retract his statement, since it had already started eliciting negative reactions and backlash from All over the world.
Instead of Abati to utilize the golden opportunity to correct himself, he angrily pounced on the helpless young lady in the full glare of millions of viewers.
We at SouthEast Reporters want to state categorically that Dr Abati’s comments about Igbos not selling land to non Igbos is a bold faced lie from the pit of hell and an expression of his deep seated hatred and jealousy for the achievements of the Igbos all over the world.
We believe that it is even more worrisome that 24 hours later, after he must have done some fact checking and discovered the falsehood in his assertions,he was given an opportunity to modify his position,but he stubbornly stuck to his gun’s.
Coming from a PhD holder in theatre arts,a bachelor’s degree holder in Law,a holder of countless journalism qualifications and a former Chairman of the Editorial Board of Guardian Newspapers, this is totally unacceptable.
Dr Reuben Abati is a bare faced liar,a confusionist,a hypocrite and a very dangerous man.
Since he has decided to publicize his unprovoked hatred for the Igbos,we will expose his lies.
Igbos have NEVER stopped anyone from buying lands or owning property. Many Yorubas,Hausas,Edos and people from every tribe own property in every part of Igbo land.
There is the Dayo Okunlola Street,Ugwuaji Enugu. There are many other streets named after Yorubas and Hausas in Igbo land because they have held landed property there over an extended length of time. The Polo Mall Enugu is owned by Adebayo Amusan. Mike Adenuga owns countless properties in the South East through his Globacom and Sterling Bank investments.
The family of the Sarkin Hausa of Aba are long time owners of a property along Hospital Road Aba, Abia State. The popular Mama Dele,a caterer is married into a Yoruba family that owns a property along Ukaegbu Road Aba for over half a century.
Go to Umuahia. The Hausas own countless landed properties there,and have even produced several elected councillors,heads of markets, political appointees, etc.
Dr Reuben Abati is a divisive figure,an agent of destabilization and one of the many enemies of the unity of our great country Nigeria.
We call on all patriotic Nigerians to expose Dr Reuben Abati’s lies by bombarding the press and social media with undeniable proof that non Igbos own thousands of landed properties in the South East.No right thinking person should keep silent in the face of this glaring case of Igbo phobia and attack on Nigeria’s unity.
We also call on the management of Arise TV to do the needful and get Dr Reuben Abati off the Morning Show. This is a first step to mitigating the damage, misinformation and embarrassment he has dished out from their highly revered platform.
This unfortunate incident should serve as a big lesson for Ndigbo: never allow another man to tell your story. Another man can never tell your story well. If you allow a stranger to tell your story,he will paint you black.
Take a look at the major cable news channels in Nigeria: TVC News, Channels TV,Arise TV,AIT ,Siverbird…none is owned by someone from the South East.
We sit back and allow others tell our stories. We sit back and allow Lagos and Abuja based mainstream media to report news and happenings in the South East. We sit back and allow people like Reuben Abati and other Igbo haters like Reno Omokri to distort facts and dish out lies about the South East.
SouthEast Reporters calls on financially capable Igbos: businessmen,politicians and people in the Diaspora to invest heavily in the mainstream media so that our stories will be properly told and the news from this region will be properly reported.
We need cable news networks of the magnitude of Arise TV and Channels TV to be sited in the South East,owned by South Easterners and protecting the interest of the South East.
Media is powerful. It shapes public perception.
A powerful South East media will reposition our region economically and politically.
A powerful South East media will expose and neutralize the blatant lies of individuals like Reuben Abati.***An editorial by South East reporters.
24th November, 2024.
C.E.
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