The President Muhammadu Buhari led National Security Council (NSC) says it is “concerned about the nature of media reporting incidents with regards to insecurity.”
National Security Adviser (NSA), Babagana Monguno, stated this at the end of Thursday’s council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The meeting was held a day after opposition senators threatened to commence impeachment proceedings against President Buhari if the worsening security situation across the country is not dealt with in six weeks.
Many Nigerians have blamed the president and his appointees for the worsening security situation that has seen killings and kidnappings become the norm in many parts of the country.
At the end of the Thursday meeting, Mr Monguno told journalists that media reports can aggravate the security situation in the country.
“It is important for the media to understand that certain reports being generated by the media, either the way, the manner, in which they report can also aggravate this delicate situation,” he said.
“So, council is urging the media to be very careful in whatever it reports, whatever gets out to the public space, can have a debilitating effect on the population.”
However, it is not just the media that the Buhari-led NSC is worried about, it is also concerned about the statements of ‘political elites.’
“Equally, the political elite is also urged to take into account the consequences of utterances, especially from people who have established a reputation, people who are considered leaders of thought, people who are considered to have some kind of influence in society.
“Whatever goes out, may be harmful, not just to the government, if that is the intention, which I doubt may not be a deliberate thing, but at the end of the day, it will affect the wider society.”
At a sitting of Nigeria’s House of Representatives, a lawmaker, Ndidi Elumelu, advised his colleagues not to spend their vacation in Abuja because the Nigerian capital was ‘not safe.’
(Adapted from a report by Premium Times)
