By Our Reporter
October 21, 2015 – Daar Communications Plc, owners of African Independent Television(AIT), Raypower and FAAJI FM today reacted to reports credited to Presidential Spokesman, Mallam Garba Shehu on how AIT and Nigerian Television Authority (NTA ) allegedly maltreated the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the campaigns for the 2015 general elections, describing the allegations as nothing but lies.
In a statement, management of Daar Communications Plc, said much as it resolved to maintain a dignified silence on this matter, it is compelled to address the claims as an institution that pioneered private broadcasting in Nigeria.
That DAAR Communications, it noted was at the forefront of the struggle for the enthronement and protection of democracy in Nigeria adding that the organisation patriotically deployed all resources to the struggle that resulted in the loss and destruction its transmitters, equipment and facilities to mysterious fire, physical attacks and the clamping down on some staff in the course of discharging their professional duties.
“In all of those trying times we remained resolute and kept our eyes on the goal with the belief that in the end, the success of democratic rule would be worth the challenges we faced”, the management said.
It noted that the station has stake than any politician and administration whose tenure, by Nigerian laws, is time and term based .
“On the allegation of maltreatment through the rejection and denial of political campaign space on our station, we wish to state categorically and emphatically that at no time did we reject or deny the Presidential Candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) broadcast space on our Station – Africa Independent Television (AIT). It has always been our policy to open up the democratic space to all the broad spectrum of actors in the political horizon”, it noted.
The station challenged Mallam Garba Shehu to state the names of the Officer(s)Department(s) that he dealt with wherein the materials that he wanted aired were outrightly rejected ;the Officer(s) that returned the monies for the commercials that he claimed were rejected.
It added that as a station, it is guided by provisions of the Nigerian Broadcast Code adding that its entire operational modus operandi is based on the provisions of the code.
“We subscribe to the laws of the land as enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as amended, and other Acts of the National Assembly. We are guided by the tenets of media practice which are professionalism, fairness, objectivity and balance irrespective of political affiliation. . At the beginning of the electioneering process meant to herald the 2015 Elections and as has been our practice since 1999, we opened our stations to all the contesting political parties and their respective candidates on all our broadcast platforms; RayPower FM, Faaji FM and Africa Independent Television (AIT).
“We gave all the candidates the opportunity to espouse their political programmes on dedicated programmes on all our platforms free of charge. In the course of appraising the media bookings by all the political players, we realized that between the two major political parties, the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s media bookings were rather low.
“Without prompting, we constituted a marketing committee deliberately for the All Progressives Congress (APC) headed by our own Hajia Nafisat Aliu.
“In accordance with the ethics of our business; media bookings, the terms of the contract, the discount offered amongst others are usually contractual obligations which are sacrosanct and exclusive only to the parties involved but if and when the need arises, we are willing and ready to tender all the contract documents to the public for their information and knowledge.
“ We feel pained, disappointed and betrayed by the allegation of maltreatment of All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaigns by Mallam Garba Shehu who at various times requested for unusual discounts and concessions, at short notices, which we often obliged in our spirited efforts of ensuring that we engaged all political parties; most especially the All Progressives Congress (APC) in our broadcasts so that we would be to all parties”, the statement said.
