Hate Speech: Emir of Kano Tasks Media Chiefs on Ethics

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

The Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi II, has said accommodating hate speech and inflammatory comments by FM Stations in the state was a recipe for disaster at the time Kano is in dire need of a lasting peace.

Speaking at a meeting with Chief Executives of the respective FM Radio stations in Kano at his palace yesterday, Sanusi said the attitude of giving access to political jobbers to engage in negative and destructive spin can ignite tension and cause chaos in a volatile city like Kano, adding that as respective heads of their stations, they have an abiding obligation to nip the trend in the bud.

According to him, there were rules and regulations guiding the practice of the journalism profession which the practitioners of the pen must strive to uphold, stressing that it was the sole responsibility of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to monitor the activities and operations of radio stations everywhere in the country for the excesses of masters of negative spin to be checked.

Citing the example of the recent murder of Bridget, the 70-year-old Igbo women hacked to death by an angry mob for allegedly blaspheming Prophet Muhammed to buttress his point, the monarch said the issue was blown out of proportion and highly politicised by those who hide under the right to freedom of expression to settle their scores.

He however stated that it was the highest act of professional irresponsibility for the FM stations to give an unimpeded access to politicians to spit venom on peoples’ reputation simply because Nigeria was in the grip of a democratic rule.

Speaking on behalf of the radio stations’ chiefs, the Managing Director, Radio Kano, Hajiya Saadatu Babaji, assured the monarch that the radio stations in the state would strive to maintain a high standard of professionalism in discharging their duties stressing that as gate keepers of their respective organizations they all had a vital role to play.

Also speaking, the General Manager, Pyramid Radio FM, Alhaji Garba Ubale Dambatta, stressed the need for the monarch’s intervention in case they derailed, pointing out that with the influence of the emir as a father, he was at an ample liberty to call everyone to order.