By Amofokhai Williams
Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Festus Keyamo on Wednesday condemned the blockade that prevented NDC presidential candidate, Peter Obi from reaching the venue of his planned visit in Benue State, while accusing a section of the media of applying different standards depending on which party is involved.
Keyamo stated that the incident, in which angry protesters stopped Obi from proceeding, must be condemned by all men of goodwill.
He said it did not matter whether the protest stemmed from internal squabbles within the NDC, as the Benue State Government had suggested, or whether it was sponsored by the APC or any rival party. Such conduct, he insisted, should have no place in Nigeria’s democracy.
He noted that some critics had accused Obi of trying to whip up fresh emotions by seeking to visit Yelwata, the scene of killings more than a year earlier, for political gain, and that this had prompted the blockade.
That explanation, Keyamo said, was still unacceptable. Everyone, he added, should be free to move about and campaign without crude interference.
Keyamo then turned to what he described as the more troubling pattern: the spin routinely given such incidents by a partisan section of the press.
He disclosed that whenever an angry crowd confronts or molests an APC candidate, many headlines shamelessly present it as “rejection” by “Nigerians.”
“When the target is an opposition figure, the same press frames it as an “attack” by “sponsored thugs” or “hoodlums,” he said, urging Nigerians to examine most of the day’s headlines for confirmation.
That double standard, he stated, is what remains unacceptable. Keyamo revealed that many opposition leaders openly boast that APC candidates cannot enter certain parts of the country and shout “APC” without being stoned, beaten or molested, yet the partisan press neither calls out those leaders nor challenges the statements; instead, it often accentuates them.
“What is good for the goose is also good for the gander,” Keyamo said.
He demanded that the press extricate itself from such partisanship and treat all sides fairly.
He said that anyone angry with a candidate of any party should express that anger with a ballot paper on election day through a simple thumbprint, not through violent acts during campaigns.
