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VICE PRESIDENT SHETTIMA URGES JOURNALISTS TO SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER WITHOUT ANTAGONIZING GOVERNMENT

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  Nicolas Adekeye / 4 days
• 0
• 2 min read

Vice President Kashim Shettima has called on media professionals in Nigeria to focus on objectively speaking truth to power rather than antagonizing the government. He made this charge during the public presentation of the book “Persona Non Grata” authored by seasoned journalist Ismail Omipidan at the Ladi Kwali Hall of the Abuja Continental Hotel. The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media & Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, in a statement, stated that Senator Shettima emphasized the importance of drawing a distinction between antagonizing the government and speaking truth to power. “What must be spelt out is that there is a distinction between antagonising a government and speaking truth to power. The latter is driven by a noble principle to serve a greater good and a deserving humanity,” Shettima said. Nkwocha noted that Shettima pointed out that to build a nation that can be described as an ideal state, journalists must be allowed to serve as the nation’s conscience. Shettima told the journalists that apart from speaking truth to power, the nation also needs them to serve as the country’s conscience. “No political leader, however sincere their intentions, can excel beyond the scale of the knowledge at their disposal, and this is particularly telling in our political space,” he said. Stanley Nkwocha stated that Shettima observed that the real courage required to serve as the conscience of the nation lies in resisting compromise in one’s pursuit of truth. Shettima also described the author of the book, Omipidan, as a journalist who has shown that true allegiance isn’t to oneself, but to one’s society. He recommended Omipidan’s book to both practicing and aspiring journalists, as well as any professional seeking to find a balance between their allegiance to self and to truth. “The man on whose invitation we gather here today must not go down in our history as either a persona non grata or a provocateur,” Shettima said.