An unholy alliance between Dakuku Peterside and Nigeria Info FM, a Port Harcourt radio station have been uncovered.
Investigations reveal that Peterside, the defeated All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate for Rivers governorship has engaged Nigeria Info FM, a Lebanese owned radio station to run a campaign of calumny against Governor Nyesom Wike.
According to our sources, the deal was struck after the Supreme Court judgement which went against Peterside and in favour of Wike. The radio station has been formally contracted by Peterside with the sole aim of airing libelous and fabricated reports against the Rivers State governor and his government.
Our sources in APC say that the party has planted paid callers to call into specified Nigeria Info programmes when they air for the purpose of disseminating false propaganda against Wike. Peterside, we gathered, is nursing a 2019 ambition and is trying to lay the groundwork by trying to destroy Wike’s legacy.
On Thursday, February 11, 2016, the first of such series was aired with a planted caller who claimed to be a revenue collector. He was unable to properly identify himself but the anchor allowed him to proceed to make libelous comments about the Rivers Governor without any challenge. Thereafter, several APC paid agents called in using fictitious names to submit more falsehood against the governor.
Our reporter spoke with residents of Port Harcourt who listen to the radio station and there is a general consensus that Nigeria Info FM has been bought over by the APC to run its propaganda machine.
Mr. Jack Pepple, a business consultant who spoke to our reporter said, “I find it curious and insulting, quite frankly, that a Lebanese [owned] Radio station would accept to run propaganda programmes to run down our governor, Wike. Not only that, but they would use a Ghanaian presenter to insult our government and our people because we gave him the mandate, he did not put himself there.”
Another listener, Timi Oruwari, an engineer commenting on this said, “I think the government should complain to the regulatory body for broadcasting, NBC, I think. It is unacceptable for a radio station meant to provide fair and balanced news to be an agent for a political party. That is what I think.”
“How odd is it, that in a radio programme not one caller called in to speak positively of the governor or moderate criticism. All the callers were sounding like embittered APC activists,” Mr. Oruwari asked.
