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Former Minister of Education, Chinwe Obaji Ar...Read the full article.

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This is very interesting ...I wonder if she had given Kema her dues the petitition would have ever been forwarded. Kema herself should be arrested for seeking gratuity. This our Nigeria self, na wah.

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If Kema wants to be the governor of Imo State, this could be an example that she will make a bad leader. I wonder o!

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This whole story stinks to high heavens:

*Former education minister arrested for corruption. (Oh
really? That's unfortunate but hopefully good news in the "war
against corruption" - or maybe not).

*She was 'outed' by Kema Chikwe
(Hmm..really? Is this some cat fight here? Sniff..sniff!)

*Unconfirmed sources close to Presidency says the former
minister was seen as getting too close to Baba before she was
fired. (Oh please..any mature reporters out there to give us
better quality report?)

*Plus the former minister drew the ire of her friend Chikwe for
not 'whetting' Chikwe's palms after the getting her previous job
as education minister on Chikwe's recommendation. (Hissssss!
Will our journalists please grow up and not publish village
gossip that cannot be corroborated!)

It seems that "our sources said" is now the official method of
character assassination - deliberate or otherwise - in Nigeria.
Some stories published as news today sound just like street
gossip of illiterate vendors than of professional journalists.

Like this:

"This source also revealed that Obaji may have been a
victim of Kema Chikwe’s unrelenting zeal to grab power at all cost
by sacrificing her best friend. “Obaji’s husband is well to do. He
owns several petrol stations in Imo state even before she became
a minister. He can afford to buy a land or a house in Abuja without
stealing government money.” The source said.

And:

"We also gathered that the fallout between Obaji and her mentor,
Chikwe is not unconnected with Obaji’s refusal to meet a verbal
agreement between both parties before she was appointed minister.
Though we do not have details of the agreement between both
parties, our sources said it involves some gratification to be paid to
Kema Chikwe for recommending Obaji to the president."

O gosh! I can just imagine the source giving the reporter this
info in his local dialect - the kind of jist anyone can glean from a
beer palour.

Anyways, this is all market gossip for some of us. Apart from the
news report of the alleged arrest, the rest is just hogwash of junk
journalism.

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Auspicious,

O ma she o! (Thank you very much). The only thing missing from this beer parlour gossip is that Obaji and Kema got into a physical fight and name calling over Baba himself. Anybody with access to an Abuja beer parlour and the Internet can write any nonsense about the "powers that be and their relatives" and serve it "hot" "hot" to us.

I mean, who are the people that put any stock by stories like this? Not a single shred of credibility. Sources unamed ko, beer parlor Madam and her patrons ni. :rolleyes:

Sisimi

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Did someone say, All hail Baba the congo shiner? DW, your crown is being contested o.

What is it with Education Ministers these days? Always getting arrested. Oby, softly softly o.

Aluta!

Gwobezentashi

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Responsible journalism demands that when an investigation is ongoing the press should refrain from publishing mere opinions as facts.

When one minister risks her friendship in the interest of national reform and her actions are giving wrong motives by the press will any other person be willing to do so?

The press is one of Nigeria's biggest problems and when the weight of the law is brought down upon them, hell is let loose. Is the press above the law?

If the pen is mightier than the sword, then the punishment for the misuse of the pen should be mightier than the punishment for the misuse of the sword. This is nothing but character assassination.
A reform is badly needed in the Nigerian press.

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Oluye

I feel your vibe on responsible journalism. However, it has to be said that there is a distinction between professional journalists and citizen journalists. It is not everybody that writes an opinion piece on the internet that can be classified as a journalist. It is my thinking that journalists working for reputable media houses, and earning their living from such endeavours would normally show more restraint in their news stories, since they would have more (reputation, credibility etc) at stake, unlike members of our constituency (internet citizen writers) who have no reputable media base, and do not earn from their writings etc

There may be an argument therefore for some kind of regulation of internet punditry/opinion writing, this should be practitioner - led, the greater onus may also lie on the web administrators to check, check and re-check these 'breaking news' type stories, if not, the portals may slide towards sensationalism a la Lawrence Akapa's Top News magazine. (see also the raging Chi-Chi Iweala rejoinder on another thread)

You may remember that we were served 'Mrs Okonji-Iweala's resignation' as 'breaking news last week, i posit that these mad rushes to be first with the news (based on pure speculation) spells doom for all of us who ply our trade and punditry on the internet.

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Oluye:

You said: "The press is one of Nigeria's biggest problems and when
the weight of the law is brought down upon them, hell is let loose.
Is the press above the law?"

Of all the problems that beleagure this nation-state called Nigeria,
the least of them is the Press. I strongly disagree with the notion
that the press is one of our biggest problems.

The press - the Media - has been generally progressive and has
been seen to be on the side of progressive ideas that better the
lot of the Nigerian people. We actually owe a lot of our freedoms to
the press in Nigeria. No? Anyone?

A few bad eggs is not enough reason to generalize about the
Nigerian press. Plus, the effect, if any, of the Media's constribution
to our multi-faceted problems will be infinitessimal anyways if one
makes a honest appraisal of these problems.

Press ke? What's that proverb again...yeah: don't give a dog a
bad name to hang it jere. Press? Ahn-ahn bros..e rora joo! (Easy
please!) The Press is one of the few factors/organs (as you wish)
in our society that doesn't invoke the type of pessimism and
cynicism that other factors of life in our society invoke or elicit.

I stand to be corrected.

*Ethnocentricity nko? Even here @ NVS. Ehn-hen, now that's what
you call a problem!

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Auspicious,

Hope nothing, you are just taking my thoughts and writing them before me today. Sho ara e o! (Be careful o!) I agree with you that the press is not the problem. If anything, the press deserves a lot of accolades for all what it has been doing. We have a very vibrant and productive media. We have a lot of brilliant minds and they are working hard even though there is still much to be desired.

Also, I have no problem with "citizen journalists" as Uche calls them. If I were a journalist, I would try to get my name back from them but ah no be journalist so who gives? We all just have to know that the Internet is free and should remain free for anyone to shoot off. So, we should not assume that there is any credibility to what the citizen journalists say until they are able to demonstrate over a period that they are credible.

I take anything from Sunny Ofili and co. with a handful of salt and this last contribution has shown me that I am right. With Sowore, I am much less pessimistic. With Elendu and his side kick, the Prince, it is a grain of salt. So, they all have their uses. Some of them are more for entertainment value and to demonstration of incredulity at the power of human imagination than anything else. But to say that they are a problem or that we should regulate them is totally out of the question in my opinion. Mba, this is the NET: It is and should remain free.

Let a thousand flowers (and weeds too) bloom, abeg. The Naija military mentality of everything must be regulated, we should try and do away with it when we are on the NET.

Sisimi