Segun Showunmi, spokesperson for former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, the 2023 presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has criticised Arise Television and its anchor, Rufai Oseni, over what he described as “repeated breaches of broadcast professionalism.”
In a post shared on his social media page titled “Enough is Enough: When Broadcasters Become the Story,” Showunmi condemned what he termed “provocation and partisan aggression” by some television anchors. He urged the management of the station and the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to take decisive action.
“When television anchors abandon professionalism for provocation, it becomes the duty of the station’s management to call them to order,” Showunmi wrote. “But when that failure becomes routine, the National Broadcasting Commission must step in. What can be excused from a citizen’s podcast cannot, and must not, be tolerated from a licensed national broadcaster.”
He accused Arise TV and its anchor of crossing professional boundaries, saying they had “constituted themselves into self-appointed prosecutors, judges, and enemies of the state under the guise of journalism.”
Showunmi also called on the supervising Ministry of Information to intervene, stressing that freedom of expression should not be misconstrued as a license to abuse.
“The media must enlighten, not incite. It must inform, not inflame,” he added. “Regulation is not repression; it is the defence of sanity and national interest. The time has come to draw the line.”
The statement, signed by the PDP Chieftain, Otunba Segun Showunmi of The Alternative Movement, has stirred conversations across social and political circles about media ethics, professionalism, and the role of regulatory bodies in ensuring balanced journalism.
