BEVERLY HILLS, June 24, (THEWILL) – Senate President, Abubakar Bukola Saraki, has declared that time will determine his position in the affairs of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Saraki made the declaration on Saturday night at a farewell dinner for delegates of the International Press Institute (IPI) World Congress which he hosted in Abuja.
He was responding to a comment by the Chairman, Daily Trust Newspapers, Kabiru Yusuf, who praised him for going to Saudi Arabia to perform the Lesser Hajj, went to Russia where he addressed the Russian parliament and returned home to attend the APC convention “a party to which he belongs but which increasingly does not belong to him.”
However, Saraki said, “Kabiru made a comment and said that he welcomes me as a member of the party and further said he is not sure if the party welcomes me as much as I welcome them.
“I am not going to comment on that because I will be here all night commenting on that. I won’t like to be the front page story but time will tell on that.”
“Already, based on this comment, I know most newspapers headline would be time will tell. So I won’t be surprised if I check This Day newspapers and I see: The Senate President says time will tell.”
On the IPI World Congress in Africa, Saraki expressed hope that in the near future Africa will receive nod to host it again.
He also expressed pleasure that the world’s best journalists, editors and media executives converged in Nigeria to explore the theme – ‘Why Good Journalism Matters: Quality Media For Strong Societies’.
He welcomed IPI officials to Nigeria and called for more regular visits, and indeed annual congresses, in Africa.
“This, I believe, will make for better understanding of Nigerians and Africans in the eyes of the international media. When international journalists themselves come in our midst and get the right position about Africa, the image of our continent will start to improve in the eyes of the world out there,” Saraki said.
The Senate President I noted that “in the era of Fake News, especially with the fragmentation of the social contract as we are witnessing all over the world today, it is clear to me that the media cannot afford to be complacent.”
The media, he insisted, “cannot allow itself to be complicit” saying “when false claims are made, which could heat up the polity – or set different groups off against one another – it behoves the media to expose these by countering with verifiable facts.
“So also, are the modes of relaying the news to an audience whose preference for receiving mass communication is also changing with each passing day,” he continued.
“The media must adapt for this rapidly changing environment, in order that the journalist may fulfill his or her role, in the Lincolnian tradition, as a defender of democracy.”
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