AIT

AIT’s Upcoming Documentaries

/ Adeola / Leave a comment

The Tiger Of Aso Rock, TheCrook On The Minna Hill, Criminal Couple From Otuoke, How Nigerian Transgender, Alamieyeseigha Fled London, Telephone Is Not For The Poor-David Mark, Boko Haram Is In My Government-The Inside Story, Drug Baron Heads Yoruba PDP, Sex, Drugs And Aviation-A FFK Story, The Jet-Age Of Looting NNPC, A Diezani history, Mrs. Jonathan, From National To International Embarrassment, Nigerian House Of Representa-thieves and Legis-looters, 30 Trillion Subsidy Scams-How PDP And Jonathan’s Economy Team Raped Nigeria. 

AIT’s Upcoming Documentaries

By Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

Adeola Aderounmu

African Independent Television (AIT) is running a documentary on Bola Ahmed Tinubu or a man they also claimed is Yekini Ogunleye.

It’s been over 5 years since l last watched any program on AIT. I gave up on them when Ibrahim Babangida, Nigeria’s foremost tropical gangster, bought Raymond Dokpesi, the owner of DAAR Communications and AIT.

Bola Tinubu has taken his case to court. That is not unexpected. He is a grown man and his lawyers are at it.

I may have seen an abridged version of the documentary. I was disappointed that l did not see the names of the producers of the Lion Of Bourdillion. I did not see the name of the narrator. The year of production and all other details that usually go with such a production were missing from the version l saw online.

I simply hope that the original version contains these information.

Some footages that need acknowledgement were also used.  It will amount to an extremely poor piece of journalism if the version l saw was the original version.

In any case, l imagined if Nigerian private television stations have been airing these types of documentaries since 1960, maybe Nigeria would have been a saner country, a better place.

I don’t know what proportion of the report is true or false. That is Tinubu’s headache. He and his legal team can roll with that.

The short arm of the law system in Nigeria has really made a mess of many court cases and proceedings.  I am not a fan of the Nigerian judiciary that is heavily compromised and saddled with corruption. I wish Tinubu and Daar Communications/AIT a wonderful time at the endless proceedings at the ridiculous Nigerian court of law.

Irrespective of what is true or false in the Tinubu documentary which partly looks like an advertorial for the government of Lagos State, it is a welcome development. If the PDP paid for the production and airing of the documentary, it will be a pinch of salt from the 21 billion naira raised in one day by various criminals and vested interests supporting Jonathan’s re-election. I wish AIT goodluck.

Since AIT has now ventured into investigative journalism and digging up both the past and present, it would be more interesting to see the follow up episodes.

I will like to see The Crook On The Minna Hill. In this anticipated episode, AIT should tell us how Ibrahim Babangida stole the money that Nigeria made during the gulf war. They should tell us why or how the same law system that failed to catch up with Tinubu failed to catch up with Babangida. AIT can even extend the documentary on how one Mr. Raymond Dokpesi could have benefitted from the stolen 12 billion dollars several years later. It will be a blockbuster!

I will like to see the Criminal Couple From Otuoke. In this story AIT can tell us how one Patience Jonathan was investigated on several occasions by the EFCC while her husband was the deputy governor and later governor of Bayelsa State.

AIT super investigators can tell us whose money she was looting and under whose watch they were been stolen. An update of the story can include how the Jonathans have looted the Nigerian treasuries directly and indirectly since they got promoted to Aso Rock by Obasanjo.

A documentary closely related to the Criminal Couple From Otueke will be How Nigerian Transgender, Alamieyeseigha Fled London. AIT may find the connection between the father (Alams) and son (Jonathan) of Bayelsans. Sometimes it is the prodigal son that forgives the unrepentant father.

Since AIT knows about Tinubu’s drug business, they may also probably highlight Jonathan’s drinking problems as well as his domestic and official  weaknesses. If some serious investigative journalism is carried out AIT may be the first company to publish Jonathan’s Phd thesis online.

Good luck AIT, hope you hit another blockbuster!

The people of Nigeria will like to see the documentary titled; Telephone Is Not For The Poor-David Mark. When AIT is done with this production they will be able to explain to millions of middle and low class households how there landlines vanished from the telephone catalogues and for real in the twinkle of an eye.

By doing some serious journalistic work like they did with Tinubu, AIT may sucessfully trace Nigeria’s budget for communication under David Mark and Babangida to some Islands or Tax Havens around the world. Let the search begins!

AIT can even continue with the story of Mark by analysing how much money has disappeared from the Senate under his watch. They may even uncover his plot to rule Nigeria under the rumoured interim government. Who knows?

In the world of documentaries and investigative journalism, there are no limits. AIT can look at the option of making a documentary titled: OBJ, Poor Farmer, Rich President. They may uncover how Obasanjo’s salaries helped him to rejuvenate his farm.

To make the documentary interesting they should look at the role of Obasanjo in the emergence of Yar Adua and Jonathan.  Where did the money for the campaigns come from and which state suffered for it? AIT can even tell those who do not know where the man who sponsored the campaign is today.

There are so many attack and watch dogs in and around Aso rock today.

What about AIT trying to make a documentary about a story or two that I’d written about. Imagine Sex, Drugs and Aviation! AIT, you have my permission to use my research material to do a series on Femi Fani-Kayode. He is a drug abuser, a woman beater and a former looter of the Ministry of Aviation. Don’t you think it will be an interesting investigative documentary to see the kind of campaign coordinator superivsing the Otueke couple?

One Doyin Okupe was alleged to have stolen from the people and government of Imo and Benue States. For him, you can do the Tiger Of Aso Rock. The documentary will show where to run for cover after perpetrating crimes at the state levels, a kind of graduation that is.

My parents are from the South Western part of Nigeria which makes me a yoruba by birth. I will like to see a documentary on The Drug Baron Leading The Yoruba PDP in South Western Nigeria. As my contribution to this documentary, I will like to pay for his return trip to the United States. Please mail me when he’s ready to fly, it seems you have him in your good books.

AIT common now, there are many, many series you can run. Your followership will grow nationally and internationally you’ll never go bankrupt again even after Jonathan’s reign of tyranny.

There is a man called Ali Modu Sheriff. He is a close associate of Jonathan and an alleged sponsor of Boko Haram. Go deeper into the allegation and tell us what you find in the Revelation Of Sambissa.

An alternative to the above will be How The Opposition Sponsors Terror. I think Nigeria and Nigerians will be intellectually richer when you have produced all the above documentaries. Perhaps you’ll help clueless Jonathan unravel the missing links between the opposition parties and Boko Haram.

Oh, l almost forgot. You should make a series on Nigeria’s House Of Representa-thieves and Legis-looters. You will not lack the materials to work with on this one. You just need to prove or disprove that the Nigerian National Assembly for example is the most expensive to run in the world.

You need to help Nigerians uncover the mysterious sums that go down the drain daily. Do a statistical analysis and see if the amount of wastage is positively or negatively correlated to laziness and the sleeping hours in both houses.

What about a neutral topic like Religous Country, Wicked People? Make several visits to the churches and mosques, try to explain the poverty index, crime rate and mumuism followership both religiously and politically.

You can show or disprove that religion leads to intellectual laziness, negligence of social obligations, lack of tolerance, bad government, blind faith and organized political crime.

To ensure that your documentary series last for several seasons, here are more suggestions:

  • Memory Lane, the Politicians And Soldiers Who Looted and Destroyed Nigeria, 1960-2015 (Part 1-20)
  • The Chibok Girls, Jonathan’s Changing Tunes
  • A Dictator Turned Democrat-Mission Impossible 4
  • Boko Haram Is In My Government-The Inside Story
  • Fashola: Productive or Destructive Product Of the Lion Of Bourdillion
  • APC States Versus PDP States: The Lions And The Tigers
  • Multiple Cross-Carpeting And Mental Health In Nigeria-A Political Approach To Medicine
  • APC To PDP And Vice Versa: The Recyling of Political Morons In A People Passive Society
  • Clueless Personified: Stealing Is Not Corruption-Evidence of Stupidity
  • Mrs. Patience Jonathan, From National To International Embarrassment
  • 30 Trillion Subsidy Scams-How PDP And Jonathan’s Economy Team Raped Nigeria
  • The Jet-Age Of Looting NNPC, A Diezani history
  • The Useless Roles Of Private and Public Media In Nigeria

Dear AIT and management, these suggestions should keep you busy for the next 10 years. When you start, you will see that there are several more areas of investigative journalism that will make your station the envy of global journalism.

Please feel free to contact me for more suggestions should you and your production crew run of of ideas or scripts.

I hope you find genuine sponsors from around the globe and that your employees will receive local and international awards for their investigations. This will move you and your employees away from the disgraceful brown enevelope, food-for-the-belly syndrome.

Nigerians will be more enlightened, the politicians may sit up. The judiciary may have finally met their own watch dogs. The disoriented police force may find their lost ryhthms and start doing their jobs rather than shooting civilians at the ratio of 20:1.

The documentary on Tinubu should not be the end. DAAR Communications, go to court and fight your case.

I wish you goodluck at AIT and at the trial.

The pen is mightier than the sword!

aderounmu@gmail.com

Nigeria: The Media, Politics, State of the Nation and the Fear of the Truth

/ Adeola / 9 Comments

Adeola Aderounmu

There are obvious reasons why the Nigeria media is always short of expressions to drive home serious points when it concerns national issues and how it affects our lives. I can attest to the fact that Nigeria is not left alone in this media suppression of some sort. However the dimension it takes and the overall effects on the values of our lives in Nigeria leave much to be desired.

The other day one journalist with the Nigerian Guardian Newspaper was brutally murdered in his home. Bayo Ohu was a political journalist and his assassination will never be solved. The only thing we will get out of his death will be speculation and hypothesis. Those who work in the Guardian and his colleagues will probably have a clue as to what he was writing about or investigating before he met his brutal death.

There are countless other situations where journalists have been murdered in Nigeria. I am not surprised; journalists especially investigative journalists working on sensitive matters have met their untimely deaths in different parts of the world. Russia gives a typical situation here because quite a number of Russian journalists have been murdered too and like Nigeria the cases are never solved.

The Nigerian government does not usually tolerate criticism from media houses. The security service is always quick in seizing computers and closing down media houses in Nigeria. The Guardian, Channels TV and even AIT have at one time or the other experienced the evil and dictatorial arm of the Nigerian government. The craziest thing is that it doesn’t matter if it is the military or civilian government, once the government is uncomfortable with a report; it closes down the media outfit without notice or warning. Welcome to Nigeria..!

Now you can understand why authentic news or information about Nigeria are more reliable from external sources, I mean from outside Nigeria or on the web. Because if a Nigerian Newspaper for example carries an editorial tomorrow asking for the resignation of Mr. Yar Adua that media outfit will probably be closed down. The editors can be charged for treason and believe me, many families will be rendered helpless from the saga. Fathers will probably be behind cells for weeks or months and sources of livelihood will be terminated abruptly.

So there are no truths-saying media outfits in Nigeria. Sometimes some of them try to state the truth but they polish it and apply extreme diplomacy. It is hard to find a physical media outfit in Nigeria that takes a stand against the wrong doing of the politicians or the government at large. I have not read any newspaper that is bold enough to say that Mr. Ibori is a thief for example.

But seriously the Nigerian Media need to do a rethinking and despite the high risk they need to take a stand on national issues. Their passivity is contributing to the wretchedness in Nigeria. I know the risk but the truth is if all of them decide to start giving the government hard knocks I don’t think the government can close down all the media houses.

One key issue is that a number of the media houses are own by thieves and politicians who have stolen from the treasury. So in delicate principle it is hard for such media houses to crititicise the government. The hands of the owner are not clean and blackmail comes in cheap. Another related issue is that the pervading poverty has turned some aspects of journalism into a hand-to-mouth affair. Many journalists collect bribes to write favourable reports about thieves in power. Nigerian journalists are not immune from the corruption and hopelessness that has taken over the entire country.

It appears that in every aspect of our lives we are entangled, almost entirely entrapped. We have reached that point where there is no easy way forward. Nigeria is at a puzzled crossroad where the possibility to make one correct decision about our existence must drag along with it multiple options of how to deal with the entanglement. Indeed we are in trouble.

Out troubles are compounded by our actions and wrongfully inclined mentality inflicted by several years of misrule. In 2009 approaching 50 years of our existence as an independent country there are very few things to boast about.

If we are seeking ways out our media must start reporting things the way they are. We have no water in our homes unless we spend our hard earned money to make bore holes and buy pumping machines. There is no electricity and the people who stole the monies meant for the facility are walking free, our media houses should name them and shame them. The time to be bold is now. Our schools are in rot and almost no teaching is taking place. Cheats have taken over! We have a minister for education waiting for the media to scrutinize and expose more and more.

In our houses of assembly, both local and national, there are men and women of dishonour, sitting idly, awarding contracts, forming committees, paying themselves huge salaries and allowances!!! What is the media doing to expose these lazy thieves? If the media was good enough David Mark would never stay 1 week as the senate president! How can a looter and a known thief head the Nigerian senate? Where are our investigative journalists? I don’t mean the internet bloggers.

If the media had been sincere and bold we will never have allowed the fraud of 2007 to stay. Mr Iwu and Mr Obasanjo dictated for us, on behalf of the invisible cabal, who should be our next dictator. They gave us a terribly sick man and now we are all sick! Nigeria is a laughing stock in the comity of nations.

I must stop but I hope that the media would be bolder. I know the risk; I mean who wants to write that Obasanjo is a thief only to be found dead the next day, in cold blood? Who wants to write that Yar Adua is a stupid man for not building hospitals in Katsina or Abuja only to be shot dead or assassinated in the presence of his children? Nigeria is too delicate for the truth, but the TRUTH we must say even if it means laying down our lives. Afterall nobody will leave this world alive and only the truth can give us and our children that freedom, independence and justice that have eluded this failed country for almost 50 years…!

Rest In Peace, Ladi Lawal

/ Adeola / 1 Comment

By Adeola Aderounmu

I mourn the death of Ladi Lawal. He was the Group Managing Director of DAAR Communications, owners of AIT, AFRICAN INDEPENDENT TELEVISION.

Ladi Lawal WAS a symbol of the Nigerian struggle for real democracy and emancipation of the masses. He worked tirelessly and endlessly to contribute to the development of journalism and sports in Nigeria.

I would not to able to highlight all of his achievements and contributions here. His life is worth documenting in a book for posterity to learn from.

Condolence have poured in from all the four corners of Nigeria and even from France and the United States through the US Embassy in Nigeria.

His death is a real blow and a tragedy to Nigeria.

May Ladi’s soul find peace.