By Judith Eshemitan, Lagos
President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the re-issuance of Presidential Villa Press Pass to Deutsche Welle correspondent, Ubale Musa, who was expelled from the villa by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan.
While presenting the reissued Villa Press Pass to Musa at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, disclosed that the re-accreditation of Musa as a State House correspondent was in keeping with Buhari’s commitment to correct the wrongs of the past.
He said, “Part of the change promised by President Buhari is correcting things that were wrongly done before. Mr. Ubale Musa’s accreditation was wrongly withdrawn. To redress the wrong done to him by the withdrawal, we have returned his Villa Press Pass to him so that he can continue his work without hindrance.’’
After receiving his reissued Villa Press Pass, Musa thanked the President and his media team for restoring his accreditation; promising that he would continue to do his work as a State House correspondent objectively, professionally and with due regards to the ethics of journalism.
It would be recalled that Musa was expelled in the last days of Jonathan’s administration for asking visiting Chadian President, Idris Derby, a question the ex-President and his handlers considered to be embarrassing.
Commending Buhari for recalling the expelled journalist, the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), in a statement by its National Secretary, Shuaibu Leman, described the restoration of Musa’s accreditation as a commitment of the present administration towards press freedom and openness in government’s affairs.
According to the union, the development would avail the citizens an opportunity to understand the efforts of the government on national issues and would clear doubt and speculation.
The statement which was released on Tuesday read, “The media will support the Buhari administration’s commitment to sustainable growth of the Nigerian economy, through fair and unbiased decisions on key economic policies and the fight against corruption and insecurity. We commend this heart-warming decision.”
The post Buhari Recalls Expelled Deutsche Welle Correspondent appeared first on Daily Independent, Nigerian Newspaper.