Muhammadu Buhari-led presidency yesterday restored the press pass of Ubale Musa, a journalist with Deutsche Welle radio who was thrown out of the villa for asking visiting Chadian president, Idris Deby some ’embarrassing questions’ in March.
Ubale had asked the Chadian President the whereabouts of Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, making reference to a statement by Deby in March that Shekau had been seen in Dikwa, Borno state.
Ubale also enquired about the relationship between the multinational task force fighting in Lake Chad and the South African mercenaries fighting with them in the Sambisa forest. Although the Chadian president obliged him and answered his questions, the security personnel at the villa waited for the visiting president to leave before ejecting Ubale from Aso Rock.
Presenting the re-issued Press Pass to the correspondent at the Presidential Villa, the Special Adviser to the President (Media & Publicity), Mr. Femi Adesina said that Mr. Musa’s re-accreditation as a State House correspondent was in keeping with President Buhari’s commitment to correcting the wrongs of the past.
“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 Ubale Musa’s accreditation was wrongly withdrawn.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,” Mr. Adesina said.
In his brief remarks after receiving his Villa Press Pass, Mr. Musa thanked President Buhari and his media team for restoring his accreditation.
He promised that he will continue to do his work as a State House Correspondent objectively, professionally and with due regard for the ethics of journalism.
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