Some Media Houses Using Presidential Debates To Insult Politicians — Orji Kalu

Senate Chief Whip Orji Uzor Kalu has accused some media houses of turning their platforms into avenues for insulting politicians in the country.

Kalu said this yesterday in Abuja while addressing reporters on presidential debates organised by some broadcast stations ahead of the 2023 general election.

He said the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, did the right thing by not honouring the invitation of a national television station that organised such a debate recently.

The Abia North senator insisted that rather than attend such debates, he would go and sell his programmes to the electorate.

Kalu said: “Well, let me tell you: they turn it into an insult. If I were Bola Tinubu, I would not go there (the debate). I don’t pretend; I’m not a politician that pretends.

“Tinubu is even wise to be responding to them. If I were the one, I wouldn’t answer them. I would shut up and not talk to any of them.

“Rather, I would go to the people that will vote. Journalists have turned the media into an avenue for insulting politicians.”

“I get angry when I see people insulting me or even other politicians because I am an employer of labour.

“I am a politician with income. You don’t make me what you think I should be. I should be me, and I’m comfortable being me. Because I am a politician, you want me to eat sand instead of rice?”

The Senate Chief Whip noted that even though the presidential campaigns have been going on well, he would prefer that candidates of the major parties focus on what they will do for the country.

“I am tired of people abusing each other. We know everybody in the field… You will know everybody in the field and they know us.

“Nigerians know the major presidential candidates. You cannot continue to tell us history. Their spokespersons are not helping matters. They are busy talking from the Atlantic Ocean to the Sahara Desert, rather than telling us what they are going to do for the people.

“The people are tired of hearing this man did that and another one did this. We are tired of all this. You media should warn those spokespersons to embrace people-oriented programmes. They should tell us what their principals will do for us.

“We all know the capacity of each of them. Even when I campaign and tell people to vote for me, they decide at the end of the end. The decision to vote for a person at the end of the day lies with the voter. Ours is to do the marketing, through our campaigns.

“But what they are doing now is bad marketing and backlash. This is not what the people’s democracy looks like. It’s about what we can do for the people.

“They are de-marketing democratic parties through this. They should tell us how to improve the economy. Let them tell us how to stimulate the economy, how to live; talking about financing the economy.

“I’m interested in how the economy could change for the benefit of 300 million Nigerians and how businesses and industries will go back to manufacturing and agricultural production,” Kalu said.