Lere Olayinka, the Senior Special Assistant on Public Communications and Social Media to the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, has clarified that the minister’s controversial remark about Seun Okinbaloye was not a threat but a figurative expression.
The clarification was disclosed in a statement issued by the aide on Saturday.
Olayinka said that the comment was taken out of context.
“The Minister never meant that he would shoot Seun Okinbaloye. They even spoke on the phone today, and he (Okinbaloye) understood what the minister meant,” he said.
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Olayinka explained that the remark reflected thep minister’s frustration over what he perceived as a deviation from journalistic neutrality during a programme on Channels Television.
He added, “What the minister meant, which he made clear during the media chat, was that he was angry seeing Okinbaloye, whom he holds in high esteem as a journalist, descending into the political arena by speaking as an interested party instead of as an interviewer.
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“The statement made by the Minister was in a hyperbolic context, which was clearly without intent. It primarily used exaggeration to make a point.”
He further noted that the minister had already clarified his position during the live programme, adding that the comment was understood in context by those present.
“Even after the Minister made the clarifications on the live television programme, which had Chamberlain Uzor, Head of Channels Television’s Abuja Office, as part of the interviewers, all the journalists who were interviewing him just laughed.”
Olayinka argued that continued criticism of the remark despite the clarification was unfair and misleading.
“Therefore, after the Minister’s detailed explanation of what he meant, including saying on the live television programme that he did not mean that he would carry a gun and shoot the television anchor, it becomes a clear hatchet job for any individual or group to take the statement out of context and make an issue out of it.
“The public is therefore urged to discontinue the use of the comment as an instrument of blackmail and propaganda by those whose intent is to misrepresent facts for their political gains,” he concluded.
