The Hausa Service Editor of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), Aliyu Abdullahi Tanko, has announced his resignation amid claim by a former staff member, Halima Umar Salah, that she experienced harassment at work in her days in the organisation.
“Journalism is not for the weak, especially if you are a woman. I had challenges and difficult moment at the BBC Hausa service. There’s someone who harboured intense dislike towards me for no reason. I was emotionally drained and would often break down in tears. And despite my efforts to understand the cause, he wouldn’t explain himself.
“He even went as far as threatening to get me expelled from BBC Hausa and subjected me to constant harassment. When I confronted him, asking what I had done wrong, he admitted that I hadn’t done anything wrong in my work. He even praised my work, saying I was doing my job well,” Halima told Arewa24 in an interview that went viral and sparked public outrage online in which BBC came under criticism, with some commentators attributing the act of maltreatment to Tanko.
The latter in an interview with Daily Trust denied the charge and confirmed his rumoured resignation.
“They are not true. It is just newsroom politics. Yes, I have resigned. They haven’t replied yet,” the publication quoted him as saying.
