Former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu, has said that the Chairman, Editorial Board of The Nation, Sam Omatseye, “is not a trained journalist.”
Omatseye recently lambasted Dr. Orji who is the publisher of The Sun and New Telegraph newspapers in his column, In Touch in The Nation over a story published by The Sun suggesting that Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu has moved against President Muhammadu Buhari’s interests and has been placed under security surveillance.
He wrote: “Only a Kalu could have encouraged a headline last Saturday saying that Asiwaju Tinubu was under surveillance for a plot against Buhari. Publishers like him make editors look unprofessional.
“The story did not pass Journalism 101 test. If there was surveillance, what was the nature? The man was not even around? Two, if there was a plot, what was the nature of the plot, to overthrow him as President – which is treason; or to unseat him in APC?”
In reaction to the attack, the ex-governor through a statement issued by Mr. Kunle Oyewunmi said Omatseye fell into grave error on account of his lack of training as a journalist.
The statement reads in part; “We wonder how a supposedly seasoned writer and editorial board chair could not distinguish between propaganda and purely professional reportage in his pecuniary bohemianism. This is, indeed, unprofessionalism demonstrated by rascally Omatseye.
“It is utterly embarrassing and provocative that Omatseye could allow himself to be led by the nose by the government specious rebuttal of The Sun story. The fact that government debunked the story does not make it fictitious. Is vicious Omatseye saying that no government has denied stories published by his medium? Do such predictable face-saving gobbledygooks affect the authenticity of such stories?
“In any case, is Omatseye saying that Tinubu, as the publisher of The Nation, determines what the newspaper publishes? If that is the convention in his organisation, it is an entirely different case in The Sun and New Telegraph titles, as Kalu has never interfered in the editorial policy and content of the titles in his newspaper establishments.
“In addition, for purposes of argument, even if that was the routine, is it not against the ethics of journalism for publishers to kill stories as expected by Omatseye, who knows full well that Kalu does not meddle in his publications?
“We sympathise with brazen Sam Omatseye on grounds of his not being a trained journalist or even a news reporter so as to understand the distinction between news reporting and poetry, which incapacitates his knowledge of the rudiments of the calling which all Mass Communication sophomores know.”
