Buhari revokes Aso Rock ban on Deutsche Welle reporter

After nearly two months of being barred from the presidential villa, President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday restored the accreditation of Ubale Musa, a Deutsche Welle correspondent.

Ubale’s accreditation was withdrawn for asking questions that the Nigerian authorities considered embarrassing.

Ubale had asked President Idriss Déby of Chad about the whereabouts of Abubakar Shekau, the Boko Haram leader, making reference to a statement by the Chadian leader in March to the effect that the sect’s leader had been seen in Dikwa, Borno state.

Musa also asked about the relationship between the multinational task force fighting in Lake Chad and the South African mercenaries fighting with them in the Sambisa forest.

Though Deby responded to the question, saying he did not know the whereabouts of Shekau, the security  personnel at the villa waited for the visiting president to leave before ejecting Musa from  Aso Rock.

However, Femi Adesina, special adviser to the president on media and publicity, presented a re-issued press pass to the reporter on Monday.

Adesina explained that Musa’s re-accreditation as a state house correspondent was in line with Buhari’s commitment of 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 Ubale Musa’s accreditation was wrongly withdrawn,” he said.

“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 any hindrance.”

Responding, Musa thanked the president and his media team for restoring his accreditation.

He promised to continue doing his work objectively, professionally and with due regard for the ethics of journalism.