He said it was surprising that the journalists whom he labelled “would be Nollywood actors and Boko Haram journalists” had been allowed near the President to ask puerile questions. “They were making silly statements which proved that theirs was preplanned onslaught on a visiting Head of State,” he said.
“These are political activists masquerading as journalists who imagine their country as a model of democracy. That would not happen in Zimbabwe against any visiting head of State or Government, not even Barack Obama or David Cameron. The ‘journalists’ or whoever they are, were not asking questions, but were making fools of themselves and their country.”
Prof Moyo added: “If Nigeria journalism has come to this, then God help Nigeria since nobody has monopoly over such uncouth misconduct. It is a sad tale of a man biting a dog when journalists make the news they should be covering. Free countries have rules including diplomatic courtesy not the display of Boko Haram journalism. Of course those are human beings, but are they journalists or Boko Haram?
Responding to assertions that some members of the Zimbabwean security and protocol should be fired, Prof Moyo said: “The responsibility of protecting the President there squarely fell on the shoulders of Nigerian authorities. Our guys did a sterling job. That was a VVIP area and the question is who let those would be Nollywood actors there?” He said while the “journalists” had ambushed President Mugabe, they had actually humiliated themselves.
Zimbabwe Media Commission chairperson Tafataona Mahoso, said the conduct of the “journalists” not only exposed serious contempt and disrespect of President Mugabe, but also exposed the Nigerian complicit in the whole media stunt. “You must remember that it was in Nigeria that the DailyNews published a special addition when Olusegun Obasanjo (former Nigerian President) collaborated with John Howard (former Australian Prime Minister) in having Zimbabwe expelled from the Commonwealth. It was also Nigeria, which betrayed Charles Taylor (former Liberian President) when they collaborated with ICC to have him sent to The Hague. The same Nigeria is the one that also together with South Africa supported a UN resolution for the bombardment and invasion of Libya,” said Mahoso.
He said the new Nigerian administration has a lot to do in terms of projecting the real character of Nigeria not the one associated with deceit and collaboration with regime change charlatans.
Zimbabwe Union of Journalists secretary-general Foster Dongozi, condemned the harassment saying President Mugabe had gone to Nigeria as the African Union chair and should have been accorded the dignity and respect that suited his office.
“There’s no way a visiting Head of State or Government can be allowed to be embarrassed by people pretending to be journalists,” he said. “As much as we respect freedom of expression, we’re disappointed by the behaviour of those gangsters in the presence of Nigerian authorities. As Africans, we should respect leaders particularly putting into context that President Mugabe was holding the revered office of AU chair. They should’ve known this was no ordinary person, but a leader of the whole continent, including themselves.” NEWS
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