A leading radio station in Minna, the capital of Niger State, Prestige FM, has apologised to the Chairman of Chanchaga Local Government, Hon. Aminu Yakubu Ladan, over the false news story item that aired on the station recently.
This was contained in a statement issued by the media aide to the council chairman, Amb. Abdullahi Mujahid, and made available to newsmen in Minna.
The station recently aired a news item titled Gbeganu community accused the chairman of Chanchaga Local Government Area of aiding thuggery activities in the area, a development that did not go down well with the council chairman.
According to the statement, the Managing Director of the station, Alhaji Zubairu Idris Abdulra'uf, on a live programme of the station on Monday morning, April 15, 2024, tagged "Nigeria Today," tendered a public apology to the council chairman with a promise to take appropriate action.
"We sincerely apologise to the Honourable Chairman of Chanchaga Local Government for that overzealousness, and we are taking our internal mechanisms to deal with whoever wrote that story. And I believe that is what I should do in order to lead by example,” Alhaji Zubairu Abdulra'uf said during the programme.
The statement added that the Council Chairman had earlier drawn the attention of the station to the malicious news item and denied the allegation, thereby demanding a public apology from the management of the station for airing the false news.
He equally accused the person responsible for airing the news item of trying to score a cheap clickbait point.
"It was against this background that the management of Prestige FM station tendered the public apology to the Council Chairman," the statement added.