DAAR Communications Plc, the owners of Africa Independent Television (AIT), has tendered unreserved apology to President Muhammadu Buhari over a documentary it aired during the 2015 Presidential campaigns, particularly to a former aide de camp of President Buhari, Mustapha Jokolo.
The company wrote in a retration: “DAAR Communications Plc states that in airing the said documentary, it had no intention whatsoever to embarrass or diminish the high reputation of Alhaji Mustapha Jokolo whom it holds in very high esteem.”
“DAAR Communications Plc hereby retracts the said documentary on the television station (AIT) titled ‘The Real Buhari’ aired on 24 January 2015 which was broadcast on its television station (AIT).
“DAAR Communications Plc hereby tenders unreserved apology to Alhaji Mustapha Haruna Jokolo for the broadcast of the said documentary on its television station (AIT).”
It would be recalled that in January 2015, the TV station broadcast a documentary entitled: ‘The Real Buhari,’ in which it alleged that Jokolo cleared 53 suitcases suspected to contain cash, at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, for Buhari in 1984 when he was Head of State.
Jokolo, who is the current Emir of Gwandu, then filed a libel suit against AIT, but the matter was eventually settled out of court. One of the conditions for settlement was that AIT must retract its story and tender a public apology. [myad]