Kaduna State APC PRO Took to his heels on sighting a PDP SURROGATE

The Kaduna State APC Director of media and publicity, Manasseh Istifanus who was supposed to be a guest of a popular political program on liberty fm anchored by Jacqueline Adebija turned back at the door of the studio when he saw that his opponent Dr. John Danfulani was already seated in the studio waiting for his arrival and for the kick start of the program.

There have been so many comments on the social media following the incident and many facebook users could not hide their disappointment and Mr. Istifanus also took to his facebook page to clear the air about what triggered his action with a statement he titled "MEDIA HYPE PROPAGANDA".

Read his statement below.....

MEDIA HYPE PROPAGANDA.

"There is one baseless propaganda that is going round now in Kaduna that I ran away from a Live Liberty Radio Program this morning and the PDP surrogate that was in the studio is using the News to score some cheap political points. I've read a couple of commentaries from people like Alexander Mbaka Kpan Sanga, Jerry Ishaku, one Nehemiah Yari' and a few others.

I want to state here that I deliberately walked away from the Live program for the fact that the Organizers of the program were not fair to me on the premise that:-

1. The moderator of the program, Jackline, did not inform me prior to the program that it was going to be a round table discussion. She told me that she only wanted to have a general discussion with me about the APC and the APC led Government.

2. The PDP surrogate that was in the studio had all the information about the program, ranging from the topic, the area of concentration and all the details of the program which I was not privileged to know.

3. One of the proxy Organizers of the program, Bally Ango knew all along what the program was all about but unfortunately, as close as I am to him as a friend and a brother, he never availed me that privilege to know the details of the program.

4. Where I knew that it was a pre-arranged program to rubbish my personality was when the Moderator of the program (Jackline) was pretending not to know the PDP surrogate that was already seated in the studio who is a regular visitor to the radio station on different programs.

5. On getting to the studio with my friend Pompo Jonah Pompo, I was told by a Staff of the Media outfit that the PDP surrogate that was in the studio came much much earlier before the commencement of the program and had some pre-discussions with the presenter before our arrival.

6. The presenter of the program eventually told me the name of the PDP surrogate that was already seated in the studio and I objected to having such discussions with him because I know him to be a lecturer and not a PDP spokes person; therefore, if I were to have such a discussion with him, it will be between me and him as Manasseh Istifanus and not as an APC Director of Media and Publicity as it was earlier announced by the presenter of the program.

7. Therefore, I Manasseh Istifanus will always be ready and willing to have any media chat on National and State issues either as Manasseh Istifanus as an individual or Manasseh Istifanus as a Director of Media and Publicity of Kaduna State APC if the umpires will always be fair and willing to give full information regarding any program.

Thank you!"

Jacqueline also made her statement following what the APC PRO mr. Istifanus said about the incident telling him not to "jeopardise her job"

Read her statement below...

JACQUELINE

Since last week Wednesday, after I interviewed Hon. BITRUS BITYONG & Hon. ALEX GURZA, Knowing I would need another set of guests for my next program, I reached out to a resource person about getting me someone from the ruling party, APC.... Who would be able to join me on the Roundtable... A program I produce and anchor. The Roundtable as every listener of Liberty Radio and Television, Kaduna knows is a discussion/live debate program. The resource person gave me Manasseh Istifanus phone number. He told me, he had spoken with him. Nevertheless, to establish contact, I called Manasseh and explained what the program was to be about. Title.... COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE 16YRS OF PDP TO THE 1+YR OF THE APC. He told me that as the APC media and publicity director he was ready to defend his party's policies. On Sunday, 31st of July, 2016,IF IT GETS DOWN TO IT ... I AM SURE THESE RECORDS CAN BE GOTTEN FROM THE GSM PROVIDER'S CALL LOG ... I CALLED Manasseh again, to reaffirm the fact that we had a date for the next day... TODAY, 1ST AUGUST 2016. He assured me he would be around. Of course at this point, I did not see the need to mention that I had gotten Dr. JOHN DANFULANI to come speak from PDP's perspective. When Dr. DANFULANI entered the premises... He was ushered to the reception and that was were he sat until I left my general manager's office Toyin Alabi to meet Dr. DANFULANI.
Manasseh Istifanus got to the studio a few minutes after we had settled down. I asked for our receptionist to usher him in but she came back to say he was INSISTING on seeing me right outside our studio door. Luckily, we do have CCTV CAMERAS to AUTHENTICATE my claim. The CAMERAS will show that I spent the next 5 to 7 minutes or more trying to convince MANASSEH ISTIFANUS to come in. He took some time to speak with a friend who had accompanied him, I AM SURE THE CAMERAS CAPTURED THIS TOO. When he came back, he said, Jacqueline, please let me go. If I go into that studio, DanFulani knows too much about everything. You see, we were together before, he knows everything. For the sake of my job... Besides, I can not promise you that DANFULANI and I will not spoil some of your equipment because I can get emotional and we will have a go at each other. At that point, when he mentioned his job and the studio equipment.... I told him that he was forcing me to be an ADVOCATE on my program instead of MODERATOR. He BEGGED me TO RESCHEDULE. I agreed. This is what REALLY happened. I can prove this. Only to have this forwarded to me on WHATSAPP as what MANASSEH ISTIFANUS has written on his wall here on Facebook!

I just need to say 3 VERY IMPORTANT THINGS... To MANASSEH ISTIFANUS
1) I AM NOT A POLITICIAN. I AM A JOURNALIST. I am only interested in what will benefit the people of Nigeria! ...... Do not include me in the MUD SLINGING and LYING that is the norm amongst your ilk.
2) Liberty Radio-Kaduna, has always been the #VoiceOfThePeople and WILL NEVER BE USED AS A PROPAGANDA MACHINE AS YOU PUT IT.

3) YOU BEGGED ME NOT TO JEOPARDISE YOUR JOB. I LISTENED. DO NOT JEOPARDISE MINE. I will NEVER COLLUDE with one side against the other because like I have ALWAYS MAINTAINED.......... POLITICS IS A DIRTY GAME WHERE THERE IS NO PERMANENT FRIEND OR FOE! #IRestMyCase
I am READY TO HAVE THE NUJ AND RATTAWU INVOLVED!

Jacqueline captured Mr. Istifanus saying "Danfulani knows too much." that was a honest confession because the two worked tirelessly to bring the APC in government and he obviously knows what Dr. Danfulani is capable of.
Below is a picture of them dinning together as party members...