Our story didn’t incite unrest, The Guardian replies Presidency

The Guardian newspaper has defended its story published on its cover page last Friday which highlighted the current economic challenges facing the country.

The newspaper rejected the claim by Mr Bayo Onanuga, the Special Adviser to the President, Information and Strategy on October 26, 2024, on its lead story titled ‘Misery, harsh policies driving Nigerians to desperate choices’, published on Friday, October 25, 2024.

In the statement, the special adviser claimed that the newspaper, by its news report “openly incites unrest against President Bola Tinubu’s administration and advocates regime change under the guise of journalism.” adding that “the inflammatory headline and content deviate from responsible reporting.”

But The Guardian, in a statement, dismissed Onanuga’s assertion as a patent misrepresentation of its report.

It said “The story is a factually balanced, dispassionate, well-researched and intensive report chronicling Nigeria’s civilian administration from inception to the current state of affairs, without any atom of hateful or inciting elements, remarks, innuendoes, and or connotations against the national and sub-national governments of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”

“The publication simply aggregated the concerns of Nigerians across all classes on the troubling state of the nation with the expectation that the government will take the necessary steps to address the challenges. There is nothing in the report that advocates, propagates, endorses or suggests a military overthrow of the current government, as suggested by the Special Adviser.”(Daily Trust)