Channels TV’s Chamberlain, Maupe, Okikiolu others Released …How They Were Quizzed

Malik Yahya/

Details have emerged on what went on behind the scene after Channels TV hosts were picked up by government agents and taken to the NBC office in Abuja this morning over two interviews on their Sunrise Daily program that were considered offensive to the Federal Government.

The Channels TV Sunrise Daily presenters, Chamberlain Usoh, Maupe Ogun, and Kayode Okikiolu, and others were set free at about 6 p.m., amid protests, outside the NBC office, by Civil Society Groups, including the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Sahara Reporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore.

NewsmakersNG gathered that NBC officials and security agents told the TV hosts that it was a friendly invitation for national security.

The officials were quoted saying, “We’re not fighting. It’s a friendly meeting. You guys should cheer up. It’s in the interest of the nation. We just want to ensure that everything is working fine. We need a safe country, and we all have to work towards it.”

The TV presenters were quizzed all day over the interviews with Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State during which he accused President Muhammadu Buhari of promoting a Fulanisation agenda and another guest, retired Commodore Kunle Olawunmi, who alleged that people high up in Buhari’s government “are sponsors of Boko Haram”.