Buhari Removes Armstrong Idachaba as NBC DG, Appoints Balarabe Ilelah
President Muhammadu Buhari has removed Professor Armstrong Idachaba, acting Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), and appointed in his stead a veteran broadcaster, Balarabe Shehu Ilelah.
Nigeria’s minister of information and culture, Lai Mohammed, announced the appointment of Ilelah in a statement issued in Abuja on Friday.
He said Mr. Ilelah’s appointment is for five-year tenure of in the first instance.
No reason was given for Idachaba’s removal as of the time this story was published.
His removal came four days after he ordered all broadcast stations in the country to go off Twitter, in compliance with the position of the federal government to suspend Twitter operations in Nigeria.
Who is Balarabe Ilelah?
Ilelah is a veteran broadcaster, politician, and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The new NBC director-general ran for Bauchi South Senatorial seat under the APC platform in 2019 but lost.
He grew up in Bauchi, attended Kobi primary school, Bauchi as well as Junior Secondary School Misau.
A graduate of Bayero University Kano, Balarabe Ilelah had worked with NTA Bauchi before leaving Nigeria for the then Soviet Union as a journalist.
He had lived in the Soviet Union for years with his wife and children before moving to China.
And Armstrong Aduku Idachaba?
Armstrong Aduku Idachaba is a Nigerian professor of Mass Communication who, prior to his appointment to serve as acting Director General of the NBC, was the Director, broadcast policy and research in the commission. He was appointed in February 2020 to replace Modibbo Kawu who was placed under investigation by the federal government of Nigeria.
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