I was watching AIT today and I heard a caller ask about Gbenga Aruleba and the presenter answered him rather dismissively saying that he was sent on a course abroad, This is exactly what was said about the former EFCC chairman when he was wisked away. So please my question is ,

Where is Gbenga Aruleba??!!!!!

in his house

Who is he? Not sure i have heard that name b/4

Oh sorry, Gbenga is the very vocal presenter of the Focus Nigeria programme of AIT that airs every week day morning where political hot topics are discussed. He has been arrested previously during the Obasanjo era but has been missing in action for sometime now hence my post.

Please respond to the post if you have more insights as to his whereabouts,

Ok. I now remember.

The guy was SACKED by AIT(Daar communications) cos according to them he was courting more foes than friends to the organisation. He has since travelled oversea.
He heard he was also asked not to speak to the media about his dismissal, you call it by mutual consent.

In siberia, for being too critical of the present government

chosen04:

Who is he? Not sure i have heard that name b/4

He is a very intelligent, courageous, truthful, no holds barred investigative reporter. . . The FG didn't like him, they threatened AIT. . . And he was gone.
This happened about 2 months ago or thereabouts.

He is by far, my favourite political analyst.

He's hiding in my cupboard

Hi Beaf,

Are you serious? is there a place where I can go online to read more about what happened to him?

^
I am serious. Google his name, something is bound to come up.

FL Gators,

thats really funny,

It is such fora as Nairaland that some of the ills in Nigeria can be discussed freely as we are not able to tackle some of the corrupt institutions holding Nigeria down. This is really a serious matter,

How can a journalist be silenced like that and no one is making a fuss about it? It really pains me that people just want to mind there business not knowing that these kind of events will eventually affect them,

My question still stands,

Where is Gbenga Aruleba?

It all started when yaradua wanted to shut down ait three months ago. The guy was used as a sacrifice.

kidonig:

Hi Beaf,

Are you serious? is there a place where I can go online to read more about what happened to him?

I found a couple of links.
http://www.reliablereporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14:ait-and-the-demise-of-gbenga-aruleba
http://www.peoplesdaily-online.com/index.php/opinion/comment/5058-ait-where-is-gbenga-aruleba-and-focus-nigeria
http://www.weekly.dailytrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=175:yaradua-the-aruleba-declaration&catid=1:comments&Itemid=109

As to where he is, I don't know. But you have raised a very good question, we need to be on our toes, especially concerning his state of health.
We are too disconnected from each other in Nigeria. No love. It isn't the same in other countries, something is very wrong with us.[size=14pt] Do we even care about each other?[/size]

Well done kidonig, you are setting a good example.

I went to google and I got this link:

http://www.saharareporters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4104:-ait-owner-raymond-dokpesi-yanks-popular-presenter-of-qfocus-nigeriaq-off-air-to-appease-the-yaradua-regime&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

It says a lot about Gbenga, AIT and The NTA fiasco in the Under 17 world cup.

If and international journalist goes missing say in CNN and BBC, it will be the main item of news in different news media. It is really a shame that other news media have not stood up to talk about this issue.

Meanwhile, thanks Beaf for the links. I will go through them,

I lost interest in AIT after that. He is so intelligent

This bully attitude of the FG has to stop.
I mean is there no way the Nigerian news media can enter into an alliance of some sort to stop this bullying?
Gbenga was the best among his contemporaries for his incisive investigative journalism.
Focus Nigeria under Gbenga was a kick-a$$ program, but now itz just another lick-a$$ program.

This is gr8 and important issue to discussed with sound support. When is this madness going to stop in this country? I can glaringly see the reason FOI bill could not see the day light in our legislative chambers. Can somebody please help me out here where is the guy, what is happening to him at the moment and what happened to his future as a dignify citizen of this country enough of this depletion voice of our combatant liberty soldiers we would resist this by all means. Kudos to the initiator of the topic .

There is a popular saying 'never judge a book by its cover'  YAR A'LIAR is a FAILURE,, he and his cronies never liked to hear the truth about the state of our nation and stupid political parties we have in Nigeria both the PDP and others.

None of them have any ideology or a set goal other than 7 pointless agenda, and Visionless 2020.

The guy, Aruleba was asking serious and good questions that Oppositions parties should be asking.

If AIT understands rating, and there are other competitiors other than the private monopoly they enjoy they will know that a lot of people especially disaporians have stop watching them, they are now using the websites and blogs. (but do they care, since they are extension of the govt political propaganda machine)

Nigeria politics is do or die according to the garrison commander OBJ.

I always say that everyday is for the thief, one day is for the owner, Nigerians day is just one day away that all these executhieves, legislathieves will be dealt with.

I hope the guy is alright, as most of the news organisation in Nigeria are compromised and not truly free, but some of them are also reckless with no standard(somewhow like Nigeria)

As a side issue, YAR A'FAILURE ha been in Foreign hospital for nearly 2 weeks without a word from him, I think Nigeria 'leadership' in particular are bunch of jokes. You can fool most people most of the time but not eveyone all the time.

AS I am reading this i was watching a programme on AIT about vote of Hope(not too sure ) and His name was mentioned along other Nigerians Omotola Jalade inclusive and its on AIT event ,so still wondering if he is actually sacked. I pray I get details of the Advert again

if it is true that he has been sacked , mark my word that guy will surface somewhere in the future. not too long.

Is he that very important 2 be asked for here at nairaland?

1luvkipsus, any issue can be discussed here. It is not that he is important. It is what he stands for that is important. It is the kind of things that he dares to discuss when we all are cowardly keeping quiet that is important.

I don't completely agree with all he says but I admired his boldness. If he can easily be silenced weather it be sacking or transfer, that should be a cause of concern to any sensible Nigerians.

d present lame incapable govt sent him off for criticising them.
Are these our leaders ever reasonable
i wonder most of the time sha

1luvkipsus:

Is he that very important 2 be asked for here at nairaland?

If he wasn't that important, he wouldn't have been singled out for special treatment by the presidency.

He had been removed as the anchor man of Focus Nigeria since October 2009. it was alleged that Yar'Adua threatened to shut down AIT because his programme was deemed to be biased against the government of the day.

'Presidency sources say the Program is considered too critical of the Government of President Yar’Adua, even though government officials are often invited to defend policies'.

You can read more,

http://www.pointblanknews.com/os2343.html

Jaybee2412,

Thanks for the link. It was very educative. I am sure you will like the previous one I posted too. It shows how far we still have to go. Should Obama threaten to shut down Fox news or fight to sack Rush Limbaugh because of their stance on everything he says or does? I thought the presidency had better things to do. The voice of the opposition and a free media are the only things that keep a democratic government in check.

I hope the moderator does not lock or delete this thread as it seems to be the case with any important political issue.

Join this group on Facebook let us form a coalition and fight anti freedom impulses of Nigerian leadership " Friends Of Gbenga Mike Aruleba (AIT)"

Beaf:

He is a very intelligent, courageous, truthful, no holds barred investigative reporter. . .

Please add that he was highly subjective too.

I think Yaradua's  approach  was not the best, however Gbenga always had this approach of making his viewers see things from his viewpoint expecially in the choice of his panelists.

He probably was doing a good job but he needs to improve .

Chapelle.S:

Join this group on Facebook let us form a coalition and fight anti freedom impulses of Nigerian leadership " Friends Of Gbenga Mike Aruleba (AIT)"

Fight for a Nigerian journalist? ***Shakes head***** Once fought for Segun Adeniyi. Where is he today?

Tomorrow you will hear thats fight for Dele Momodu too. Why are we so short sighted?

Thats why we belong to the 3rd world countries. Now who is presenting focuse nigeria now?

No one seems to have a clue where Gbenga is still. We don't seem to have the steam to sustain such moves. Why has no one said anything definite so far?

Hi Beaf,

Are you serious? is there a place where I can go online to read more about what happened to him?

Join friends of Gbenga Mike Aruleba for FOI bill on facebook. Lots of Nigerian celebrity and politician are part of this group.