The dust raised by the President-elect's decision to bar AIT from covering his activities is still swirling. The debate rages on.

I want the opinion of fair minded folks and I have thrown in the case of Alex Ferguson vs BBC for you to compare.

Is Buhari permitted to bar any media house from covering his activities under any circumstances (family and security reasons they say)?

Should AIT go to court to seek redress or should they just continue the press war?

Where to we draw the line between Press freedom and Privacy & security?

Below is a story of how Alex Ferguson refused to speak to BBC after they ran a documentary on his son Jason (like AIT did on Buhari).

So what's your take on this AIT vs Buhari saga?


The BBC vs Alex Ferguson

Ferguson refused to give interviews to the BBC after a documentary called Fergie and Son was shown on BBC Three on 27 May 2004.[202] According to an article in The Independent newspaper, the documentary had "portrayed his agent son, Jason, as somebody who exploited his father's influence and position to his own ends in the transfer market." The same newspaper article made it clear that "Ferguson Jnr" was never found guilty of any wrongdoing, and it quoted Ferguson Senior as follows: "They [the BBC] did a story about my son that was whole lot of nonsense. It all [sic] made-up stuff and 'brown paper bags' and all that kind of carry-on. It was a horrible attack on my son's honour and he should never have been accused of that."[203] Subsequent interviews on BBC programmes such as Match of the Day were done by his assistant Carlos Queiroz, and later Mike Phelan.

Under new Premiership rules intended for the 2010–11 season, Ferguson was required to end his BBC boycott.[204] However he refused to end his boycott and Manchester United confirmed the club would pay the resulting fines.[205] On 25 August 2011, Ferguson met with BBC director general Mark Thompson and BBC North director Peter Salmon; the result of the meeting was that Ferguson agreed to end his seven-year boycott.

If you want privacy, the last job you should apply for is to preside over the affairs of 160million people.

Mogidi:
If you want privacy, the last job you should apply for is to preside over the affairs of 160million people.

But Ferguson did the same and got away with it, almost! Man Utd manager is as much a public figure as any president is, not so?

Birikiti:


But Ferguson did the same and got away with it, almost! Man Utd manager is as much a public figure as any president is, not so?

Bros we're talking of the president of Nigeria not the manager of a football club. Even as club manager there was nothing Fergusson did that was not splashed all over the newspapers, it goes with the territory.

Moral of the story is: If you want a private life don't take public appointments, chikena.

Id**ts looking for excuses to support their deranged leader.

Does refusing to give interviews to a particular news media equate to barring a news media from a press conference?

We have press freedom in this country, we Buhari does not like it, he should head back to Katsina!