By ‘Dayo Showemimo
On Wednesday, February 11, 2015, the publisher of popular lifestyle magazine, Today’s Woman, Adesuwa Onyenokwe participated in a televised media chat with incumbent president of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the 2015 general elections.
After the interview, held along with a few other journalists, Adesuwa came under heavy fire with many on Twitter criticising for her soft questions for the president as she was seen to be completing most of the President’s statements for him while practically giving him a soft landing throughout.
In a bid to respond to the criticisms and defend herself, Adesuwa has taken to her magazine’s website to make her perspective of the media chat known while reiterating that whatever happened is mainly due to her longstanding interview approach.
She wrote: ‘Adesuwaaaaaa!!!! My sister screams in an email to me while I was hosting the media chat with president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, saying ‘why are you making it easy for Mr. President?’ And she wasn’t alone… Going by the tons of messages and tweets I have so far received since I hosted the media chat last night in Abuja.
‘These are interesting times! I am particularly pleased because we are more concerned and aware of our surroundings, the political climate, and how it affects us all making us more vocal and participatory. However there are down sides to this. One of them is the penchant for people to come to conclusions and expect everyone else to feel the same.’
While not totally rubishing the criticisms, he continued: I am particularly miffed by the conclusions some people have drawn from the chat with Mr. President. The one which stands out is that which says I gave him a ‘soft landing’. These people are totally unaware of my interviewing style, that’s why I would like to set the records straight here, in my corner
While interviewing ANYONE, I am never combative, and I always set out to summarize whatever point my subject has made to be sure we are communicating his/her viewpoint accurately. It’s not the first time I am being described as soft and it will not be the last, but as always I roll with the punches!’
According to her, the media chat was put together to assure Nigerians about the issues bordering on security as well as the forthcoming elections and Adesuwa says she believes she and others in the media chat team this time achieved the objective.
‘As for Mr. President, we set out to address two issues: Security and the elections with the aim to get word from him on the sanctity of May 29 hand over, and I believe we did that. Given the time we had. I am glad I did it at no charge, as national service. But what’s most important to me right now is not argue or rant that I did a good job or not. Just go out there and get your PVC, then SPEAK with it by casting your VOTE. As led by your conscience of course! I have my PVC and I will certainly cast my vote for a better Nigeria,’ she said.
