Hilliard Etta, a prominent chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, has openly accused Arise News of operating as an opposition political party. The politician leveled these heavy allegations during a live broadcast, claiming that the television station consistently ignores the current administration’s major infrastructural achievements while over-indexing on negative national narratives.
According to a video posted on the Official YouTube channel of Arise News on Sunday, May 31, 2026, while discussing the media’s coverage of the government, he stated, “Arise has become an opposition political party.” This statement caused an immediate friction between the guest and the show anchors who defended their editorial independence.
The broadcast station immediately rejected the politician’s assessment, clarifying that their reporting simply reflects the harsh realities faced by Nigerian citizens. The anchors maintained that highlighting security challenges and economic inflation is not an act of hostility but a fundamental duty of the press to hold public officials accountable to voters.
Etta further argued that mainstream media houses should act as partners in progress rather than adversaries to the state. He insisted that constant negative profiling of national issues only serves to demoralize the military forces and inadvertently strengthens the propaganda machine of bandits and terrorists operating within the country’s borders.
In his concluding remarks, Etta emphasized that public perception is heavily manipulated by media narratives coming out of major cities. He urged journalists to practice more patriotic reporting, arguing that the true impact of the administration’s agricultural and road projects is deeply appreciated by local communities across rural Nigeria.
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