Information minister Jonathan Moyo yesterday accused some Nigerian journalists of belonging to terrorist group Boko Haram after they accosted President Robert Mugabe and demanded to know when he was stepping down.
BY MOSES MATENGA
Nigerian journalists from Sahara TV door-stepped Mugabe as he left the inauguration of Nigeria’s newly-elected President Mohammadu Buhari on Friday, leaving Moyo fuming on Twitter that his boss should have been afforded more security.
“Of course those are human beings, but are they journalists or Boko Haram?
“How do you know those were journalists, especially since they did not behave as such?” he said.
Moyo described the incident as “Boko Haram journalism” and that Nigerian reporters had humiliated themselves. He blamed the Nigerian government for failing to provide adequate security for Mugabe.
“The responsibility of protecting the President there squarely fell on the shoulders of Nigerian authorities,” the minister said.
“That would not happen in Zimbabwe against any visiting Head of State or Government, not even (United States President) Barack Obama or (British Prime Minister) David Cameron.”
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Opposition parties in Zimbabwe blamed Mugabe’s handlers for the humiliation by parading him to the world.
MDC Renewal spokesperson Jacob Mafume blamed Mugabe’s frequent travels abroad for the embarrassing incident.
“What is surprising and shocking is the willingness of his handlers to parade him across Africa,” Mafume said.
“They are making Zimbabwe a spectacle; we must all hang our heads in collective shame.”
MDC-T spokesperson Obert Gutu said the Nigerian journalists had been “brutally frank” with Mugabe.
“The Nigerian journalists were simply being brutally frank and candid with Robert Mugabe,” he said.
“They did an excellent job actually.
“Dictators and tyrants should be boldly told in their faces that they are no longer welcome in Africa.”
Mugabe, who is the Sadc and Africa Union chair, had been invited together with several other Heads of State and Government to witness the inauguration of Buhari.
What should have been a happy occasion for Mugabe soon turned nasty, as he and his security details struggled to ward off the pesky journalists, who kept mobbing his official car poking fun at his leadership style.
Initially, Mugabe responded to some of the questions thrown at him before he turned hostile after realising he had been door-stepped.
The drama started when Mugabe was still in his official car and escalated as he left the venue of the inauguration when journalists mobbed him after breaching his tight security wall.
When asked by a female journalist if he was happy to be in Nigeria, Mugabe replied: “Very happy”.
The journalist then asked when he would step down and when Zimbabwe was likely to have another election.
Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) boss Happyton Bonyongwe and others in the security team are heard in the video shouting “Mirai! Mirai!” (Stop! Stop!) in Shona while trying to control the Nigerian journalists who kept on throwing questions at Mugabe.
Mugabe was asked about his health and how he was feeling. He remained calm, but visibly irritated by the questions.
“Aiwa, aiwa. No, no, no,” Bonyongwe is heard saying to the female reporter, identified as Adeola Fayehun, who is described as the queen of the presidential doorstep. Fayehun protested against Bonyongwe pushing her, saying she was only doing her job.
“Mirai, mirai, mirai kani, (Please stop)” another security personnel in Mugabe’s entourage is heard saying to the female reporter, who responded saying she had no idea what that meant.
“Mr President, don’t you think it’s time to step down? Is there like a term limit?
“How is your health, how are you feeling now? Don’t you think it’s time to step down? Can you say something sir?
“When will there be change in Zimbabwe, sir? Will there ever be change in Zimbabwe, sir, just like we have in Nigeria?
“Is there democracy in Zimbabwe? There is no democracy in Zimbabwe, it’s very sad. It’s about time to step down.
“Thirty something years, and you come here to witness democracy,” she shouted as Mugabe struggled to get into his official vehicle.
A male journalist chipped in and told Mugabe, who now was about to get into his vehicle, to invite them to Zimbabwe for an inauguration ceremony, as he could not be in power for 200 years.
The journalists asked whether South African President Jacob Zuma was also present, probably to throw “tough questions” at him over xenophobic attacks in his country.
This is not the first time Mugabe has been humiliated by foreign journalists.
In 2008, after the contested June 27 election runoff he was accused of “rigging”, Mugabe came face to face with a European journalist in Egypt at the AU Summit who asked him: “On what basis do you now regard yourself as President of Zimbabwe?”
Mugabe lost his cool and described the journalist as a “bloody idiot” before he was whisked away by security.
Last year, Mugabe and his wife, Grace, were captured on camera as they arrived at a private hospital in Singapore, with the First Lady pleading with journalists not to take pictures of the veteran leader.
“No, no, no, no. Don’t take photo. You shouldn’t take photo,” Grace was heard saying in the footage.
