A brilliant, doggedly determined, and resolutely convicted Aisha Sesay wonderfully practised exceptional live television news journalism on Thursday evening on CNN International (DStv 401) when she hammered an evasive Nigerian government official and kept demanding answers over kidnapped Nigerian school girls.
Aisha Sesay on CNN International was exceptional on Thursday night, doing a live interview from Abuja, Nigeria with Mike Omeri, the director-general for the Nigerian National Orientation Agency.
Mike Omeri started to uncomfortably squirm on international television under Aisha Sesay's relentless yet focused, dogged yet informed, and continued barrage of questions over what the inept Nigerian government has been doing - or rather not been doing - over the plight of hundreds of kidnapped Nigerian school girls, missing now for more than a month.
The more the uninformed, non-committed, clueless and non-transparent Mike Omeri tried to dodge and give non-answers to Aisha Sesay, the more she kept pressing the Nigerian official to give straight answers.
Aisha Sesay's undeterred and clear interview gave the whole world a very clear indication - verbally and non-verbally - of why Nigeria is in such an international mess.
Aisha Sesay has been magnificent - jetting to Nigeria where she has remained for well over a week now - anchoring the daily CNN NewsCenter from there, and thereby helping to focus and to keep international media attention on the story of the kidnapped Nigerian school girls by physically being there.
On Thursday Aisha Sesay pressed harder than ever before, throwing hard-hitting, yet completely legitimate, question after question after question to Mike Omeri - which he refused to answer and tried his best to evade.
He showed how helpless, inept, uninformed and clueless Nigeria is in the growing crisis of trying to find the Nigerian school girls kidnapped by terrorist group Boko Haram, and how little Nigeria has really done in trying to find really find them.
At one point Mike Omeri started laughing awkwardly. "My memory is not good" he said to Aisha Sesay.
"Okay," she said, before she launched into a whole new set of piercing questions, which Mike Omeri also struggled to answer.
"Just talk to us," implored Aisha Sesay halfway through the interview.
"I don't have that information". "I don't want to give that information". "I, I can't comment on that. I'm not sure". "No, no, no, no pleease".
These were just some of the half-hearted, stammering non-answer responses which came from the uncomfortable and out-of-his-depth Mike Omeri.
"So just so I'm clear mister Omeri, you're telling me that one month on you cannot confirm whether any of those girls who've escaped has been interviewed by the government ... " asked Aisha Sesay.
