The Federal Government of Nigeria has petitioned the Cable News Network (CNN), demanding “an immediate and exhaustive investigation into its report on the Lekki Toll Gate #ENDSARS incident.
The petition dated Nov. 23 and personally signed by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said: “We write to put on record that the report did not just fall short of journalistic standards; it reinforces the disinformation that is going around on the issue.
The letter threatened to take legal action and urged the network to determine its authenticity and conformity to basic standards of journalism.
The letter was in furtherance of the government’s earlier excoriation of CNN for broadcasting the report, which prompted Mohammed at a news conference last Thursday in Abuja to call for sanctions against the CNN.
However, a few hours after Nigeria threatened sanction over the CNN report, the global television station defended the integrity of the report, saying it stands by the investigation.
In the petition addressed to Mr Jonathan Hawkins VP, Communications, CNN Centre Atlanta, Georgia U.S, the government said if the international media organisation failed to carry out its demand, it will “take any action within its laws’’ to prevent CNN from aggravating the #EndSARS crisis.
CNN in the report had alleged that it uncovered that Nigerian security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, during the #EndSARS protest.
The report entitled ‘How a Bloody Night of Bullets Quashed a Young Protest Movement’ was aired on Nov. 18 by the international news organisation.
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“It is blatantly irresponsible and it is a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organization.
“In the first instance, the report did not live up to the most basic of the core principles of journalism – balance and fairness”, the minister wrote in the petition.
Mohammed said the CNN failed to exhibit the journalism ethic of balance and fairness in the report but slanted the story to favour the reporter’s desired conclusion.
“Rushing to air such a momentous story without presenting the government’s side is inexcusable and indefensible.
“CNN said it contacted over 100 protesters and family members, but did not speak to one official of Nigeria’s federal government.
“While CNN said there was no response from the army and that officials of Lagos State would not speak in view of the Judicial Panel that is investigating the matter, it did not say what effort it made to speak with any official of the federal government.
“The truth is that CNN did not even attempt to reach the federal government.
“Nima Elbagir, who presented the report and most probably led the investigation, is conversant with the Minister of Information and Culture, who is also the Spokesman for the Federal Government of Nigeria, yet did not say that she even tried to reach the Minister.
“It is therefore strange, to say the least, that she would rush to air such an important ‘investigation’ report without getting the government’s side”, he said.
The minister said the CNN was not present at the Lekki Toll Gate on the night of the incident but relied heavily on unverified footages it harvested from social media.
“Unlike CNN, a reporter from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Pidgin Service, Damilola Banjo, was at the Lekki Toll Gate on the night in question.
READ ALSO: Lekki Tollgate Shooting: CNN Investigation Reveals Soldiers Used Live Ammunition, Shot at Protesters
“She was quoted as saying soldiers shot sporadically into the air and not at the protesters – a direct contradiction of the position taken by CNN who relied on second and third-hand information’’ he said.
The minister contended that while CNN obtained footage showing when the vehicles carrying soldiers left their barracks and arrived at the Lekki Toll Gate, it could not obtain any footage showing the bodies of those supposedly killed in the ‘massacre’.
Mohammed said DJ Switch; one of CNN’s star eyewitnesses in its ‘investigative’ reporting is not credible because her story on the Lekki Toll Gate shooting has changed several times.
“From claiming she counted 78 bodies of protesters who were supposedly killed by soldiers on the night of the Lekki Toll Gate incident, she has twice, at least, changed the casualty figure from 78 to 15 and then to 7, without a shred of evidence.
“In one of social media videos of DJ Switch that was used by CNN, the lady (DJ Switch) claimed she and some unnamed persons carried dead bodies and dropped them at the feet of the soldiers.
“She also claimed she spoke to their Commander before the soldiers threw the bodies into the vans.
“Curiously, for someone who was streaming live on Instagram during the Lekki Toll Gate incident, there was not a single video or picture of the dead bodies.
“CNN cannot pretend not to know that for anyone to act as a witness, his or her credibility must be unimpeachable”, he said.
The minister also faulted another CNN star witness, Godson (Uyi), whose video was also used by the network.
Mohammed said it was shocking that all through its ‘investigation’, CNN did not for once mention the fact that six soldiers and 37 policemen were killed during the #EndSARS crisis, which also left 196 policemen injured.
He added that with the monumental destruction of government and private properties across the country, the network is fixated on the massacre that never happened.
He threatened that while it is up to CNN to accede or not to its request for a retraction of the report, it reserves the right to take any action within its laws to prevent CNN from aggravating the #EndSARS crisis with “unprofessional, irresponsible, one-sided, inciting and sensational reporting that is capable of pitching Nigerians against themselves and setting the country on fire.”
