By Uche Mbah
The unfolding drama of Lekki shootings took a new turn Wednesday when the Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed, in a program on the Nigeria Television authority, NTA, said that the footage that are being released by the American Cable news, Cable News Network, CNN, was being done out of desperation by the global News media group.
This was after the CNN aired a second report of the controversial Lekki Toll Plaza shootings of October 20.
CNN had Tuesday released a follow up report on the Lekki killings during the #endsars protests after Lai Mohammed threatened to sanction the station after the first report. Mohammed had dismissed the report as lacking credibility.
Reacting to the second video, Mohammed said: “It shows that they (CNN) are desperate. The so-called recent development has been seen before. There is nothing new. If there is anything new, it is a contradiction of CNN’s position.
“What we are asking CNN is that where is your evidence? The military has been consistent. CNN contravenes the basic principles of journalism – fairness, and balance.
“They did the story without contacting the Federal Government for its own side. They relied on second and third parties narratives.
“They (CNN) were caught spreading fake news and they are trying to escape.
“We are accusing them (CNN) of basing their stories on videos sourced on social media. CNN has been inconsistent. It also doctored the video it got.
“We are confident in our position.”
CNN had mostly analysed the trending videos, including revelations from the fact finding panel on the Lekki killings, drawing conclusions. There were allegations that CNN provided no body of evidence, that they were basing their position on conjectures and assumptions. But CNN claimed to have interviewed some of those that lost their relatives. Allegations were rife that the army dumped some corpses into the lagoon.
CNN, however, claimed that they made efforts to reach out to the government but could not. Lagos refused to talk, citing the ongoing investigative panel activities, according to CNN.
The Army has been shifting positions in their defense, first saying they were not at Lekki Plaza, then that they were there but did not shoot, then that they shot blank bullets, and finally that there were real bullets shot.
When asked about the letter addressed to Jonathan Hawkins, VP (Communications), CNN Centre, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, the Mohammed said: “We have received an acknowledgment and we were told that the letter has been passed to the editorial team.”
Some of the footage used by CNN has already been used by local media, but the media houses were sanctioned by the National Broadcasting Commission.
The NBC itself had its handle briefly suspended by Twitter.
