FG fires back at CNN, seeks sanction over Lekki shooting report

The Federal Government has condemned Wednesday’s report by the CNN, which claimed there was a strong evidence of soldiers using live bullets that killed some unarmed protesters at the Lekki tollgate, Lagos on October 20.

The government who described the report by the international news organisation as “irresponsible journalism” added that the CNN deserved to be sanctioned for going to town with an unverified report.

Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, gave the FG’s position on Thursday at a press conference in Abuja.

He said the report was “a poor piece of journalistic work from a reputable international new organisation” which did a disservice to the news medium.

The minister said CNN merely relied on social media videos without verification to produce its report, adding that “unscrupulous persons” including celebrities had circulated fake news on the social media which was used for the latest report.

He considered the event of October 20, 2020 as a “massacre without bodies”, and challenged anyone with evidence of casualties to produce it.

Mohammed said, “Like everyone else, I watched the CNN report. I must tell you that it reinforces the disinformation that is going round, and it is blatantly irresponsible and a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organization.

“CNN engaged in incredible sensationalism and did a great disservice to itself and to journalism. In the first instance, CNN, which touted its report as an exclusive investigative report, sadly relied on the same videos that have been circulating on social media, without verification.

“This is very serious and CNN should be sanctioned for that. CNN merely said the videos were “obtained by CNN”, without saying wherefrom and whether or not it authenticated them. Were CNN reporters and cameramen at the Lekki tollgate that evening?”

He also wondered why CNN did not balance its story by showing the testimony of Brig.-Gen. Ahmed Taiwo before the judicial panel in Lagos.

He said, “Is this one-sided reporting what is expected from an international media organisation or any serious news organisation? If CNN had done its investigation properly, it would have known how fake news and disinformation were trending during the EndSARS crisis.”

The minister also said, “In airing its so-called investigative report, CNN conveniently forgot that on October 23rd 2020, it tweeted, from its verified Twitter handle that the military killed 38 people when it opened fire on peaceful protesters on Tuesday, October 20th 2020. Less than a month later, the same CNN, in what it called an exclusive report based on a rehash of old, unverified videos, was only able to confirm that one person died in the same incident.

“In its jaundiced reporting, CNN was blind to the fact that six soldiers and 37 policemen were killed in unprovoked attacks.”

He said CNN did not consider the security agents human enough for its report.

“CNN, in its ‘investigation’, was blind to the wanton destruction of property in Lagos and across the country. Also, CNN was blind to the burning of police stations and vehicles all over the country. Instead, it went to town with unverified social media footages, in its desperation to prove that people were killed at the Lekki tollgate,” he said.

The minister said the FG stood by its story that military personnel were at Lekki tollgate but only fired into the air and no live ammunition was used.

“We insist that the military did not shoot at protesters at Lekki tollgate. They fired blank ammunition in the air. Again, anyone who knows anyone who was killed at Lekki tollgate should head to the judicial panel with conclusive evidence of such,” he said.