Early yesterday, editors thought they had got the story of the year when a �newsflash� was sent to their e-mail addresses from �Newsagency Nigeria�, thro-ugh newsagency nig@yahoo.com, announcing that �President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua may resign after carbinate (cabinet) reshuffle, on health ground�.
The local and international broadcast media quickly picked up the story and broadcast it to the whole world. In the euphoria, however, little did it cross the mind why the President would resign after �cabinet reshuffle�. Would his new appointments be binding on his successor?
Swiftly, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) disowned the story, while presidential spokesman, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, emphatically denied the rumour, saying it was the handiwork of those who do not wish Nigeria well.
But Channels TV, which initially broadcast the news, was last night shut down by the State Security Service (SSS) over the hoax.
This is the third significant rumour about Yar�Adua since last year � the first being that he had died in Germany during the presidential campaign. Last month, he was rumoured to have died having gone into �coma� after undergoing a �renal transplant�.
Yesterday, the rumour sent officials of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) panicking as the Minister of Information and Communication, Chief John Odey, and officials of the SSS swooped on the headquarters of NAN. Odey is the supervisory minister for the news agency.
Denying that the report originated from it, NAN said in a statement: �The management of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) today in Abuja disowned a news report being circulated to a section of the mass media, purporting it to have emanated from the agency. The story, which was sent via e-mail from an address: newsagencynig@yahoo.com, in Abidjan, stated that �President Umaru Yar’Adua may resign after a carbinete reshuffle, on health ground�.
�Managing Director of the agency, Mrs. Oluremi Oyo, declared in a statement that the agency had nothing to do with the story. The [e-mail] address is not that of NAN. The poor grammar, as indicated in the wrong spelling of �cabinet� could not have been that of NAN.�
She said that some mischief makers, bent on using the NAN platform, must be at work.
�The agency vehemently disowns the story in its entirety and will not have anything to do with speculative or unfounded reports,” she stressed.
Oyo advised its valued subscribers to ignore such unpatriotic stories and to confirm from the agency, in future, �if any such stories are sent by mischief makers�.
NAN sources told THISDAY that the offensive news report was aired on a television station and that contacts from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) alerted the agency when seeking confirmation.
According to the NAN source, �the moment the news item was aired on Channels TV, the Minister of Information and Communication, John Odey, arrived our office in company of some SSS officials for inquiry.
�As we talk now, the Deputy Editor-in-Chief (Political), Mr. John Ndukauba, has been invited for questioning on what he knows about the story.�
But at PDP headquarters, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Ahmed Rufai Alkali, rushed to the office of the National Secretary, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, to brief him on the �newsflash� from Channels Television.
THISDAY gathered that the moment Baraje was briefed, he dashed out of the Wadata Plaza and rushed to the Presidential Villa, as the National Chairman, Prince Vincent Ogbulafor, was not in town.
The Governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, also dashed to the Villa, leaving Wadata Plaza, where he had come to discuss party issues in his state, in a hurry.
Apparently to forestall the use of web-based e-mails addresses to spread rumours in its name, NAN yesterday sent e-mails to media houses to announce the authentic e-mail addresses of the agency.
The mail, signed by Alli Hakeem, Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Abuja Metropolitan Desk, read: �Dear esteemed subscribers, With effect from today, September 16, 2008, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) has rested the following e-mail addresses: nanabujahq@gmail.com and nancommunication@gmail.com to send its news items.
�NAN will no longer use any yahoo, or gmail, or hotmail.com address from this moment on. The only authentic address NAN will be using from now on is: newsroom@nannewsngr.com, repeat: newsroom@nannewsngr.com.
�This has become necessary to ensure that NAN news items can be readily identified as opposed to those sent to you by mischief makers.
�We use this medium to let you know that NAN will not have anything to do with any story from addresses other than newsroom@nannewsngr.com�
Special Adviser to the President on Media & Publicity, Adeniyi, said following inquiries that came in the wake of the report, the President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua �has no intention of resigning from office�.
Adeniyi said: �The Presidency wishes to affirm that there is no truth whatsoever to the suggestion that President Umaru Musa Yar�Adua is contemplating resignation from office.
�Since NAN itself has categorically denied being the source of the report that the President may resign, it can only be assumed that the report is the handiwork of persons who do not wish the country well.
�For the avoidance of any doubt whatsoever, President Yar�Adua has no intention of abandoning the mandate given to him to lead Nigeria further along the path to restoration, growth and development.
�He will therefore continue to discharge his responsibilities to the best of his abilities.
�I urge my colleagues in the media to be much more alert to the antics of persons and groups who have now made it their business to spread baseless rumours and untruths about the President in furtherance of their selfish schemes and ambitions.
�The doors of the administra-tion remain open to the media at all times and practitioners are welcome to cross-check the veracity of any dubious report before publication,� he said.
Meanwhile, the SSS yesterday explained why it shut down the Lagos and Abuja offices of Channels Television, saying it carried �a certain false news story that is against the well-being of Nigerians�, although media rights activists are bound to join issues with the government for taking the drastic action without going through the legal channel.
An SSS official told THISDAY last night that the editor of the TV station had been invited to explain how they got the story but was yet to show up.
Earlier, some armed operatives of the security agency had invaded the premises of NAN and the Abuja office of the Channels.
The operatives, who invaded the two media establishments in gestapo manner, allegedly seized all the security men at both premises and beat up those who insisted they must identify themselves.
But last night, the Nigerian Guild of Editors said it received the news of the shut down of Channels TV with shock.
In a statement signed by the Guild President, Gbenga Adefaye, the association said it held the view that no medium of public communication should be shut down on account of alleged infraction.
�Every allegation should be properly investigated through the due process. The Guild therefore advises the security agents to act with utmost restrraint in the handling of this matter while investigation lasts,� Adefaye said.
Sep172008