The Federal Government has denied last Thursday’s Cable Network News (CNN) documentary on the militants of the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), describing it as false, unethical and unacceptable.
Information and Communications Minister, Mr. Frank Nweke Jnr in an interview with CNN news caster, Mr. Jim Clancy yesterday maintained that the CNN reporter, Mr. Jeff Koinage contrived the said documentary, insisting that the people who acted it were paid for the job done.
However, in a swift response, Clancy who interviewed Nweke said there was nothing false in the documentary adding that there was no error in it neither did the management of CNN pay to contrive the report.
Clancy also stated that some security operatives in the region confirmed that the alleged militants shown in the documentary were real, contrary to the declaration of the Nigerian Government.
But Nweke maintained that there were evidences in the custody of the federal Government of Nigeria that the documentary was contrived and that the some alleged militants shown in the documentary were paid for it.
He stated categorically that Jeff Koinage had approached some people before his last report whereas this set of people outrightly refused to act as Niger Delta Militants.
In the course of the interview, Clancy asked Nweke: “Who contrived the documentary? The rebels? The Fillipinos? Who exactly contrived the report you are talking about?”
Nweke replied that it was Jeff Koinage who contrived the documentary, saying that “the documentary was acted and it contains no iota of truth. The reporter put the people together to act the documentary.
“It was wrong. It fell short of the best practice of journalism and situation reports. It is indeed unethical, unacceptable, false and falacious. The report is capable of aggravating tension and crisis in this region.
“I felt surprised when I watched the documentary. It hyperbolised and overemphasised the situation in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. I have travelled across the creeks in the regions when the agitation was more tense and conflagrating. Nobody kidnapped us, neither did they attack us.
“We are familiar with these people. The government of President Olusegun Obasanjo is talking to end hostilities in the region in order to ensure sustainable peace and development in the region,” the minister stated.
Nweke said the report was purportedly aired to create unnecessary panic, foster the feeling of insecurity and to portray Nigeria as a nation in crisis.
“The report is to wrongfully denigrate Nigeria and her people and send the wrong signals to the international community about the state of affairs in the country,” Nweke continued.
Asked about the current effort of government to resolve the Niger Delta crisis, Nweke declined to disclose the steps being taken. He adduced this non-disclosure to the “security implications it might have on the on-going peace process.”
He added that the government was working in tandem with the stakeholders in the Niger Delta to release about 23 nationals of Philipines, whom the militants held hostage some few weeks before the documentary was “contrived”.
According to him, the efforts being made to release them from the claws of Niger Delta militants will produce fruits.
“However, we maintain that the report was unethical, unacceptable and lacked no modicum of truth,” the minister went on.
Nweke therefore demanded that the report be retracted because it lacked the best practice of journalism expected to verify any report before publication.
Nonetheless, Clancy insisted that the report would not be retracted. However, he promised that the management of CNN would write President Obasanjo to present the available evidences proving that the report was not contrived before any decision could be taken on Nigeria’s request.
The report, which featured some Filipino workers allegedly held by members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), was described as a ‘hoax, stage-managed with hired miscreants, vandals and criminals.’
Last week, Nweke said that the Nigerian government had a response from MEND stating that those shown in the report were not its members.
The minister said CNN had aired several features and reports in the last eight months depicting Nigeria as a country in perpetual crisis in spite of the fact that its correspondents had unrestricted access to government officials.
The Nigerian government and its people have protested to CNN demanding an apology and right of reply, which should be given the same prominence and repetitive airing,’ he said.
The minister said the administration of Obasanjo had demonstrated great commitment, more than any other administration, in tackling the recurring challenges of development in the Niger Delta.
The CNN report indicated that militant groups in the Niger Delta that had been abducting expatriate oil workers in the region were a law unto themselves.
The groups had been abducting expatriate oil workers to press their demand that the Nigerian government give them a greater say in the exploitation of oil and gas endowments of the region.
Dozens of foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in the region over the past few months, though they are later released unharmed.
Source: This Day