By Banji Ayoola
American international Cable News Network, CNN, today fired back at the Federal Government over its displeasure with its report on the Lekki toll gate shootings which ended the recent #EndSARS protests, saying it stood by its story despite threat of sanction.
It maintained that its report on the alleged shooting of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the Lekki toll plaza on October 20, 2020, was “carefully and meticulously researched”.
The Federal Government in a press conference by the Information and Culture minister, Lai Mohammed, earlier today had faulted the CNN’s report of ‘massacre without bodies’ as inaccurate and misleading.
The cable news network reacted today in another story titled, ‘Nigeria threatens CNN with sanctions but provides no evidence Lekki toll gate investigation is inaccurate’, and affirmed that it stand by its earlier report on the Lekki incident.
It reacted in response to comments by the Nigerian Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, that the news platform practised “irresponsible journalism” by relying on fake videos sourced from social media to produce its report.
CNN had published an investigative report on Wednesday claiming soldiers fired live ammunition directly at protesters at the Lekki toll gate, a claim which Mohammed denied on Thursday.
“Like everyone else, I watched the CNN report. I must tell you that it reinforces the disinformation that is going around, and it is blatantly irresponsible and a poor piece of journalistic work by a reputable international news organization,” Mohammed told reporters at a press conference in Abuja today.
“This is very serious and CNN should be sanctioned for that,” he added.
The minister also described the event of October 20, 2020 as a “massacre without bodies”, insisting that not a single body has been produced or a single family has come out to claim their family member was killed at the Lekki tollgate.
However, CNN stated: “Our reporting was carefully and meticulously researched, and we stand by it.”
It added, “The report was based on testimony from dozens of witnesses, and photos and video obtained and geolocated by CNN. It painted a picture of how members of the Nigerian army and the police shot at the crowd, killing at least one person and wounding dozens more.
“CNN verified photos and videos acquired from multiple eyewitnesses and protesters using timestamps and other data from the video files. Video footage shows soldiers who appear to be shooting in the direction of protesters. And accounts from eyewitnesses established that after the army withdrew, a second round of shooting happened later in the evening.
“Prior to publishing the report, CNN tried multiple times to elicit comment from the Nigerian army and police. A Lagos State police spokesman declined to comment because of an ongoing investigation. While a statement from the Lagos State government said that there would be no comment while a judicial tribunal was underway.”
The Lekki incident has been condemned locally and internationally by civil rights organisations.
CNN also said it included comments from army representative Brigadier Ahmed Taiwo, testifying before the tribunal. He denied that soldiers would shoot at Nigerian citizens.
According to CNN, “the investigation was broadcast and published on Wednesday and cast doubt on Nigerian authorities’ shifting and changing statements over what happened at the protest at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos.
“The CNN report included evidence that bullet casings from the scene matched those used by the Nigerian army when shooting live rounds, according to current and former Nigerian military officials.
“Two ballistics experts also confirmed with CNN that the shape of the bullet casings indicate they used live rounds, which contradicts the army’s claim they fired blanks.”
Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed had in a press conference earlier on Thursday called for sanctions to be placed on CNN for the report, maintaining that the military fired blank bullets at the Toll Gate and not even at protesters but into the air.
