The Federal Government threatened to sanction a foreign media outlet, NN, over its report on the alleged shooting of #EndSARS protesters by soldiers at the Lekki toll plaza on October 20, 2020.
The government described the report by the foreign news medium as “irresponsible journalism”.
According to SurgeZirc NG, the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made this known in a letter dated November 23 and addressed to Jonathan Hawkins, VP, communications, CNN.
According to him, the briefing was conveyed to address lingering issues regarding the #EndSARS protests for police reform that rocked the nation last month.
He 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.
The minister alleged that CNN relied on social media videos without verification to produce its report.
“This should earn CNN a serious sanction for irresponsible reporting,” Mohammed said.
He added that some “unscrupulous persons” including celebrities circulated fake news on the social media that aggravated the violence that trailed the two-week demonstration.
“While it is up to CNN to accede or not, please note that the Federal Government reserves the right to take any action within its laws to prevent CNN from aggravating the #EndSARS crisis with unprofessional, irresponsible, one-sided, inciting and sensational reporting that is capable of pitching Nigerians against themselves and setting the country on fire,” Lai stated.
Meanwhile, Lagos State Judicial Panel of Inquiry on Restitution for Victims of SARS Related Abuses and Other Matters (Lagos #EndSARS Panel) has reported the Lekki Tollgate shootings of October 20, 2020 as a massacre.
The panel indicted soldiers and implicated Nigeria’s security agents in th
killing and forced disappearances of harmless and unarmed youths protesting at Lekki Tollgate on October 20, 2020.
The Justice Doris Okuwobi-led panel made the revelation in a 309-page report submitted to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Monday.
