The honorable thing for the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, to do after disparaging the news platform’s investigative report on the October 20, 2020 Lekki tollgate incident, according to a lawyer for the Cable News Network (CNN), is to offer an apology to the news platform.
According to a CNN report, the soldiers attacked defenseless protestors and shot live bullets at them. Lai Mohammed held a series of press briefings during which he denounced the allegation and labeled it “false news,” while insisting that no one was killed in the incident.
Remember that the Lagos State Panel of Inquiry submitted its findings to the state administration on Monday, November 15, in which it accused the Nigerian Army and Police of killing and injuring unarmed protesters during the demonstration.
CNN’s Nigerian counsel, Olumide Babalola, issued a statement asking Lai Mohammed to publicly apologize for misleading Nigerians over the Lekki shooting. On the night of October 20, 2020, Babalola said that the Lagos #EndSARS panel’s report had justified CNN’s investigative report.
“Alhaji Mohammed had consistently claimed that the CNN’s report of massacre was false, but the panel has vindicated the CNN’s position on the gruesome and wanton killings at the Lekki tollgate.
Without necessarily saying more on this, since the same minister had earlier called on the CNN to apologize for fake news, which has now been quasi-judicially proved to be true, one would think the honourable thing for Alhaji Mohammed to do, as an elder statesman and learned gentleman, is to apologize to the CNN especially.
However, as we continue to wait on the minister and the Federal Government’s next move, I sympathise with families of all the victims of Lekki massacre, while we pray for the souls of the departed and hope the government implements the report in full.”Babalola said
