Premium Times, a popular online newspaper, has sacked its Jos-based reporter, Mr. Andrew Ajijah, over a false story credited to Miyetti Allah on the mayhem in Plateau in which 100 people were killed.

The management of Premium Times has also resolved to apologise to Mr. Danladi Ciroma, the North Central leader of the apex cattle breeders’ organisation over the story published on June 25.

The story with the headline, “Killing of nearly 100 people in Plateau ‘retaliatory’ — Miyetti Allah’’ turned out to be false.

The Premium Times had reported that the violence that erupted in 11 villages in some local governments was retaliation by the herders whose cattle were killed.

Mr Ajijah’s report in Premium Times quoted Ciroma as saying: “These attacks are retaliatory. As much as I don’t support the killing of human being, the truth must be told that those who carried out the attacks must be on revenge mission.”

“Fulani herdsmen have lost about 300 cows in the last few weeks – 94 cows were rustled by armed Berom youths in Fan village, another 36 cows were killed by Berom youths. In addition to that, 174 cattle were rustled.”

Miyetti Allah distanced itself from the report that went viral and the insinuations that it justified the killings of over 100 people in Plateau State.

Ciroma, was reported as saying that the killings were a retaliation of previous acts of deadly aggression against Fulani residents and pastoralists in the state.

PREMIUM TIMES published the alleged statement, which was the first to be attributed to Miyetti Allah in the wake of the chilling massacre.

The denial and strong protest by Ciroma led to an extensive investigation by the respected online newspaper which discovered some infractions on the part of the reporter.

Premium Times therefore stated as follows:

“While Mr Ciroma acknowledged speaking with a reporter on Monday in Jos, he insisted to PREMIUM TIMES that he did not make the statement credited to him. In fact, he said what he told the reporter was the opposite of what was reported.

“I told the reporter that leaders at the local and national levels should come together and resolve this crisis before it is too late,” Mr Ciroma said by telephone Wednesday night, protesting strongly the comments attributed to him.

“An internal investigation by PREMIUM TIMES found that there was no recording of any interview in which Mr Ciroma made the statement, neither was any statement signed or circulated by him that contained the quotes.

“The error was traced to our outstation reporter based in Jos, whose failure to properly attribute the source of the purported statement by Mr Ciroma misled the editors into believing that it was e-mailed to the reporter.

“The reporter filed the story on Monday morning based on ‘a statement’ from Mr Ciroma. But checks by PREMIUM TIMES following Mr Ciroma’s protest on Wednesday afternoon showed that the quotes were lifted from The Nation Newspapers.

“The Nation’s reporter in Plateau State also circulated the quotes in the WhatsApp group of reporters on the government house beat in Jos, telling his colleagues they were the full transcription of his interview with Mr Ciroma.

“The reporter later admitted to PREMIUM TIMES that he did not have a recording of his call with Mr Ciroma, but said the quotes mirrored the Miyetti Allah leader’s position on the latest killings in Plateau State.

“The Nation published the purported quotes by Mr Ciroma hours before our reporter in Jos lifted it without attribution, thus misleading his editors in Abuja.

“PREMIUM TIMES management has initiated an ethics and professional review of the reporter’s work; how it came to be that his sourcing for the story fell below house standards, and how his documentation fails to measure up to expected standards for verification and accuracy.

“Even if Mr Ciroma made the purported statement, newsroom managers agreed yesterday, the expectations would be to report it with proper recording or digital footprints, for the simple reason that ethical journalism places the onus on the reporter to document proof of sources’ contribution to a story.

“When one of the editors on duty called our reporter to find out how the story was sourced shortly before passing it on Monday morning, he said it was personally sent out by Mr Ciroma. This turned out to be the WhatsApp group broadcast by The Nation reporter, which several other Jos-based print and electronic correspondents sent to their respective media organisations throughout Monday.

“This again brings to fore the limits of a common culture in Nigerian beat reporting where correspondents share stories amongst themselves in the manner of pool reporting. While journalists cannot be at two or more events simultaneously, standards in ethical reporting require reporters to ensure thorough verification of any second-hand information”.

PREMIUM TIMES publisher, Dapo Olorunyomi, admitted in a meeting with newsroom senior editors yesterday that the paper was substantially in error with respect to its reporting on Mr. Ciroma’s role in the conflict in Jos.

“This is very much below the standards of verification we strive to maintain and for which we have come to earn the trust of our readers. As a first step, we are sending an apology letter to Mr. Ciroma regretting the mischaracterisation of his role, and assuring him that a disciplinary process is currently apace to ensure accountability for the breakdown in our editorial procedures.”

The controversial attribution to Miyetti Allah came as the media were facing allegations of bias in its coverage of the ongoing killings in the country.

In February, presidential spokesperson, Garba Shehu disparaged the media for its coverage of the killings. PREMIUM TIMES largely restrains from using potentially harmful stereotypes or slurs save for where authoritative references have linked an incident to a group pattern.

https://www.google.com.ng/amp/www.nan.ng/news/premium-times-sacks-reporter-over-false-report-on-miyetti-allah/amp/

STEP 1: Drop False information
STEP 2: Wait for it to go viral
STEP 3: Apologize

Useless pigs!

Regardless this,Buhari & Miyetti Allah Hole marauding & killer brothers are all and will for ever remain terrorists. Nothing can ever change that.

Miyetti Allah leader has always been known for making statements like the first one.....


Premium times is just being threatened because of the weight that this statement of his is carrying.....

Thats why he denied it and the reporter made a scapegoat, so as to please THE POWER THAT BE

oshe11:
Miyetti Allah leader has always been known for making statements like the first one.....


Premium times is just being threatened because of the weight that this statement of his is carrying.....

Thats why he denied it and the reporter made a scapegoat, so as to please THE POWER THAT BE

Better oil dey your head I swear

BeeBeeOoh:
Oil dey your head I swear

You just dey know?

He have been programmed

The disciples of Jesus did not report the same words.
The gospel according to Mathew is different from what mark and Luke saw.
The gospel according to John is very far from the first three writers .
Does that mean Jesus acted four movies at the same time.

Is now left for the jobless lazy evil idiotic pigs of Biafra to be twisting and believing what others did not and w

Kudos...
That's how respected organisations should behave.
The ethics nd tenets of the profession must be upheld.
The journalist f*cked up big time. How can u lift a story of such magnitude from a whatsapp group.
Bt sadly, that's what journalism has been reduced to in this country.
What we get are now beer parlour gists.
Bt wait ooo, what's the Nation's newspaper saying in all of this.
It'll be a big shame if they just let this story go by like that without any apology nd decisive action taken just like the Premium Times has just done.

Igbos are terrorists while Myetti Allah are a cultural group, but the Igbos can't see this. What are we supposed to do about that?

Viola! The unfortunate guy has been thrown under the bus as the fall guy

The DSS should quiz him and prosecute him for such reckless unprofessional conduct capable of setting the country ablaze. In that case, he would reveal the source of his information to the judge and to Nigerians.

While at it, the DSS should also endeavor to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of the unending carnage in North Central

oshe11:
Miyetti Allah leader has always been known for making statements like the first one.....


Premium times is just being threatened because of the weight that this statement of his is carrying.....

Thats why he denied it and the reporter made a scapegoat, so as to please THE POWER THAT BE

and you know this how??

very good. we need to bring sanity to our media houses. some media houses are following d footstep of radio biafra which is known for lies,propaganda,mischief,chest beating, and violence. dos that using d misfortune of jos people to achieve selfish political points will b expose one by one in jesus name

uba1991:
very good. we need to bring sanity to our media houses. some media houses are following d footstep of radio biafra which is known for lies,propaganda,mischief,chest beating, and violence. dos that using d misfortune of jos people to achieve selfish political points will b expose one by one in jesus name

Thumbs up.
Good write up!

I don’t see anything wrong with what the report did! The useless Islamic forum under the umbrella Miyetti Allah is know for propagating violence amongst the Muslim folks!

How can a religion who preached destruction and pains quoting Ahmadu Bello- “Using the minorities in the North as willing tools (Killings in Benue and Kogi) and the South as conquered territories (Northerners own almost all the oil blocks there).

A jihadist from Futa Jalon came into Nigeria as a territory and it has never been the same. Some foolish historians would say the northern caliphate were in Nigeria before the stupid British came! But they forgot to know that every other parts of the country was developing at their pace especially the Niger Delta!!

Silly reporter! Such sensitive interview and u couldn't record it? Even secretly?

It smells "fishy" like dem slay queens pvssy!

Wickedness!

When will Buhary sack Alh Lie Mohamed for all his fraudulent lies to Nigerians?


When will Buhary order the arrest of the terrorist Fulani Herdsmen?

When will Buhary proscribed the terrorist group as terrorist organization in Nigeria?

That's quite professional

Enough of the lies and propaganda against the most friendly tribe


Why will a reasonable human kill someone else's cow? Imagine! Cow that's even bigger than human.

That's just sheer wickedness

God will definitely lead the Fulani's through this trial time

He should be sued to court by the miyetti allah.press freedom should not be abused.the incompetent reporter just heated the polity for nothing.buhari till 2023

This is commendable

GavelSlam:
Vanguard Newspaper might find him useful.

One of those that need to be sack in BMC

CilicMarin:
STEP 1: Drop False information STEP 2: Wait for it to go viral STEP 3: Apologize
Useless pigs!

Shut up.
Sack Lie Mohammed if you're serious.

If Lai Mohammed was working for Premium Times, he'd be jobless by now.

When the National Security Council meets, the following will be in attendance:
1. Muhammadu Buhari (President)
2. Mansur Mohammed Dan Alli (Minister of Defence)
3. Abdulrahman Dambazzau (Minister of Internal Affairs)
4. Lawal Daura (DG-SSS)
5. Ibrahim Magu (Chairman, EFCC)
6. Tukur Buratai (Chief of Army Staff)
7. Sadique Abubakar (Chief of Air Staff)
8. Mohammed Saliu Usman-AVM (Chief of Defence Intelligence)
9. Ibrahim Idris (Inspector-General of Police)
10. Abubakar Malami (Attorney-General)
11. Baba Gana Monguno (National Security Adviser)
12. Ahmed Rufai Ababukar DG NIA)
In what language will they communicate, please?
Do they discuss Nigerian security or Northern Security?
An expanded meeting will have:
13. Abdullahi Gana Muhammadu (Civil Defence)
14. Hamid Ali (Controller-General of Customs)
15. Mohammed Babandede (Comptroller-General of Immigration)
16. Ja'afaru Ahmed (Comptroller-General of Prisons)
Notice anything? They are all from the North, mostly Fulanis.

something is fishy but not from the aquarium..

Not to worry sir. When one door closes, several better ones will open. You shall testify soonest

Darkness shall never overcome light. Shame to bad people!

hang him

This is one of the reasons we shouldn't believe everything posted online. We need to be ascertained b4 sharing.