National Security & Intelligence

Al Jazeera Correspondent is out to destabilize Nigeria

Jan 1, 2011, 16:16


Our attention has been drawn to the unfounded and sensational news item on Al Jazeera television claiming that Nigerian President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, has blamed the fundamentalist group, Boko Haram, for the bomb blast which occurred in Abuja yesterday. This is an outright lie. Nowhere, and at no time has the President held any particular group responsible for the attack.

Additionally, neither the Nigerian security services nor the Nigerian government have confirmed those behind the attacks.

It amounts to sheer sensationalism to attribute to the president or the federal government any such claim. It is irresponsible journalism and we condemn it out rightly.

The statement from the president's media office was clear when it said that " evil people determined to turn the joys of fellow Nigerians to ashes detonated a bomb at a barracks market in the Federal Capital City."

If we meant Boko Haram, or any other group, we would state it very clearly.

But Al Jazeera's unique journalism in Nigeria is not strange to us. When the tragedy of the October 1, 2010, bomb blasts occurred, they went to town with outlandish claims against the presidency that were unfounded and unsubstantiated. This brand of journalism defies reason.

For the purpose of clarity, neither the President nor the security agencies have come out to state those behind the attacks. Investigations are on, and at the end of the day, the real culprits would be unmasked.

There is also the need to state, again for the purpose of clarity, that four persons were killed in yesterday's attack. Twenty- Six others were wounded, one of them a soldier.


Ima Niboro
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
January 1, 2011

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