Lekki-Epe Highway Row: Lagos To Sue Tribune
The Lagos State government says it is heading to court over what it called unfounded reports on the Lekki-Epe Expressway crisis by the Ibadan, Oyo State-based daily newspaper, Nigerian Tribune.
The newspaper had carried an advertorial recently with the headline: "Governor Fashola, practice what you preach! Unlike the Lekki Toll protest, the Army has not brutalized any Lagosian. Don't send police to brutalise Lekki protesters and turn around to condemn the deployment of troops who have brutalized no one."
The advertorial brought to fore reports of the Sunday Tribune of 18 December, 2011 in which the newspaper stated: "1 Killed, Many Injured In Lekki Tollgate Protest."
At a news conference on Wednesday, the Lagos State Government lamented that the newspaper had consistently painted the government black over the issue, even when nobody died during the protest.
The advertorial was signed by one Adamu Maimagani, the Social Secretary of One Nigeria Group.
The conference held at the Government Secretariat, Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, was attended by the Commissioners for Information and Strategy and the Environment, Mr. Adeyemi Ibirogba and Mr. Tunji Bello. The Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Ade Ipaye who was also at the conference said government had no quarrel with any section of the Nigerian media. He added that, "we are taking it serious with this newspaper because it has thrown professionalism to the winds.
"We'll deal with the newspaper legally because it has deviated from the ethics of journalism based on truth, fair comment and professionalism."
According to Ipaye, there was a row during the Lekki-Epe protest but insisted that no one died during the protest as the man purported to have died reported at the police station to debunk the story.
The Attorney General stated that investigations by the police later revealed that the man that was alleged to have been killed was a 39-year-old employee of Power Holding of Nigeria (PHCN), Mr. Femi Ogunsanya.
He argued that the national daily deliberately doctored the report and the photograph of the alleged protester that was killed in order to further aggravate the protest and drag the image of the government in the mud.
Also speaking, Commissioner for the Environment, Bello said the report carried by the newspaper was malicious and that in line with journalistic ethics, the newspaper should have retracted the story by now.
He said the government would drag Tribune before the Nigeria Press Council over the report and explore legal option to seek redress.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga
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