Politics
Sowore’s Sahara Reporters: The Story Of A Serial Blackmailer Destroying Journalism
Published
4 years agoon
By Adegboyega Oluwasegun
Journalism is not just a profession; it is a sweet experience. Yes, it is undoubtedly so. The average journalist takes pride in knowing that he rubs shoulders with the high and mighty in the society. Even though we may not be as wealthy as we should be because of what we do, the so-called big men cannot do without us.
This feeling of importance brings us a level of pride and raised ego, we understand that we can either make or mar a person, a society, anything. Painfully, however, this noble profession has not just taken the position of an ‘all-comers affair’, some of its practitioners now see it as a means of extorting people, a tool of attack and a cash-and-carry mechanism for anybody with the assumption of some grievances to create victims of, sometimes, innocent people.
Put straight, the media and the profession which are supposed to be the purveyors of facts, balanced and fair reports, are constantly being dented by quacks who see journalism as nothing more than a bid to make ends meet or willing tools to fight perceived enemies thus betraying its tenets in the face of unrelenting clamour against fake news. A case in point is Sahara Reporters.
For those who have been following the trends of the online medium, they will understand that it falls short of true journalism practices. What happens to the simple principles of balance, fairness and objectivity? For those who may not understand the practice, these three principles guide journalism and they instruct that every angle to a story must be explored; if you are accused, you must be given the opportunity to defend yourself.
Let us look at some cases: Days ago, towards the end of July, Sahara Reporters came up with what it considers a ‘banger’ without any consideration for the same principles I emphasized earlier. ‘EXCLUSIVE: No Record Of Lagos Assembly Speaker, Obasa, As A Lawyer In Our Registry, Supreme Court Reveals’. That was the headline. The report started with ‘more trouble may be brewing for the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mudashiru Obasa…’ The report gave the impression that whereas Obasa calls himself a lawyer, its checks show that he is not, especially as the Supreme Court says his name is not in the Rolls of Legal Practitioners kept with it.
Rather than rush into publishing, a responsible medium would dig further by asking further questions. Yes, his name was not in the roll, does that pooh-pooh his assertion of attending Law School? A medium worth its name would reach out to Obasa, being the subject of the write-up to prove his claim. No, Sahara Reporters suddenly began to orgasm. It was an opportunity to celebrate and churn out materials below half-truths. The statement from the Supreme Court NEVER said Obasa is not a lawyer. Here is a part of the statement: ‘MUDASHIRU AJAYI OBASA is at liberty to come to the honourable court with his call to bar and qualifying certificates for enrollment.’
For a proof, different photographs of the Speaker’s Call To Bar emerged after the story by Sahara Reporters. Instead of the medium to humble itself, swallow its pride and tell Nigerians it was misguided in its celebrated but maladroit exclusive story, it rushed into another fake it called a ‘Face-Check’ where it claimed Obasa never graduated from Law School but that the Speaker bought a gown to pretend being a lawyer. Unfortunately, because Sahara Reporters know that some of its followers make up the gullible whose hatred for politicians would make them believe anything and everything negative about them, it presented this second concoction.
I decided to call out Sahara Reporters now because I have done my personal finding. Against the half-baked, poorly planned and hare-brained investigation it says it carried out, my finding shows that Obasa was actually called to bar and possesses a certificate with number 050879. In fact, Obasa was number 403 on the roll of those called to bar by the Body of Benchers chaired by Chief George N. Uwechue, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). The evidence are here added to this piece. He has been certified by the body of benchers.
I am not just the only one putting a lie to the recent claim by Sahara Reporters. Benjamin Waive, a Nigerian lawyer, recently faulted the report by Sahara Reporters as he confirmed that he and Obasa were close course mates during the one year Bar Part II Course at the Lagos Campus of the Nigeria Law School. Hear him: “The recent claim that the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Mr. Mudashiru A. Obasa, is a fake lawyer almost got on my nerves because here was an outright falsehood gaining momentum before my very eyes. The gentleman Obasa attended the Lagos Campus of the Nigerian Law School with me, wrote the bar finals with me and was called together with me.”
Does this ring a bell against Sahara Reporters’ poor outing and denigration of our noble profession? Barrister Waive is not the only one who was called to bar with the Speaker. Barristers Oyinlola Adeleke, Tunde Coker, Bisola Agbaje are a few in the long list.
For the avoidance of doubt, section 2 (1) of the Legal Practitioners Council Act stipulates the modalities for practice as a lawyer: “Subject to the provisions of this Act, a person shall be entitled to practise as a barrister and solicitor if, and only if, his name is on the roll.” Now, the question should be: Did Sahara Reporters expect the Speaker to be making appearances in court for clients to prove his qualification when he serves his state as a lawmaker? Is the Speaker the only law graduate who does not make such appearances in courts? Does Sahara Reporters even understand the stipulations of the Legal Practitioners Council Act?
The Nigerian government and the various media bodies have been shouting against unprofessionalism and fake news, but who will help clean this Augean stable, especially based on the fact that this is not a one-off?
Sahara Reporters had earlier agreed to become a tool in the hands of Obasa’s traducers. It came out with a series of reports, and in most cases, faking documents. The reports were all discredited with the House of Assembly displaying original documents and actual explanations. It claimed the Speaker took N17 million for the maintenance of his guest house and office, but a later finding showed that the money is spent on many other things other than Sahara Reporter’s claim and that it was even reduced from N27 million that it was before the emergence of Obasa as Speaker.
The medium also claimed that Obasa approved N258 million for the printing of invitation cards for the inauguration of the ninth Assembly when the actual document showed that the invitation was printed with N1.13 million and that the full event had a total expenditure of N61.3 million. It was discovered that Sahara Reporters covered the truth and displayed the amount left in the account as the money approved for the printing of the invitation cards. Till date, the medium never apologised for misinforming its readers, it continues to cover its lies with more lies.
Reno Omokri, an aide to former President Goodluck Jonathan, recently revealed how Sahara Reporters blackmailed him just few days to the 2015 election by publishing a fake story claiming he robbed a house and stole money to use in the election. He said he wrote to Omoyele Sowore, sent him logs of his activities on the said day, and the man ignored his mails. Even the man cited by the medium denied it and this was reported by responsible media, but Sowore refused to admit the professional failure of his medium or take the story down. It was only when Omokri’s lawyer discovered that Ford Foundation is Sowore’s sponsor and he sent a letter detailing the true situation of things that Sowore rushed to pull down the story. “He did not do this because he wanted to. He did it, only because he did not want his money threatened,” Omokri said. Is such a man credible enough to make people believe him?
In 2017, a UK-based journalist and Public Relations (PR) practitioner, Lekan Fatodu, who even sponsored Sowore’s honeymoon as a bossom friend, told how the self-acclaimed activist blackmailed him demanding N100 million from him for a contract his company got with the government of Jonathan. According to Fatodu, who even presented an audio conversation between him and Sowore, the latter claimed he was aware that his friend got N1.7 billion from the government and that the EFCC was coming for him. He told Fatodu he could help out if his own demand was met. But Fatodu told him he was ready for the EFCC. Then, Sowore rushed a report out claiming his supposed friend laundered money for the government. “He told me that if I don’t give him N100M from the famous Dasuki loot, he’ll run the story,” Fatodu said. The contract was even N38 million and the company was paid N12 million, not N1.7 billion as claimed by Sowore.
Fatodu was investigated after Sowore’s report and cleared. And Sowore started threatening to deal with him. “While driving around Ikeja alongside a friend, a car hurriedly jumped the red light and almost caused an accident for myself and other motorists that had the right of way. I just asked my friend; ‘is that not Sowore?’ Because we are all friends. I’ve driven in Sowore’s car and I’ve also offered him a ride in my car. So I told my friend that the driver deliberately jumped the red light because of his previous threat to me.
“We moved close to the car and it was Sowore at the passenger’s seat. As soon as he saw me, he started saying that he was going to deal with me in this country. I noticed they were about four guys in Sowore’s car. I ran to the police at the junction of Nitel bus stop by GRA who helped to reach their colleagues who came to pick Sowore up. How can a so called investigative reporter, who prides himself as one of Nigeria’s best, be involved in such rascality and blackmail? Imagine how many other persons whose careers Sowore has killed with his blackmail brand of journalism. I wasn’t going to take it lying low. Apart from me, Sowore has ruined the careers of other mutual friends. What kind of man is this? With a friend like Sowore, who needs enemies?” Fatodu had asked. He also led a protest in which he called Sahara Reporters “the headquarters of fake news in Nigeria which is run by the most notorious blackmailer in the history of Nigeria, Sowore Omoyele.”
Only recently, in its usual manner of diehard irresponsibility, Sahara Reporters caused panic in the country by announcing that Ghali Umar Na’Abba had died. A call to Na’Abba, who was rocking his life in London, was all that Sahara Reporters should have made to confirm. No, like a drink who would not think before talking, the medium broke all journalism tenets to publish a story against the former Speaker of the House of Representatives. I remember how Dele Momodu, in an Instagram Live session, mocked the report by asking Na’Abba: “How is heaven?” And the former Speaker replied: “I have not been there…”
In a follow-up video, Na’Abba said he was saddened by the rumour of his death which he said was carried in an evil manner. Sahara Reporters later carried a corregendum, but does that correct the harm the fake news had done to family members and close associates of the former Speaker?
As if that was not enough, it reported that Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, purchased three houses for his wives whereas this was blatant falsehood. The man had been living in one of the houses far before becoming minister. He rented the other. The man said two of the images presented by Sahara Reporters are not even known to him. The sin of the medium, like a drop of oil, now stains all of us judging by this admonition from the Minister: “We plead with the Nigerian media to deploy the strategies of investigative journalism and avoid false sensationalism in order to uphold the tenets of the noble pen profession.” What more damage should we wait for?
The President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, was also a recent victim of Sahara Reporters’ falsehood when it claimed that the politician was already rallying ahead of the 2023 presidential election. But Lawan describes the report as puerile with the medium having “its source in beer parlour gossips and should be treated with the contempt which it and those who concocted it deserve.”
The most recent was a story accusing the Inspector-General of Police, M. A. Adamu, of being involved in a multi-billion naira fraud scheme. Among his claims were that Adamu illegally raised huge sums of money for the construction of a police training school in Endehu, which falsely claimed was the IGP’s hometown in Nasarawa State. Adamu is even from Lafia, the state capital and not Endehu.
But the police, through its spokesperson, Frank Mba, described the report as a usual tradition of blackmail engaged in by Sahara Reporters. Again, it was discovered that all those who contributed never donated cash but materials required for the school. So where did Saraha Reporters get the information about the multiples of billion it claimed?
With these antecedent, is such a notorious blackmailer, in the words of Fatodu, who knows him so well, be described as a name in the noble profession of journalism? Is it not high time his financial sponsors, Ford Foundation and The MacArthur Foundation understood the adage: ‘A thief is not as ashamed as his family members.’ Will Ford Foundation and The MacArthur Foundation allow their names to be rubbished and described as sponsors of fake news?
Adegboyega is a freelance journalist and advocate against fake news. He is based in Surulere, Lagos.
Related
religion
Prophecy for 2025: A Year of Vengeance, Harvest, and Divine Shifts By Pro. Kingsley Aitafo
Published
2 days agoon
December 21, 2024Prophecy for 2025: A Year of Vengeance, Harvest, and Divine Shifts By Pro. Kingsley Aitafo
Sahara Weekly Reports That Prophet Kingsley Aitafo, under the grace and spiritual leadership of His Eminence Rev. Pastor Samuel Belehou Oshoffa, founder of the Celestial Church of Christ, has unveiled 25 prophecies for the year 2025. These revelations call for vigilance, prayer, and alignment with divine purpose. Below is the detailed list of the prophecies:
1. A Year of Divine Justice
2025 will be a year of vengeance upon the wicked and a season of abundant harvest for the righteous. This is a time for reflection and spiritual alignment.
2. Weather Disasters to Pray Against
The world must unite in prayers against severe weather disasters, including excessive winds, water overflow, floods, earthquakes, and tsunamis. These natural calamities threaten to disrupt lives and properties globally.
3. A Major Technological Advancement
WhatsApp is predicted to receive a significant upgrade, potentially integrating email functionalities. This innovation will redefine digital communication.
4. Nigeria’s National Football Team
The Nigerian national football team should be prayed for, as a painful defeat could occur.
5. A Great Man of God in Danger
One of the most celebrated men of God is at risk of sudden death. Prayers are needed to avert this tragedy.
6. Sunday Igboho
The activist should be prayed for to avoid heart-touching news that could cause widespread concern.
7. Nnamdi Kanu
Freedom is within reach for Nnamdi Kanu, but prayers are needed to ensure he lives to see it.
8. Fire Disasters Worldwide
Serious fire disasters are foreseen and must be prayed against to protect lives and properties globally.
9. NYSC and PHCN Reforms
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) will be empowered and reshuffled for greater effectiveness.
10. Global Police Forces
The police worldwide are warned of potential brutal revolts from the masses. Prayers are needed to prevent such events.
11. African Nations and Coups
Several African countries are advised to pray against unexpected coup plots.
12. Goodluck Jonathan’s Political Path
Former President Goodluck Jonathan is encouraged to follow God’s leading and refrain from contesting future elections.
13. Changes in EFCC
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will be more empowered, but significant transformations will occur within the agency.
14. Passing of Aged Leaders
Several aged ex-presidents, traditional rulers, and military leaders will pass on in 2025.
15. New Religious Leaders
New leaders will emerge in white garment denominations and the Catholic Church, marking significant transitions.
16. Churches in Danger of Scandals
Great churches like RCCG, Winners Chapel, Christ Embassy, Mountain of Fire, and COZA are urged to pray against confusion and scandals that could lead to divisions.
17. Exposure of False Churches
Churches that operate under the guise of Christ without genuine faith will be exposed.
18. Protection of Yoruba Entertainers
Yoruba actors and actresses should pray against strange illnesses, while English-speaking entertainers must pray against sudden deaths.
19. Plane Crashes
A major plane crash could occur, causing widespread pain. Prayers are needed to prevent this disaster.
20. National Unity in Nigeria
Despite ongoing agitations, Nigeria will remain undivided.
21. The Monarch and Pope’s Seat
Prayers are required to prevent sudden vacancies in the monarchy of England and the papal seat.
22. Deadly Disease and Global Conflict
A new, more deadly ailment than COVID-19 and the potential of a mini-war loom on the horizon. The world must unite in prayer to avert these crises.
23. Rising of True Last-Day Churches
The emergence of last-day churches will bring forth spiritual giants and miraculous powers reminiscent of the apostles of old.
24. Business Tycoons in Nigeria
Successful Nigerian business magnates should seek divine protection against untimely death.
25. Christ’s Return is Near
Finally, Prophet Kingsley reminds the world that the return of Jesus Christ is near. Embracing holiness and righteousness is the only path to prepare for His coming.
Prophet Kingsley’s prophecies serve as a divine reminder for individuals, nations, and institutions to seek God’s guidance and protection. Let 2025 be a year of faith, reflection, and readiness for what lies ahead.
Let us watch, pray, and align with God’s will.
Related
Politics
Peter Obi Offers to Fulfill Bail Conditions for Dele Farotimi, Advocates Justice
Published
3 days agoon
December 20, 2024Peter Obi Offers to Fulfill Bail Conditions for Dele Farotimi, Advocates Justice
The global coordinator of the Obidient Movement has announced that Peter Obi, former presidential candidate and leader of the movement, has stepped forward to fulfill the bail conditions for human rights lawyer Dele Farotimi.
Farotimi, a prominent activist known for his bold stance against systemic issues in Nigeria, was recently granted ₦30 million bail by a Federal High Court following charges filed against him. The case has attracted significant public attention, with widespread support for Farotimi from various quarters.
In a statement, the Coordinator revealed that Obi expressed his gratitude to the judiciary and all stakeholders involved in the legal process. The former presidential candidate emphasized the importance of fairness, transparency, and the rule of law in resolving the matter.
The Obidient Movement, known for championing justice and accountability, has remained vocal in its support for Farotimi. The group reiterated its commitment to upholding the principles of justice and transparency in Nigeria’s judicial system.
The next hearing in Farotimi’s case is scheduled for January 2025, with supporters hopeful for a resolution that upholds the integrity of the legal process.
Related
Politics
Breaking: Speaker Obasa Debunks Allegation Of Spending N17b On Assembly Gate
Published
4 days agoon
December 19, 2024Breaking: Speaker Obasa Debunks Allegation Of Spending N17b On Assembly Gate
The Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Mudashiru Obasa, on Thursday described the allegation that the House spent N17 billion on the fixing of a gate as spurious and funny.
A self-proclaimed group, Lagos State Anti-Corruption Coalition, had accused the Assembly of spending the amount to construct a gate. The group also sought investigation of the claim.
Speaking at plenary, Dr. Obasa said the allegation stemmed from the fear of some people over 2027 which is still more than two years away.
Obasa further debunked the claim that the House spent N200 million on its recently organised 22nd thanksgiving service for staff.
“It is so funny. How much is the allocation of the Assembly in the whole year that we will decide to spend N17 billion on a gate? They even claimed that we expended 200 million on thanksgiving that did not hold.
“We are aware that at a period like this when we are approaching elections in 2027, we should expect such things. I think some people are scared and I don’t know why.
“This House did not and has not embarked on any such project. We are not that reckless. We had our thanksgiving last Friday and dignitaries from various parts of the State attended it,” the Speaker said.
Addressing further claims by the group about the alleged relationship between him and the chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ola Olukoyede, the Speaker denied attending the latter’s screening and confirmation by the National Assembly.
“They said that I was at the National Assembly when they were confirming the EFCC chairman. I want to believe that there are CCTV cameras at the National Assembly to identify those who attended the event. The press must have written about it too. So the group should do more to confirm if I was there.
“This is just to deny the allegations in the interest of the public and not the writers because the writers are not those we should be joining words with,” the Speaker said.
Earlier, the House, through its spokesperson, Hon. Stephen Ogundipe, had addressed the allegations noting that the Assembly bases its activities on integrity, transparency and accountability.
“It is ludicrous the claim about constituency intervention funds and constituency project funds and their handling by Speaker Mudashiru Obasa and Clerk of the House, Barr. Olalekan Onafeko as claimed by the group.
“One would have expected a self-acclaimed anti-corruption crusading group to do its groundwork before jumping across the fence with conviction that it hit a jackpot to malign an institution of repute in the name of politics.
“Simply put, the Lagos State House of Assembly does not have any such funds. The Assembly does not embark on constituency projects. Instead, once every year, the House holds stakeholders’ meetings simultaneously across the state where constituents have the opportunity to tell the lawmakers their expectations and make requests for the betterment of the state.
“These requests and expectations are compiled and sent to the executive arm of government for consideration as inputs in subsequent budgets. If this is what the group takes as constituency intervention or project funds, we are sure this explanation has given the required education, moreover, it is common knowledge that it is the responsibility of the Executive arm to execute such projects,” the earlier statement by Ogundipe read.
Eromosele Ebhomele
Chief Press Secretary to the Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assembly.
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