Tobias Sylvester
President Muhammadu Buhari has criticized foreign media platforms for their coverage of the #EndSARS protests, a demostration against human right abuses and police brutality.
KanyiDaily recalls that the #EndSARS protests lasted for 13 days in October 2020 as youths across the country took to the streets to condemn alleged human rights abuses by members of the special anti-robbery squad (SARS).
The protest was finally dispersed on October 20, when Nigerian soldiers invaded the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos and allegedly shot some of the protesters.
CNN had released two reports from an independent investigation carried out on the shooting incident. The reports which contain series of videos shows Nigerian soldiers shooting live bullets directly at #EndSARS protesters despite series of denials by the Nigerian authorities.
In a report on the incident, BBC also showed the footage of the shooting and confirmed that peaceful protesters were shot at by the Nigerian army.
Speaking during a meeting with governors of the 36 states, President Buhari said he was disgusted with the coverage of the two foreign media organizations.
According to him, the CNN and BBC failed to balance their stories by not giving attention to the cops killed and police stations razed in the aftermath of the protests.
“It must be said that foreign press coverage of the ENDSARS violence was not balanced, especially from CNN and BBC,” he tweeted on Wednesday night.
“I was disgusted by the coverage, which did not give attention to the policemen that were killed, the stations that were burnt, and prisons that were opened.”
It must be said that foreign press coverage of the ENDSARS violence was not balanced, especially from CNN and BBC. I was disgusted by the coverage, which did not give attention to the policemen that were killed, the stations that were burnt, and prisons that were opened.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) December 9, 2020
KanyiDaily recalls that Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, had also faulted CNN’s report on Lekki shooting, threatening action against the media platform.
