Two State House Correspondents: Terhemba Daka of the Guardian and Johnbosco Agbakwuru of Vanguard today in the news filings from Aso Rock reported that the Vice President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo disowned his media aide, Mr. Laolu Akande over the controversial NNPC allegations generated by the leaked letter of the Petroleum Resources Minister Ibe Kachikwu to the President.
Out of the close to 50 reporters who daily report from the State House only these two reporters gave the story of the Vice President's role a curious and false coloration. But their colleagues are wondering why.
A listing of the headlines of The Guardian and Vanguard compared to the other major news reports makes the matter clear.
The Guardian: OSINBAJO DISOWNS AIDE'S STATEMENT ON NNPC CRISIS
Vanguard: OSINBAJO DISOWNS AIDE OVER $25B NNPC CONTRACT
*Compare with the majority of the other news reports & headlines below:
Daily Trust: I NEVER APPROVED NNPC CONTRACTS-OSINBAJO
Tribune: MY ROLE IN NNPC FINANCING ARRANGEMENTS-OSINBAJO
Thisday: NNPC: I DID NOT APPROVE CONTRACTS, BUT LOANS SAYS OSINBAJO
Daily Sun: NNPC: I APPROVED LOANS, NOT CONTRACTS-OSINBAJO
Leadership: OSINBAJO DENIES APPROVING NNPC CONTRACTS
New Telegraph: I APPROVED LOANS, NOT CONTRACTS FOR NNPC-OSINBAJO
TheNation: I APPROVED NNPC LOANS, NOT CONTRACTS, SAYS OSINBAJO
The personal perspective taken by both papers smacks of bias and certainly a curious decision compared to the rather germane national significance of the issue in question.
Now the reason, majority of the newspapers simply reported exactly what was said and focused on the national significance rather than inventing "stories" like The Guardian and Vanguard reporters did is clear: News reporting is based on what actually happened and which can be backed with facts.
However the two reporters simply chose to befuddle the issues for reasons known to them alone, and for which it is important to constrain them both to explain.
In the report filed by The Guardian reporter and published today he said the VP'S spokesman Akande announced that the VP "admitted granting approval to the NNPC for two oil contracts worth N640B while President Muhammadu Buhari was away on medical leave."
The problem with that claim is that NOWHERE did Akande say that.
In fact the newspaper went ahead to quote what Akande said in his tweets thus: "In response to media inquiries on NNPC joint venture financing, VP Osinbajo as acting President approved recommendation after due diligence. Action necessary to deal with backlog of unpaid cash calls which Buhari administration inherited and also to incentivize much needed fresh investments in the oil and gas sector."
So how did the quote above line up with what the reporter said Akande said?
The Vanguard reporter gave a similar account. How they both attributed words that Akande never said anywhere to him is still a riddle that only Mr. Johnbosco and Mr. Terhemba can solve.
Now let us do a simple comprehension work here that both reporters simply failed to do.
Akande said the approval the VP granted as acting President is on NNPC joint venture financing. Now, how is that the same thing with the ludicrous interpretation of the reporters that Akande said the VP approved N640B oil contracts?
Nowhere in Akande's tweet did he even mention the word/s contract or oil contracts. And everyone knows that financing could refer only to loan financing, equity financing or debt financing. Financing cannot be deemed a procurement contract as people are being led to think and believe.
One would have expected that these two reporters who were simply reporting fiction, and making up and putting words in the mouth of the VP'S Spokesman, would have been checked by their sub-editors. The editors ought to have questioned the material facts available and presented by the reporters in form of direct quotes from the Spokesman. Did they?
So it was on the basis of their baseless false reporting that Akande admitted that his principal approved contracts that they then built their headline upon that the VP disowned his aide when he said he did not approve contracts but loans.
The fact is Akande did not say anywhere that the VP approved contracts. We have already referenced the tweets. It is symptomatic of the carelessness and perhaps mischief that characterized this news report that both reporters actually quoted the tweets accurately and then proceeded to give a blatantly and outrightly false interpretation.
It is a sad day for journalism, but the redeeming thing in all of this is that majority of the other reporters that wrote the same story exhibited superior skills, and admirable ethics by sticking only to what the facts are. As for Johnbosco and Terhemba, we must demand of them a simple apology and from their newspapers an outright retraction of the headline and the patently false claim.
Those are the only paths of honor opened. It is an imperative.