The United Kingdom chapter of the Nigerians in Diaspora Monitoring Group, NDMG, has faulted the investigative report by the Cable News Network, CNN, on the Lekki toll gate shooting.
NDMG threatened a legal action against CNN to curtail the platform’s propaganda in Nigeria if it fails to retract the report.
The group said CNN was desperate to salvage its diminishing image and perceived the End SARS protest in Nigeria as its final shot at redemption.
It insisted that there was no originality in the piece as it followed a pre-existing script aimed at indicting the government and military.
Recall that soldiers were alleged to have shot and killed some End SARS protesters at Lekki toll gate recently.
But, the Nigerian Army denied the report, saying its soldiers acted professionally and did not kill any protester at Lekki toll gate.
Amid the controversy that ensued, CNN had released an investigative report countering the claims of the Nigerian Army.
However, the group’s President, Cosmos Collins advised the American television channel to apologize to Nigeria.
He said: “The Nigerians in Diaspora Monitoring Group has taken time to review a purported special report by Cable Network News (CNN) alleging several crimes against the authorities in Nigeria from October 20, 2020, Lekki Toll Gate incident and has come to the inevitable conclusion that the international news network owes Nigeria and its citizens apology.
“Our review confirmed that there was no originality in the report, which is nothing but a stringing together of information that was already available in the public domain in a manner that was aimed at indicting the government and Nigeria’s military forces.
“Understandably, CNN is now under pressure to salvage its image as a credible news source, but it is something it could have tried doing without attempting to further undermine Nigeria.
“We demand that CNN immediately discontinue its demarketing campaign against Nigeria, retract its lies and apologize to our dear country and compatriots failing which we will exploit available legal means to curtail the excesses of this propaganda behemoth.”
