How Presidency Pronounced Gov. Danbaba Suntai Dead, Misleading Nigerians
A misleading tweet by an
official of the Nigerian Presidency helped fueled nationwide speculation
Thursday that Governor Danbaba Suntai of Taraba died in a plane crash.
Anxiety
had mounted over the fate of the occupants of the ill-fated plane after
the story broke that six passengers and crew, including Mr. Suntai,
were aboard the small jetliner which crashed Thursday evening close to
the NNPC depot in Yola.
But rather
than help defuse the tension over the crash, which came less than five
months after a Lagos-bound Dana-operated aircraft from Abuja crashed
into a two-storey building in Lagos, killing all 153 passengers, and 10
others on the ground, the presidency added to the confusion, pronouncing
the governor
dead without getting confirmation from officials on ground
in Yola, the Adamawa State capital.
“May
the soul of the late departed Governor, Danbaba Suntai, of Taraba State
rest in peace and may God grant the state peace this trying time,” the
Special Assistant to the President on New Media, Reno Omokri, said via
his twitter handle, @renoomokri.
But
after this newspaper reported claims by witnesses and Taraba State
officials that the governor survived the crash and was in hospital, Mr.
Omokri hurriedly deleted his misleading tweet. When we checked his
twitter handle at 9.25 p.m., the tweet was no longer there.
He did not offer any apology or explanation.
Mr.
Omokri had in the past used his handle to convey presidential
statements and information to Nigerians, and many were quick to believe
the information he circulated.
“Once
I saw Reno condoling Taraba and the family of the governor, every doubt
I had about the purported death of the governor evaporated,” a state
House correspondent told PREMIUM TIMES this morning. “It is unfortunate
that the presidency misled the nation once again.
The
Federal Ministry of Aviation later issued a statement saying the Taraba
State Governor, Danbaba Suntai, and the other five passengers aboard
the crashed plane are alive.
This is
the second time the presidency would mislead the nation in less than a
month. In his Independence Day anniversary speech, President Goodluck
Jonathan had lied that global corruption watchdog, Transparency
International, had endorsed and praised his administration’s war against
corruption.
“In its latest report,
Transparency International (TI) noted that Nigeria is the second most
improved country in the effort to curb corruption,” the President said
with glee.
But after this newspaper
exposed the lies contained in the president’s broadcast after doing a
thorough fact check and interviewing officials of TI, Mr. Omokri took to
social media deriding our medium and labeling it an opposition
platform.
President Jonathan and his
officials are yet to apologise for the misinformation and the global
embarrassment many believe the false claim brought upon Nigeria.
No presidency official has also been punished over the matter.
The
Special Adviser on Media to the President, Reuben Abati, could not be
reached to comment for this story. Calls to his telephones were neither
answered nor returned.
No comments