Saharareporters, Fake Reports And Aviation Minister The pseudo-journalistic concoctions from Saharreporters usually makes interesting reading. You have to give it to them that they know how to tie up things that are totally unrelated and make them look beautifully connected. If you gave a Yemenese and an Italian to Sahara reporters by the time they finish with the two, both of them would have started speaking the same language. That is the power of Saharareporters’ pseudo-journalism which it has become notorious for, over the years. As usual, Saharreporters have done a beautiful job of playing Sherlock Holmes --the fabled fictional film sleuth that finds conspirators and never fails to unravel the big, bad guys—in its latest report about the purchase of two armoured BMW cars by Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,NCAA, an agency under the Ministry of Aviation.. Very interesting that in this case, Saharreporters has taken the trouble to publish invoices,receipts ,requests, acknowledgements and all worth not, just to prove that the BMW cars were actually purchased by the NCAA. Very nice, Saharareporters. Because in countless number of its reports ,Saharreporters does not bother to provide any proof, it would simply start accusing people if things it has no proof of. Now, lets take a look at Saharareporters’ latest Sherlock Holmes’ exertions. The Headline of the story says:” How Aviation Minister Stella Oduah Forced Cash-Strapped Aviation Agency To Spend $1.6 Million On Two BMW Armored Cars For Her.” Very interesting.But when you go through the story,you find out that there is no where that Saharreporters could prove that the cars where ordered by,or were meant for the Aviation Minister. Saharreporters published more than 10 invoices, receipts, acknowledgements, Yet none of these so called documents show any link to the Aviation minister. In Saharreporters’ infantile brand of journalism, once an agency of government makes a big purchase that you do not like, it must have been ordered by the minister. How do you come to this conclusion? I too, collect receipts and invoices when I go to Chicken Republic to eat chicken and rice,with my friends and family.We are given receipts for our purchases,if Sahara reporters are interested,we would give them the receipts. So, what does the Saharreporters receipts prove? Nobody has denied that the car purchase was made. And the officials collected the receipts which confirm purchase. Therefore, no government money was lost. Second, Saharreporters also claimed in its sensational headline, which is usual with the pseudo-journalists there, that NCAA is “cash-strapped”. Who told Saharreporters that NCAAA is cash-strapped and how does it proof that NCAA is cash-strapped? Please show us a “receipt”(pun) or budget to proof this.Very funny. It says NCAA can not buy aircraft testing equipment and the money spend on the armoured cars was meant for test-equipment. Oh, Saharreporters please congratulate yourselves.You are not only doing pseudo-journalism,you are also doing well in clavoiyance. But it is very easy to see how childish but wicked ,Saharreporters story is.One,the Aviation Ministry has been in existence for over 30 years, but it was only within the last two years that the Aviation minister, Princess Oduah got there that NCAA now wanted to purchase aircraft testing equipment! And then, the swashbuckling minister appeared from nowhere and “took” the money to buy cars? These Sahara boys must think we are fools to believe their drivel. So, in other words , all former distinguished ministers of Aviation from the early 1990s to date --- Group Captain Obakpolo, Professor Babalola Borisade, Dr Kema Chikwe, and even the gadfly, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, none of them ever bothered to purchase aircraft testing equipment? It was only in the past two years under Princess Oduah that this equipment was to be purchased? Then, rather we should commend the current Aviation minister, Princess Oduah for her vision, courage and hard work as shown in the budget to purchase aircraft testing equipment which none of her predecessors ever attempted to do, according to Saharreporters! There are however several other questions arising from what that propaganda sheet Saharreporters, masquerading as a media house, wrote that it needs to answer. One, did it confront the Director-General of NCAA with these allegations? How did it know the total budget of NCAA in order to determine if it is actually cash-strapped? If it was cash-strapped how did NCAA afford to purchase the armoured cars worth $1.6 million, according to Saharareporters? Or was it after the purchase that Saharareporters now determined that NCAA must be cash-strapped? If this is so, then, the editors of Saharreporters must be clavoiyant! Rather than going ahead to write its usual garbage, lets see the questions any reasonable media would have asked the DG of NCAA, Captain Fola Akinkoutu. One very simple question:”Why do you need to buy two armoured cars at this time?”.Two, please, do you have a budget for this and would it not hamper your capacity to carry out your key functions?” Three, even though we recognize that insecurity is a critical issue in the country now, do you think the purchase of these two cars would make a difference?” Rather than ask relevant questions and get clarifications, Saharareporters did its own wuruwuru (fabrication) to the answer.It says there is a pattern of corrupt purchases.Saharreporters has not provided any evidence of one,not to talk of two or three.The receipts for one transaction—purchase of armoured cars—is now” a pattern” in Saharareporters’ jaundiced view and pseudo-journalism. Saharareporters wrote: “In an extensive investigation of the Aviation sector after three air mishaps in Nigeria’s airspace, SaharaReporters found a pattern of questionable expenditures authorized by the minister.” Saharareporters and its lies and concoctions! Only two air crashes have occurred under the current Aviation minister, the one of July,2012 involving a Dana Air aircraft and the second which occurred only a few weeks ago. So, Saharareporters is writing rubbish. Unfortunately, the saharareporters boys do not even know their history. Neither do they know their subject—Aviation. We can easily recall the famous 1973 Entebbe Air Raid by Isreali commandoes after a group of Palestinian terrorists took hostage some Isreali citizens in at the Ugandan airport. We know what happened. That infamous episode shows that airports are a vulnerable target for terrorists. Even an earlier one at the Olympics in Munich in 1972,the Isreali athletes were also grabbed while they were boarding a transit vehicle.One of the most popular US Presidents of all time,JFK Kennedy was assassinated while in transit --on the road. We have the notorious Boko Haram terrorist group that has declared war on the Nigerian state and states that other Nigerians--who are non-muslims must convert to Islam. It has staged successful attacks on the UN headquarters in our capital city, Abuja and other high profile targets. Airports are even more vulnerable and Very important personalities including visiting foreign government officials and our President are at risk, if adequate protection is not provided for them when travelling and are in transit to and fro airports in the country. What if Boko Haram gets a ranking government official? God forbid! Would it not be a serious psychological blow to the government? These are all reasons why armoured cars are necessary.For example, Shaibu Amodu ex-Super Eagles coach was once said to have bought an armoured car, which was to protect him against kidnappers and hired killers,long before Boko Haram threat. How much more for high ranking government officials as ministers and visiting Presidents! To underscore this, the Nigerian National Assembly approved over N950 billion as security vote in the 2013 budget. Where was Saharareporters then? Saharareporters also says Princess Oduah is “a close associate of the President.” Of course,we all know that. Sincerely,do these Sahara boys expect the President to bring his enemies into his cabinet? Former President Obasanjo brought his own loyalists into his own cabinet while in power, former President Umaru YarAdua had his own kitchen cabinet, so what is different about President Jonathan having his loyalists in his own cabinet? It is apparent that the Saharareporter’s story is all sound without fury. It has only succeeded in weaving together half-truths, fabrications, propaganda, outright lies,insinuations and what nots. The point is, anytime you subject Saharreporters’ pseudo-journalistic reports to serious scrutiny, they usually collapse like a basket filled with water! If only these little boys would learn.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 22:40:41 +0000
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