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EndSARS protesters occupy the Lagos State Assembly, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.
Adekunle Ajayi / NurPhoto via Getty Images
- A Nigerian minister says the titanic broadcasting CNN should be sanctioned by a report that says the country’s military fired on protesters.
- This was during the demonstrations against police brutality.
- The country says the reports may have been “manipulated.”
Nigeria should sanction CNN for a report that the country’s military shot dead protesters demonstrating against police brutality, a minister said Thursday, but the US channel defended its reports.
The US broadcaster used “unverified and possibly manipulated videos” and “information from questionable sources” in the report, Information Minister Lai Mohammed said at a press conference in Abuja.
When asked, Mohammed did not specify how the government could sanction CNN. He said he believes the broadcaster has internal systems to deal with staff who make mistakes and that the Nigerian authorities would also do what was necessary.
A CNN spokesperson said “our reports were carefully and meticulously investigated, and we support them.”
Thousands of Nigerians took to the streets to protest against the police Special Anti-Theft Squad, which protesters accuse of murder, torture and extortion.
peaceful
Although the protests were initially peaceful, protesters in an upscale Lagos district were shot on October 20 by men who, according to witnesses, were soldiers. The human rights group Amnesty International said 12 protesters were killed. The army denied their participation.
Britain’s parliament will debate on Monday imposing sanctions “on members of the Nigerian government and police involved in human rights abuses by the Nigerian police,” after a public petition gathered enough signatures for lawmakers to debate the measure. .
In response to the request, the British government said: “We were concerned about the violence during the recent protests and await the outcome of the Nigerian investigations into reports of police brutality. We do not publicly speculate on future sanctions designations.”
Nigeria fined three television stations for reporting on the protests, Mohammed said, adding that the government wanted to verify a trend in which media companies use materials obtained from social media without verification.
He said the government had no plans to shut down social media but advocated regulating its use.
