Sahara Reporters Denies Supporting Boko Haram

……… accuses Nigerian Army of sponsoring smear campaign

The management of SaharaReporters has accused Brig. Gen. Olaleye Lajide of the Nigerian Army of sponsoring smear campaign against it that it is supporting the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

A press statement issued by the publisher of SaharaReporters yesterday said the army general was linking SaharaReporters to Boko Haram because it leaked a petition accusing top military officers of corruption and incompetence on its website.

It will be recalled that the Nigerian Army had released a press statement accusing the Sahara Reporters of supporting the Boko Haram through their reportage of their activities.

“Among other nebulous claims, the military officer stated that SaharaReporters is a ‘faceless’ organisation. This is one in a series of smear campaigns launched against SaharaReporters and its operators in recent times. We had been told a while ago that various arms of the Nigerian state were preparing a coordinated attack on our website and its chief operators, and we had reported to that effect.

“Last month, in the service of an agenda to discredit our website, the same set of people had claimed that the founder and administrator of SaharaReporters was bribed with a $5 million mansion in California. The designers of this infantile propaganda had hoped to fool the unwary with that tall tale. Lacking intelligence and bereft of respect for their audience, those who concocted the allegation claimed that the mansion existed in a town in California, but could provide no address. It took little time for the allegation to fizzle as the accusers failed to provide something as basic as an address to enable curious readers to make further inquiries.

“Shortly after, the same group of hirelings claimed that a former Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, the subject of several investigative reports by SaharaReporters, asserted that he had arrested the publisher of SaharaReporters for rape during the latter’s time as a student at the University of Lagos. Again, the allegation fizzled away, being a figment of the imagination of the smear artists. As in the case of the fake mansion without an address, the accusers could also not produce the date of the arrest, the charge sheet, the identity of the alleged victim, the location of the “rape” incident, or the date of prosecution.

“Over the last week, the Nigerian Presidency has mobilised a significant amount of funds to their hired hands engaged in a new round of these smear campaigns. The purpose is to tarnish the reputation of SaharaReporters, a website that has remained steadfast in documenting the ineptitude and incompetence of the Goodluck Jonathan administration,” the statement noted.

It said it was an open secret that Nigerian troops were inadequately equipped and ill-motivated, saying this was why Nigerian troops had not been able to stop Boko Haram’s murderous campaigns against defenceless civilians, especially in the Northeast of Nigeria.

“Till date, the army has not denied the factual content of the petition written by Lieutenant Colonel Anthony Wende. Instead, the army has engaged in subterfuge aimed at diverting attention form the substance of the petition, which stated clearly how the army could defeat Boko Haram militants within a matter of weeks.

“By accusing SaharaReporters of supporting Boko Haram, the top commanders of the army accused in the petition of sabotaging the war against Boko Haram hope to turn attention away from their corruption and incompetence. Discerning members of the public have not forgotten that, in a 2012 video released by Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, the terrorist group named SaharaReporters as one of the media houses it intended to attack,” it added.