Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday has condemned foreign press coverage of the violence that followed the #EndSARS protests.
Recall that Nigerians had taken to the streets in October 2020 to demonstrate against police brutality under the #EndSARS campaign.
The peaceful protests became violent after hoodlums hijacked the demonstrations and attacked government and private properties, leading to the death of several persons, including security operatives.
Soldiers invaded the Lekki tollgate where protesters had gathered on October 20 during the demonstrations and started shooting in what appeared to be an attempt to disperse the activists.
The Lekki incident generated widespread criticism within and outside Nigeria.
CNN had earlier tweeted that “at least 38 people were killed” in connection to the October 20 protests.
But the cable network, CNN later clarified that thr figure was from Amnesty International.
The federal government had threatened to sanction CNN with Lai Mohammed, minister of information, stating that media coverage of the protests ignored the attacks on security operatives.
According to Lai Mohammed, 100 persons including 43 security operatives lost their lives during the #EndSARS crisis.
Citing CNN and BBC in particular, President Buhari claimed that reports by foreign media organisations on the #EndSARS crisis were not balanced.
“It must be said that foreign press coverage of the ENDSARS violence was not balanced, especially from CNN and BBC,” Buhari wrote in a post on Twitter.
“I was disgusted by the coverage, which did not give attention to the policemen that were killed, the stations that were burnt, and prisons that were opened.”
It must be said that foreign press coverage of the ENDSARS violence was not balanced, especially from CNN and BBC. I was disgusted by the coverage, which did not give attention to the policemen that were killed, the stations that were burnt, and prisons that were opened.
— Muhammadu Buhari (@MBuhari) December 9, 2020