Nigeria Protest CNN Report on Militants

Abuja - Nigeria on Friday protested a report by US broadcaster Cable News Network (CNN) on the activities of militant abductors in the Niger Delta and demanded an apology for the broadcast. The report, which featured some Filipino workers allegedly held by members of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), was described as a stage-managed with hired miscreants, vandals and criminals.
Information and Communications Minister Frank Nweke said the report was purportedly aired to create unnecessary panic, foster the feeling of insecurity and to portray Nigeria as a nation in crisis. The report is to wrongfully denigrate Nigeria and her people and send the wrong signals to the international community about the state of affairs in the country, Nweke said. Nweke said that the Nigerian government had a response from MEND stating that those shown in the report were not its members.
The minister said CNN had aired several features and reports in the last eight months depicting Nigeria as a country in perpetual crisss, in spite of the fact that its correspondents had unrestricted access to government officials. The Nigerian government and its people have protested to CNN demanding an apology and right of reply, which should be given the same prominence and repetitive airing, he said.
The minister said the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo had demonstrated great commitment, more than any other administration, in tackling the recurring challenges of development in the Niger Delta. The CNN report indicated that militant groups in the Niger Delta that had been abducting expatriate oil workers in the region were a law unto themselves. The groups had been abducting expatriate oil workers to press their demand that the Nigerian government give them a greater say in the exploitation of oil and gas endowments of the region. Dozens of foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in the region over the past few months, though they are later released unharmed.
Abuja - Nigeria on Friday protested a report by US broadcaster Cable News Network (CNN) on the activities of militant abductors in the Niger Delta and demanded an apology for the broadcast.
The report is to wrongfully denigrate Nigeria and her people and send the wrong signals to the international community about the state of affairs in the country,' Nweke said.
Nweke said that the Nigerian government had a response from MEND stating that those shown in the report were not its members. The minister said CNN had aired several features and reports in the last eight months depicting Nigeria as a country in perpetual crisss, in spite of the fact that its correspondents had unrestricted access to government officials.
The Nigerian government and its people have protested to CNN demanding an apology and right of reply, which should be given the same prominence and repetitive airing,' he said.
The minister said the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo had demonstrated great commitment, more than any other administration, in tackling the recurring challenges of development in the Niger Delta.
The CNN report indicated that militant groups in the Niger Delta that had been abducting expatriate oil workers in the region were a law unto themselves.
The groups had been abducting expatriate oil workers to press their demand that the Nigerian government give them a greater say in the exploitation of oil and gas endowments of the region.
Dozens of foreign oil workers have been kidnapped in the region over the past few months, though they are later released unharmed.