Kadaria Ahmed, CEO of Radio Now 95.3FM Lagos, has described
a recent BBC documentary as “irresponsible reporting”.
In a 50-minute documentary titled ‘The Bandit Warlords of
Zamfara’, published three days ago, the BBC Africa Eye provides insight into
the mindset of bandit kingpins, the booming kidnap-for-ransom industry, and how
Zamfara’s insecurity may have been brought on by the ethnic conflict between
Hausa and Fulani groups.
Zamfara is one of the states severely affected by banditry.
In an opinion article published on Thursday, Ahmed said the BBC documentary fell below journalism best practices and is against public interest.
She said the BBC Africa Eye may be charged with aiding
terrorism because it “provided” a platform for terrorists to express their
extreme views.
According to the media expert, the BBC cannot use its airwaves
to provide voice to terrorists who are attacking UK residents because doing so
will elicit public outrage with legal repercussions.
“Journalists and now a global media organisation of repute,
the BBC, which should know better, are becoming a tool for terrorists, even if
unwittingly, by amplifying the faces, voices and stories of killers and
marauders who are still operating with impunity across Nigeria,” she wrote.
“The public interest
argument seems to have been misunderstood, some may even say misrepresented, to
enable sensationalist reporting that is very unlikely to be allowed on screens
in the United Kingdom. By not upholding the same standards as they would in the
UK, in their work in Nigeria, the BBC Africa Eye producers in their latest
documentary titled ‘The Bandits Warlords of Zamfara’ have provided a global platform to terrorists
and can be accused of becoming an accomplice to terror in the name of reporting
it.
“The arguments also include an assertion that hearing from
terrorists helps us better understand the conflicts and therefore come up with
solutions. Under the guise of public interest, this is the argument that BBC
Africa Eye seems to be presenting, to justify its decision to actively give
copious screen time to self-confessed murderers and kidnappers, who are still
actively involved in attacking communities, killing, kidnapping, pillaging and
generally making life brutish and a living hell for the people of Nigeria’s
North-western State of Zamfara and beyond.
“The two promotional clips released for the documentary, The
Bandits Warlords of Zamfara, feature a marauder who should remain nameless
here, confirming that he was part of those who raided Jengebe Girls’ Secondary
School in the state, abducting over 300 students with the attendant horror of
these sorts of crimes normally entail, and releasing them, after the payment of
ransom.
“Evidently, the BBC Africa Eye team also had no problem
utilising footage that appears to have been shot by these self-confessed
criminals because this makes it into the second trailer. No media of repute
would take this decision because it is generally understood that these sorts of
videos are recorded by terrorists for one thing only: propaganda.
“If terrorists were
killing and kidnapping British citizens, especially young children, the BBC
would not enable interviews by the perpetrators, particularly if they were
still roaming footloose and fancy-free, without an iota of remorse for their
crimes and also carrying out many more. The trauma to the psyche of the British
public will be unbearable, and the BBC would not be willing to pay that price
or risk the legal consequences sure to ensue.
“Here in Nigeria, concerns about the impact the amplification
of terrorists’ voices will have on victims, their families and the public
appear to be a secondary consideration to the BBC’s insistence on hearing from
the bandits’ first-hand accounts and justification for their murderous
activities.”
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