By Philip Agbese
It is obvious the Financial Times of London has been conscripted into the gang of fake news merchants. In its editorial titled “ Nigeria at risk of becoming a failed state and published on the 22nd of December 2020 is at best a pernicious propaganda aimed at the heart of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. It was apparent that FT was acting the script of a greater interest and not necessarily based on facts or any verifiable indices that lends credence to their editorial position.
It is remarkable to know that the level of insecurity in Nigeria has drastically reduced over time. The alarming Boko Haram insurgents have been dealt with in a pragmatic approach taken by President Muhammadu Buhari. Many successes have been recorded under his leadership. He has been steadfast in the discharge of his duty and providing aid to civil authority. I can bet FT relied on folklores in its analysis on Nigeria to miss some of the key happenings in Nigeria.
I firmly admit that any government that cannot discharge this fundamental obligation of protecting lives and property loses any iota of legitimacy. President Muhammadu Buhari has been fervent in his handling of security issues in Nigeria. This is a statement of the fact and the promoters of Financial Times must do well to admit.
It was sightlessly stated that Nigeria was at risk of becoming a failed state. A failed state was described as “one where the government is no longer in control”. This is a blatant lie as the Nigerian government under President Muhammadu Buhari’s leadership has maintained stable control and good governance of the country.
In contrast to what was stated, the country is going backwards economically, and security issues have worsened. In truth, Nigeria’s economy has steadily advanced under the current President’s leadership. A blind man can also tell how much Nigeria’s insecurity situation had reduced compared to over six years ago before the current President assumed office.
Regrettably, many notorious detractors remained blinded to every progressive effort being taken but have resorted to launching slander campaigns and giving poor reports about the President’s achievements because of their selfish aggrandizement.
The Financial Times also stated that Nigeria has more people than any other country in the world without providing any real facts or evidence to support their bashful claim. It is crystal clear that the Financial Times is working ‘behind the scenes’ with unscrupulous individuals who are ardent critics of President Muhammadu Buhari led administration. This is against the ethics and principle of fair journalism, which requires non-partisan news and information distribution.
Most of the baseless points outlined in the editorial were the results of the past administration’s failures and poor governance. The present administration has been cumbered with a load of struggling to correct these failures. The newspaper failed to mention that most of the current challenges the country is facing are due to the shortcomings of the past administration, which the current administration is tirelessly working hard to correct.
I am not surprised as FT is a UK-based news agency and will lack accurate knowledge and facts of what is happening in Nigeria. It will be much more liable to produce faltered information and point of views. The Financial Times should strictly steer clear off matters concerning the Nigerian government if all they can do is produce ‘Fake News’ regarding the current stage of Nigeria’s economy, development and security challenges. The whole board of the Financial Times should ‘restrategize’ and comply with journalism’s ethics if they plan to continue to produce any more pieces regarding the Nigerian government to prevent breeding animosity towards the government and internal division.
It is unfortunate that Financial Time has lost its credibility, and has become a peddler of political engineered news gotten from a politically paid journalist that does not have the country’s interests at heart, but only about their monetary gains. These actions, therefore, put all their citations and writings under questionable test.
I believed it is misleading and unfair for Financial Times to infer that the recent success in the subsequent rescue of over 300 schoolboys in Kankara, Katsina State can be termed a “Scam”.
Same was said of the success in rescuing the Dapchi girls that were abducted. I’m not surprised that the opposition party felt defeated by these recorded successes because the last PDP administration never recorded such fast feat in tackling security matters. The traumatized parents of the Daptchi girls and Kankara boys explained what their wards went through in the hands of their abductors, and they can’t imagine what would have happened if they had stayed longer in their hands.
We are not oblivious of the fact that journalism has continued to lose its virtues in the hands of Newspapers like Financial Times and unpatriotic citizens. The light of truth will always shine through every darkness of false claims. President Muhammadu Buhari is unperturbed and very focused in discharging his duty as he has pledged to the Nation. Financial Times has failed, and not Nigeria. Nigerians remain unmoved
Agbese is a law graduate of Middlesex University, London.
