By Muhammad Bashir
A Non-Governmental Organization, Chali Initiative Forum, on Monday, issued a 3-day ultimatum to an online newspaper, Daily Nigerian and its publisher, Jaafar Jaafar to withdraw the video clips it published against Kano state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje.
DAILY NIGERIAN had exclusively published two video clips out of the 15-series trove of video clips showing the state governor collecting $5m bribe from contractors as kickbacks in hard currency.
Speaking at a press conference in Kano, the secretary of the group, Sani Muhammad, condemned the allegation, just as he described the footage as a mere movie.
According to him, the group had observed the video clip and understood to be doctored and cloned, owing to the negative development in the area of ICT all over the world.
He described the allegation as the handiwork of political mercenaries, who are always used to attack the image and personality of opponents with the sinister motive to cause violence in the society.
The secretary also lamented that the spread of this “fake video” would impact negatively on the governor, the entire state and northern Nigeria.
He stressed that if the newspaper and its publisher fail to withdraw the video clips, they would be left with no option than to file a lawsuit.
“It has come to our notice that a Nigeria-based newspaper has recently released a video which appeared to us as a movie aimed at denting the image of his excellency Khadimul Qur’an, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
“We have totally condemned the process in which political mercenaries are always used to attack the image and personality of opponents which is alarming with the tendency of causing violence and reprisals which will not be good in the interest of unity and development of the state.
“That the government should as a matter of urgent importance report the issue to relevant authorities and take appropriate legal action against the master-minders.
“We remain committed to the progress and development of our state as well as depending the integrity of our leaders.
“We are therefore calling on the online publisher that released the cloned video to as a matter of urgency come out and publicly withdraw the allegation with the period of three days.
“If within the specified given period, they did not do so, we will take the matter to court,” he said.
