Ololade Adeyanju/
An online television station, OakTV, has apologised to the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, for making public a video in which he claimed detained leader of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky, was being fed with N3.5 million monthly.
The Minister was shown making the claim in a video that went viral on the internet on today.
Watch the video below:
The station said it regretted making the video public despite the off-the-record agreement the minister had with the journalists.
In an apology letter addressed to the minister and dated November 8, the management of the TV station said the video was released in error.
It claimed that all those involved in the error have been sanctioned.
The letter reads: “On Wednesday, November 7, 2018, OakTV made some error (sic) in its reporting regarding a conversation with the Minister of Information.
“This is an error which we regret. All team members involved have been sanctioned, and we would do more to tighten our gate-keeping responsibilities.
“We apologise and regret any embarrassment this might have caused the minister.
“Please, be assured of our highest esteem and regards.”
The Islamic cleric had been in detention since he was arrested in December 2015 after his followers were engaged in a bloody clash with the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai, in Zaria, Kaduna State.
Mohammed said in the video that he was giving the journalists the information on an off-the-record basis to serve as a background to their reports.
The mnister said it was wrong to liken what was happening to El-Zakzaky, whose followers have been engaging security agents in confrontation since his incarceration, to what happened to the late leader of Boko Haram, Yusuf.
He said the IMN leader was undergoing criminal prosecution in Kaduna State and the court had denied him bail.
The minister explained that instead of detaining him in a prison, the Federal Government decided to hold El-Zakzaky in a building belonging to the Department of State Services.
He said the Islamic cleric ate whatever he liked in detention.
“It costs the government about N3.5m every month to feed him,” the minister declared.
He further explained to them that he got the figure from the relevant government agencies upon enquiry.
The minister said he was volunteering the information on an off-the-record basis, because the issue involving the IMN is a “sensitive” one.
“So, please, we don’t want to inflame passion. The issue is a very sensitive matter. But that is the situation,” he said.
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