Simeon Kolawole’s TheCable has joined the media houses and blogs which gives a headline to a News report and reports the opposite, in what seems to be a clear case of sensationalism and click bait.
On January 18, it published a news story titled: ‘Herdsmen’ kill pregnant woman in Ekiti
The story was about a pregnant Tiv woman, who was reportedly shot by unknown armed persons at Orin Ekiti, in Ido-Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
The deceased, said to be eight month’s pregnant, was attacked at a farm settlement in the area and hacked after being shot.
TheCable had in the same report stated that Lere Olayinka, the Media Aide to the Governor, said it was a suspected robbery attack.
“I don’t think they are herdsmen. It appears like a robbery attack. The tragic incident happened less than 24 hours after Fayose warned against reprisal attacks in the state” he said
Despite reporting Olayinka’s position on the incident, TheCable reported the attack as being carried out by herdsmen, a claim with no substantial evidence except the same anonymous “source”.
“The woman was eight-month pregnant. The herdsmen shot her inside her farm,” a source told TheCable.”
TheCable wasn’t the only culprit of this misleading news report as Punch, Sahara Reporters, Vanguard all towed the same line on the news story.
Vanguard even relayed the reports by quoting a former Chairman of the Local Government, Prince Sanmi Olubummo, who initially said the cause of the crisis was unknown but later went ahead to add that “our people said the Bororo herdsmen killed the pregnant woman.”
Last Tuesday, Fayose had a meeting with leaders of the Benue and Fulani Communities, where he stated that the State should not be turned into a killing zone and any perpetrator of evil would not go unpunished.
“I can’t accept anybody to be killed. If anybody kills anyone, I will make sure you are killed by ensuring justice. I’m sad about the killing in Benue but we don’t want brutality in Ekiti.
“I won’t accept any killing here, the only thing acceptable here is peace. I, therefore, plead with everybody to cooperate with us. I want peace in my state and everybody living here is from Ekiti whether you are Fulani, Tiv, Yoruba or anybody.”
The meeting came after a herder, Babuga Dengi, was reportedly killed in what has come to be murder by turns.
