Nigeria slams Al Jazeera over Abuja blast reporting

Abuja, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria has slammed international news channel Al Jazeera for its alleged inaccurate reporting of the
Abuja military barracks blast that claimed four lives and left many more injured.

A presidency statement said Saturday that an Al Jazeera report quoting President Goodluck Jonathan as blaming Islamic fundamentalist
group Boko Haram for the Abuja bombing was “an outright lie.”

It said that as at the moment, neither President Jonathan nor the Nigerian security services had confirmed those behind the attacks.

“It amounts to sheer sensationalism to attribute to the president or the federal government any such claim. It is irresponsible journalism and
we condemn it out rightly.

“The statement from the president's media office was clear when it said that 'evil people determined to turn the joys of fellow Nigerians to ashes
detonated a bomb at a barracks market in the Federal Capital City'.  If we meant Boko Haram, or any other group, we would state it very clearly.

“But Al Jazeera's unique journalism in Nigeria is not strange to us. When the tragedy of the October 1, 2010 bomb blasts occurred, they went
to town with outlandish claims against the presidency that were unfounded and unsubstantiated. This brand of journalism defies reason.  

“For the purpose of clarity, neither the President nor  the security agencies have come out to state those behind the attacks. Investigations are on and,
at the end of the day, the real culprits would be unmasked. There is also the need to state, again for the purpose of clarity, that four persons were killed
in yesterday's attack. Twenty-six others were wounded, one of them a soldier.''
-0- PANA MON/SEG 1Jan2011