A Niger Delta group, the South-South Professional & Transparency Initiatives (SSPTI), has called on the Federal Government to investigate the recent report by British Broadcasting Service (BBC), which indicted a non-existing organisation for being the most notorious in global cyber crimes.
The group said that the call became imperative because it viewed the report as one that was sponsored to dent the image of Nigeria.
The body that reacted to the recent BBC report in a statement made available to newsmen in Warri on Thursday noted that the report lacked the basic ingredients of being accurate, fair, and objective in its entirety, as it was calculated, designed, and sponsored to malign the good reputation of the nation’s security agencies.
The SSPTI statement, which was endorsed by Dr Ugochukwu Alozie and Kayode Ayomide, Chairman and Secretary, respectively, urged the Federal Government to commence the process of unravelling the rationale behind such falsehoods by the BBC to discredit the ongoing efforts of the Nigerian Police Force in the ongoing war against cyber crimes and other social vices in the country.
While describing cyber crimes as a global offence committed by nationals of countries across various continents, irrespective of race, colour, religion, or language, the body decried the situation where such crime would be narrowed down to one particular cult organisation, the Black Axe Confraternity, a group that existed only in their imagination.
According to the statement, “How can the BBC be making such a frivolous allegation against members of an organisation that does not exist to be behind high-profile cybercrime cases globally and yet could not mention names of the group members that were arrested, the nature of crimes committed, and where they are currently being detained?”.
The group disclosed further that besides the fact that the report was being sponsored to tarnish the good reputation of the country, both the BBC and INTERPOL were using the false reports against the nation as a money-making venture.
It stated that while the BBC “cash out” based on how much it has been paid from various online platforms where the report is currently trending on social media, the INTERPOL was using it to justify the huge security votes it was being allocated to combat cyber crimes.
“We have taken time to carefully monitor the news being disseminated by the BBC across the African continent in recent times, and we could see the biassed negative reports they have continued to spread against some groups and influential personalities, especially those from Nigeria, in order to rubbish the reputation they have built for themselves over the years.”
“We have come to the realisation that whenever some desperate politicians, political parties, or private individuals want to malign the image of a perceived political opponent or business rival, they now engage the services of the BBC to do the dirty job for them.
“Records have shown that Nigerians are mostly the target of the BBC conspiracy, and this can be attested to in the way they have attempted to discredit Pastor T. B. Joshua of the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) with falsehood and the recent witchhunting of Pastor Chris Oyakhilome of Christ Embassy Church.”
“While we want to acknowledge the fact that the Nigeria Police Force can boost to being among the best rated in the world and the number one effective law-enforcing agent in the continent, we see these ongoing campaigns by INTERPOL and BBC as another method of discrediting the operatives as non-performing in curbing cyber crimes, even when it’s obvious they are working within the ambit of the law in tackling the menace.”
“We are therefore using this medium to call on the federal government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to probe this damaging report against Nigeria by the BBC, as we are not new to the ways the media outfit had been involved in several campaigns of calumny against the nation in recent times,” the statement concluded.
ALSO READ THESE TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then