Media Trial: Judging a book by its cover
Judging a book by the cover most of the time gives a bad deduction. A thorough read might have made one understand it better. It is similar to jumping to conclusions on allegations against fraud, and mismanagement of public funds in Nigeria by anti-graft agencies like EFCC, and ICPC, without waiting until the end of the investigations and finding someone guilty or otherwise by the competent court of law.
Nigeria practices democracy and the rule of law is supreme; hence the fundamental human rights of any persons being investigated should be respected and dignity be maintained. It is pertinent to note that the way and manner news is filtered around allegations of fraud, mismanagement, and fraudulent intent should be cautious, especially on social media that sometimes the headlines are scary.
A reference to the case of former Attorney General of the Federation, Mohammed Bello Adoke, who was arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for corruption allegations back in 2019, in 2022 the court in England and Wales ruled that there was no evidence of fraud in the transfer of proceeds from the sale of OPL 245 in the Malabu oil deal.
Why do people rush to deduce that persons under investigation are criminals, looters? They are suspects of fraud until the competent court of law finds them guilty.
Media trials should be relegated and focus on the happenings surrounding the investigations; making updates, until the competent court finds the suspect guilty or otherwise.
Initially, Halima Shehu, the Coordinator of the National Social Investment Program Agency (NSIPA) was suspended by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and immediately after the suspension, a huge allegation was labelled against her of moving N44 billion from the NSIPA account to some suspicious accounts within the last four days of December 2023.
Several headlines largely on social media and online media claimed, on her appearance at the EFCC, that she had committed an offence with fraudulent intent.
Betta Edu, the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, who confirmed that the leaked memo seeking the transfer of N585m to the personal account was from her and had claimed that the payment was meant for vulnerable groups in Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Ogun and Lagos states, described the allegations against her as baseless.
Another media trial suggested that former Minister Sadiya Umar Farouk shunned the invitation by the EFCC, but the EFCC spokesman refuted that and further explained why she was not at the headquarters on the first day as expected.
In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja, the EFCC spokesperson, Dele Oyewale, said that the former minister had sent a letter explaining her inability to attend due to health challenges.
In another episode of a media trial back in 2020, the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk, was accused of hiding the COVID-19 palliatives meant for the poor. The media then was dominated by different kinds of headlines in that regard, especially the new media.
Until the EndSARS protest that triggered youth to break the stores in some states that’s when Nigerians realized that the former Minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk was innocent; and had never hidden any palliatives meant for the poor.
After the story broke out, she had forgiven those who alleged that she had hidden palliatives.
The point here is, don’t judge the book by its cover, hence, media trials should be ignored till the allegation against any public office holder is proven by the competent court of law.