By Binta Shama Abuja
Taraba state government has taken a strong exception to an editorial by Daily Trust on the crisis within the state. It, specifi cally, lampooned the medium of being biased and discriminatory in its reportage. Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku, made the government’s position known yesterday in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media, Bala Dan Abu. It accused the outfi t to had “gradually degenerated tragically into a medium that cannot be trusted to tell the truth always. “Its defi nition of truth has become biased and discriminatory and the result is double even multiple standards, in its understanding and treatment of issues.
“Th e newspaper exhibited this weakness in its front page comment on Monday July 3, 2017, titled: “Genocide in Mambilla.” “In that editorial comment the newspaper laboured painfully to give the ugly tag of genocide and ethnic cleansing to the unfortunate crisis that occurred recently between herdsmen and farmers in Mambilla. “In doing so, the newspaper’s editors failed to perform their mandatory professional duty of subjecting information on the crisis to independent investigation through their own reporters and other fi eld men. “Rather, they chose to believe the outrageously partisan and fraudulent fi gures of death of people and cows as given by Fulani leaders who were party to the crisis. Th is is highly unprofessional,” Dan Abu added.
