a Letter to CNN TV News Reports on Kano, Nigeria Riots
from
Ali Magashi
(alimagashi@kitari.com)
Kano, Nigeria
© 2001

Hello CNN,

I'm one of your regular news watchers, and I live in Kano Nigeria, from where I'm writing right now. I watched and listened with dismay very inciting reports on your news regarding the above subject from one of your reporters in Lagos, who claims that there are hundreds of Christian dead bodies lying the streets of Kano, and that Muslims are slaughtering Christians at will. It is very obvious that this reporter was in Lagos when everything was happening here, and may not even know Kano at all because he claims it is two hours passenger flight from Lagos when it is just one. Not only was the statement capable of inciting unrest in other parts of Nigeria, but it is a BIG LIE. I drove round the streets of Kano today, and in all the areas, and I have not seen one dead body. The picture you are always showing is that of one street called the Sabon Gari market street, where about three cars are burnt, and some of those cars are political party cars carrying the picture of the Minister of External Affairs, who made a statement on behalf of the Federal Govt in support of the coalition led by the USA.

Yes, there was some peaceful protest on Friday, after mosque against the statement of the Minister (who is a Muslim indigene of this area), and those events were taken over by hoodlums, who used the opportunity to attack innocent passers by on the streets, loot shops and set them on fire after stealing everything that is inside, but there was no Christian/Muslim fight. That situation has been put under control by the police, and the police commissioner reported three deads, and a couple of people injured, and a curfew has been put in place to avoid further escalation of violence. In fact from reliable eye witnesses that I spoke to in the troubled areas, most of the deads were the hoodlums who were shot by the anti riot police. Your reporter should take a lesson from the BBC reporter who was on sight and was objectively reporting events as they were happening.

I want to use this medium to advise you to caution your reporter who sits down a thousand miles away to speculate on issues that he does not have any confirmation on, because people rely on CNN for objective breaking news, and my country being a sensitive heterogeneous one, this could incite retaliatory riots in other parts of the country. As one of the biggest and most widely watched and listened to electronic media group, you owe the society a responsibility: creating peace and stability through objective reporting.

Best regards,
Ali Magashi.
October 16th 2001

Brought to you by Kano Online 2001