That Amosun A K47 story

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When I saw that ‘Amosun surrenders arms’ headline yesterday morning, as shared by Uche Nnadozie, I was stunned. I was taken aback by the commentary that followed that, unlike what I will ordinarily do, I had to drop a comment, here attached, before clicking to read the story.

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I eventually did read the story and was even more saddened by what I found there. It was no surprise to see the story take on a life of its own, commentary after commentary calling for the man’s Cap. The usual dose of politics quickly brought in.

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Now, I am no fan of Baba Onifila Gogoro but that, for me, is always irrelevant. All I am after are the facts, as available. I contemplated an intervention on the matter yesterday and was actually urged to do so by my Oga at the top, but held back – engaged with other stuff and officially tired of placing information here when once you do, it is deemed that you must be someone’s voice.

Now to the story. I was stunned because I did stumble upon that presentation ceremony on TV, as Baba Onifila was pounding his chest about what he had acquired to boost the security of the state.

I wondered how that could have qualified as an investigative report. This was a public event. I saw it on TV and there are some links to the story online, which I had to read yesterday to be sure I was not hallucinating, especially as my Oga could not recollect the details from the report I thought we both saw.

What was the fresh angle to it? That the Governor out of panic called the Commissioner of Police who quickly rushed down! I expected to see that attributed to a source, even if anonymous. I did not see that.

What I saw was a poor understanding of the procurement process for arms, quoting ‘authorities’ who said such activity would be illegal.

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The angle to have pursued was if there was end-user certification from the office of the National Security Adviser. It was not enough to let some source run you into the assumption that there could not have been clearance for the acquisition of assets.

Security is not something to play around with. I found that report, on the face of it, rather flippant, lacking in due diligence.

The Media can and should do better.

Simbo Olorunfemi wrote from Lagos

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