Coup: Sylva’s aide warns against media trial

From Tony John, Port Harcourt

A media aide to former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Chief Timipre Sylva, Chief Julius Bokoru, has questioned the pattern of reports on allegations linking his principal to an alleged coup plot.

Bokoru, in a statement on Friday, said some media coverage of the matter had gone beyond ordinary investigative reporting and appeared to be reinforcing a particular narrative against Sylva.

The aide said he had been unable to establish contact with his principal since the controversy began, but stressed that his statement was not intended as an attack on investigative journalism.

“Nigerian journalism has, at its best, played a courageous and indispensable role in holding governments, institutions and powerful individuals to account,” Bokoru said.

He, however, urged journalists and media organisations to also scrutinise the sources and methods behind information supplied to them.

He said: “What we are witnessing from some media organisations in this matter has gone beyond ordinary reporting. The allegations have been repeatedly serialised, repackaged and amplified in a manner that increasingly gives the impression of a deliberate campaign to cement a particular narrative in the public mind.”

Bokoru queried the source and timing of materials reportedly forming the basis of some media reports.

“Where are these materials coming from? Who is supplying them? Why are sensitive investigative documents appearing in carefully sequenced instalments? And why does virtually every new report seem calculated to reinforce the same conclusion about Sylva, even though the allegations have yet to be established in court?” he asked.

Bokoru said he was not accusing any media organisation including the Premium Times of being sponsored by any individual or organisation because he had no evidence to support such a claim.