BBC journalists, NHRC Chair tackle Olukolade over Chibok girls

Journalists with the British Broadcasting Corporation have carpeted the Director of Defence Information, Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade, for denying making a statement on Tuesday that the Chibok girls were freed.

The reporters took to Twitter to vent their anger on the way and manner the Defence Headquarters’ spokesman distanced himself from his initial confirmation of the release of some of the Chibok girls.

They claimed that Olukolade, after having made a public relations blunder, made a U-turn by putting a call through to the BBC reporter he had spoken to on the telephone, to retract his earlier statement.

Reporter for the BBC World Service, Nkem Ifejika, described Olukolade’s denial as “embarrassing,” adding that the military spokesman must always be doubly sure before making statements meant for public consumption.

“I don’t mean to be critical of Gen. Olukolade and colleagues, but such lapses are embarrassing. One must be doubly sure before making press releases,” Ifejika tweeted.

Broadcaster for the BBC African Service, Bola Mosuro, while expressing dismay over the development, said she found it so hard to believe that the military spokesman would deny confirming the schoolgirls’ release.

According to Mosuro, the dose of skepticism with which Nigerians take the claims of the military in the ongoing war against terrorism “is not misplaced.”

“If some of the Chibok girls have indeed been released, it’ll be the single biggest piece of good news all year.

“But it is so hard and sad to believe that Nigeria’s military spokesman retracts his press statement that Chibok girls are in their custody.

“Gen. Olukolade called the BBC and other press houses to retract his statement,” the BBC journalist explained.

Also, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Prof. Chidi Odinkalu, lamented that the “inaccuracies” emanating from the defence headquarters tells so much on the credibility of its military’s claims on the anti-terror war.

“Routine and avoidable inaccuracies about the fate of the Chibok girls hurt the credibility of communications on national security,” Odinkalu wrote on Twitter.

Online commentators also criticised Olukolade for allegedly playing with the emotions of the parents of the Chibok girls over the statement credited to him.

Arguing that Olukolade confirmed the release of the Chibok girls, some online activists uploaded on Twitter an audio interview that a Lagos-based radio station had with the general.

In the audio recording which has since gone viral online, Olukolade stated, “Well, we have some of them (Chibok girls) in the barracks already. I don’t want to disclose more details than this. But we have some of them already. You will get details subsequently.”

An online activist, Doctor Isaac, stated that he was taken aback that the army general would deny his own voice, adding that the defence headquarters deserved to have a better information manager.

Isaac said it was imperative that the military spokesman apologise to the Chibok girls’ parents and Nigerians for the misleading report.

“That he (Olukolade) can deny his own voice is beyond comprehension. Why can’t he just own up and apologise? That to me is more honourable,” Isaac wrote on Twitter.

But Olukolade dismissed the allegations by the BBC reporters, as well as the audio recording of his own voice, insisting the he did not confirm the release of the girls to any journalist.

Accusing the media of biases against him, the defence spokesman quoted from the words of American entertainer and political activist, Alan Franken, saying, “The biases the media has are much bigger than conservative or liberal. They’re about getting ratings, about making money, about doing stories that are easy to cover.”

Describing the Chibok girls’ controversy and allegation against him as “messy,” Olukolade explained on Twitter that the “whole story” never emanated from him as claimed.

“No statement was ever made claiming the girls have been released. My response to an enquiry by the BBC on whether or not they (the girls) have been released was met with – ‘Give me some time to get back.’ I confirmed to the enquirer in part, the movement of two buses into the barracks with escorts. Nothing else.

“I confirmed and found that the girls in the buses were not newly released Chibok girls. Before this time the BBC and two online media enquirers had already published that I confirmed the release. This is bad. The BBC reporter called after their publication and I told them their report was not true,” the Defence Headquarters spokesman argued.