Date: 2014-07-09

In the spirit of a balanced reportage and objectivity in every news analysis, e-Kwara published a news item on the 3rd July, 2014 that put lie to a rumor circulating on the social media especially facebook, alleging that a number of people had been hospitalized resulting from the consumption of the Ramadan food items donated by a senator representing Kwara Central and a former governor of Kwara State, Dr. Bukola Saraki. When we got wind of this rumor, we went to work to verify its authenticity for the benefit of our esteem readers that have come to value the objectivity in our reports and news analysis. And without any iota of doubt, our finding pointed to the fact that the rumor was only false, it was intended to malign and that it was merely cheap political shot intended to cast aspersion on the integrity of its donor.

The said rumor NEVER originated from our news desk. As a matter of fact, it was our investigation that put a lie to the authenticity of the rumor. This is in line with our objectivity as a news platform that Kwarans have come to rely on for balanced journalism.

It was therefore curious that a certain Mr. ‘Idris Abdullahi’ published a write-up that accused e-Kwara of fabricating and getting to be published the said rumor as our news report.  This is clearly a distortion of facts on the said story, intentionally weaved to malign the reputation of our news brand. ‘Abdullahi’ further accused e-Kwara of publishing a ‘retraction’ when obviously there wasn’t any necessity for it because e-Kwara NEVER published the story in the first instance.

In his write-up, he erroneously opined that e-Kwara is funded by the Chairman of Federal Character Commission (FCC) and a chieftain of People Democratic Party in Kwara State, Professor Shauib Oba Abdulraheem, on whom ‘Abdulahi’ built his vituperation as a veil of putting e-Kwara on the crosshair of his attack on Professor Abdulraheem. Unfortunately, ‘Abdullahi’, lacking in the courage to be real, has betrayed the true essence of his unwarranted criticism of the e-Kwara online platform.

For the avoidance of doubt, e-Kwara has always maintained its objectivity and we stand by our every news report. Our operation is within the journalism ethnics, dictate of laws and we maintain a legal department that vets our editorial. As a young media outfit, we are conscious of our social responsibility to the people and the society that we serve; we are mindful of the truth as the basis of agenda of informing and educating our esteemed readers; and we strongly believe that a decent society could only be built through the transparency and accountability of our leadership and the objectivity of the citizens. Apparently, those that have anything to fear from our reports are those that have skeletons in the cupboard. E-Kwara does more than mere ‘copying and pasting’ of news reports; our in-depth investigative reports including presenting pictures that further entrench the authenticity of our exclusive reports, clearly stands us out among the multitudes of other respected brands that have bias for local news, like Ilorin.info, gongnews.com, kwaraonline.com, etc. We report news and expose antics of our leaders and politicians without fear or favour. We have no sympathy for any political camps as fairness and balancing has been our trade mark.

Obviously, the so-called ‘Idris Abdullahi’ has succeeded in exposing his political bias and resorted to defending Dr Bukola Saraki. On its own, that is his prerogative and clearly outside the mandate of e-Kwara to question. However, his intended malign of our news brand to justify his political sympathy is clearly outside his liberty. E-Kwara would continue to defend its integrity and ever ready to challenge any ‘aggression’ in any competent court of law.

Although, we have since discovered that the said ‘Idris Abdullahi’ is a fake, pseudonymous handle recently created by sympathizers of the ruling elite to smear the integrity of real or perceived opponents, but we nevertheless consider his reckless allegations against our medium grave enough to warrant a factual clarification. Unlike him, we do not hide behind any masked identity; we hold with sanctity our responsibility to truth without any bias. And unlike ‘Idris Abdullahi’, our objectivity is not a function of any paymaster, and we challenge him to provide any link or evidence that connects the e-Kwara to Professor Abdulraheem and/or any politicians for that matter. The onus is on him and his handlers to publicly provide any evidence of funding of our operation that he alleged. In absence of that, he should shut up and rest his masked identity. It would serve his conscience good.

To our esteemed readers, e-Kwara is reiterating a clear objectivity and authenticity of our news reports as our mantra. If we must build a just society, we must be ready to shed away bias and instill honesty. Those that are benefiting from the misery of our people would always be afraid of their shadows. They and their petty sympathizers would not stop to malign the integrity of those that are exposing their antics and secrets. E-Kwara would stand for justice, transparency and objectivity no matter whose ox is gored. We believe that these are elements that could build a better society.