Daily Post’s Report On Commissioner For Federal Matters: A Dangerous Error Of Assumption

Our attention has been drawn to a Daily Post’s report of today, Thursday, April 29, 2021, in which the reporter mischievously claimed that a ‘source’ from the Osun State Deputy Governor’s office confirmed the purported resignation of Mrs Idiat Babalola, the Commissioner for Federal Matters to him.

Obviously, this is a falsehood and a product of illogical and irrational assumption, it is indeed a reflection of dangerous imagination.

While we have profound respect for Daily Post, as a leading Online platform in Nigeria, with strict adherence to basic principles and ethics guiding journalism, we were however taken aback when we saw a report from the medium quoting an anonymous source from the office of the Deputy Governor on this issue.

In the first instance, we expected a journalist to be well grounded on governmental structure as regards dissemination of information and right of response; quoting an anonymous source from the Deputy Governor’s office on this issue was an error of sort.

We became more disappointed when the reporter confirmed to us through a phone conversation that he got the information from someone who quoted an anonymous source from the office of the Deputy Governor; this is a gross error on the part of the reporter, such style is inimical to ethical journalism.

To put the record straight, the responsibility to respond to any issue of state concern is not within the purview of the Deputy Governor’s office, so, the report is nothing but a dangerous assumption of the author, which defies every logic of truism.

We, therefore, advise the reporter to get more information on the structure of government and tenets of responsible journalism.

Olaniyi Ajibola, Spokesperson to the Osun State Deputy Governor.