The Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji has reacted to an apology tendered by a popular online medium, Igbere TV after publishing a suspected false information about the Speaker, describing it as an afterthought laden with deceit, mischief and malice hidden in the garb of pretentious virtue.
Igbere TV had on Thursday published stories with the headlines, “Breaking: Igbere TV Boss Is Dead”, “BREAKING: ex-Abia Gov, T. Orji And Son, Chinedu Finally Arrested”, “BREAKING: Finally, Leader Of IPOB, Nnamdi Kalu Arrested By Interpol”, claiming that its Facebook and website came under attack by some suspected hackers.
The Speaker in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Jude Chijioke Ndukwe on Saturday and made available to ABN TV accused Igbere TV management of allowing themselves to be used by political elements to attempt to wickedly but futilely disparage Mr Speaker and his father, Senator T.A Orji, insisting that the apology is both insincere and banal.
“The “Apology” by Igbere TV to the Abia State Speaker, Rt Hon Chinedum Enyinnaya Orji MNSE, and his father, the former Governor of Abia State and Senator representing Abia Central at the Senate, His Excellency, Senator T.A. Orji, is nothing but an afterthought laden with deceit, mischief and malice hidden in the garb of pretentious virtue.
“When we see a truly heartfelt apology borne out of genuine repentance, we know it. But this one by Igbere TV after making himself cheaply available to be used by political elements to attempt to wickedly but futilely disparage Mr Speaker and his father, Senator T.A Orji, is both insincere and banal.
“Having done their worst and seeing that all their evil machinations against Mr Speaker’s family are not working, the Igbere TVs of this world are now given to further deceive the public by putting up a lame and dispirited apology. Their game has failed!
“Finally, we urge Abians to beware of political merchants who parade themselves as bloggers but who will do anything including faking their own kidnap, “death and resurrection” to vainly attempt to destroy others just for filthy lucre” the statement read.
Igbere TV in a statement signed by its management had on Saturday stated that it has no hand in the publication, saying it was those who kidnapped the Director of the medium, James Emeh Anyalekwa on Thursday in Abuja that took control of the website, publishing information not properly verified.
“We wish to reiterate and state categorically that those reports did not in any way emanate from us, neither are we in any way connected to the false narratives or their sponsors on whose instructions those stories may have originated. We will never do anything that will harm our esteemed readers and followers.
“It is on record that on Friday March 13, we raised the alarm that our platforms (website, Facebook page) were attacked, compromised and accessed by hackers. The first thing they did was to delete all our admin from the platforms to stall any counter-post from us, disclaimer or deletion of their false stories while they perpetrated their evil acts.
“For the avoidance of doubt, our indefatigable and uncompromising Executive Director Emeh James Anyalekwa was at about 7pm on Thursday, March 12 abducted around Kubwa area of Abuja and taken to an unknown destination until his release the next day, Friday, March 13.
“Like we earlier called the attention of the world to the sad development, while our boss was still in their custody, they used his phone to gain access to our Facebook page and website and planted the fake and misleading the reports in question.
“We couldn’t have published a story that our boss was dead after declaring that he had been abducted. To what end? We are well aware that the story was widely circulated, republished and broadcast in several online medium at will” the statement partly read.
