The authorities of the State Security Service (SSS) has arrested a 36years old
man identified as Paul Yempe who claimed to be a Cable News Network (CNN)
Correspondent in the Niger Delta. He was apprehended by the state Chairman of
the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ), Mr. Tariyon Akono and handed over to
the police.
According to the SSS,the fake CNN reporter was arrested with an Identification
Card of the Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation known as Radio Rivers and a
fake Identification card of the CNN.
It was gathered that the fake journalist was arrested in the office of the
Commissioner of Energy, Barr. Ikio Francis last week where unfortunately for
him, the NUJ Chairman who was in the office of the Energy Commissioner insisted
to know his real identity.
Sources within the NUJ and the SSS confirmed that the fake CNN reporters had
allegedly swindled the State Information Commissioner,Deacon Markson Fefegha
and the Secretary to the State Government (SSG),Professor Edmund
Allission-Oguru.
Though the Bayelsa state Commissioner for Information said he never parted with
any money, the SSG was said to have paid up for a hotel accommodation for the
fake journalist who claimed he was in the state to do a documentary on the
state.
But many journalists in the state flayed the Commissioner of Information and
the SSG for their indifference towards the profession in the state. They argued
that if the Commissioner was in tune with the journalists in the state, he
would not have fallen victim.
According to a journalist who preferred anonymity, “How can a Commissioner
for Information assume office without even organizing a press briefing to at
least know the journalists in the state. There is no good relationship between
the journalists in the state and the Information Commissioner. The SSG also
pretends not to know the job of journalists in the state. This is why they
could be easily swindled”.
The NUJ Chairman,Tare Akono, who confirmed the development, said “attempt
by the fake journalist to affirm his genuine-ness led to the discovery of a
fake CNN Identification card in his bag.”
“He came to the office of the Energy Commissioner claiming to have come
for an interview as part of a documentary he is working on for the state.I
asked the Commissioner to allow him in and apprehended him.I asked him for his
camera but he said he is using his mobile handset as a recorder.”
