What Journalists should have done in reporting conflicting sources on NECO Registrar’s death – Professor of Applied Communication, Ayo Ojebode
The National Examination Council (NECO), Elizabeth, Wife of its registrar, Professor Godswill Obioma, and son, Prince Godswill, have reportedly given conflicting reports on the actual way the NECO boss died.
Platforms Africa reports that Obioma, a Professor of educational measurement and evaluation, died in Minna, Niger State, North central Nigeria, after returning from an Abuja trip.
“The assassins came in and killed him and left without taking anything,” Elizabeth was quoted to have said. She is yet to deny the report by The PUNCH which quoted her to have said this.
Her son, Prince Godswill punctured this claim. He, in a statement obtained by Platforms Africa, claimed that his father died after “a brief illness.
“We request that you kindly notify the Board, Management and the entire staff of the Council of this development,” the younger Obioma said in a message to Mustapha K. Abdul, NECO’s Director of Human resources.
The NECO, on the other hand, reportedly stated that its Registrar died as a result of “heart failure.”
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Mr. Abdul who said this, according to a report by Vanguard, also added in series of tweets by the examination board on Tuesday. He insisted that this “is contrary to insinuations in the social media that the late Registrar was assassinated in his residence in Minna.
These conflicting reports have however been greeted by serious controversy among journalists. While some applauded those who broke the news with the assassination narrative reportedly from Obioma’s wife, others who reported the news with the “brief illness” narrative from the son; as well as the heart failure narrative from NECO, queried why the wife but not the son and NECO should be believed.
Mrs. Obioma is yet to deny the report that quoted her to have said that her husband was assassinated.
Meanwhile, a Professor of Applied Communication at the University of Ibadan, Ayo Ojebode, has opened up to Platforms Africa in an exclusive chat on what Journalists should have done in reporting conflicting sources of information on the actual cause of the NECO’s Registrar.
“It is a bit distressing … giving off a whiff of disconnect within a nuclear family.
“In my view, I think the journalist should quote all available sources (balance) and point to the contradiction, and leave the readers to make up their mind,” he said.
