Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has reacted to the video of her recent appearance before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance published by Premium Times, saying it was doctored.
The four-minute long video captured the minister’s controversial session with the committee. But, Paul Nwabuikwu, Special Assistant to the Minister chose to align with the two-minute video footage of the encounter earlier released by Channels TV.
Nwabuikwu’s statement reads in full, “It has come to our attention that the online news website, Premium Times has uploaded a doctored video of the last appearance by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala before the House of Representatives Committee on Finance.
“The video is substantially different from the one which Channels TV independently captured and uploaded which many Nigerians have seen.
“The Premium Times video has been edited to leave out important aspects with the clear intention to make the Coordinating Minister look like the aggressor during the appearance. This is absolutely false.
“Many aspects of the encounter which captured the provocation of the Chair of the Committee were edited out to give a wrong impression.
“For instance, the new video left out his hostile statement “you can decide what happens only in the Federal Ministry of Finance and other ministers you coordinate but you cannot decide what will happen in the committee”.
“This was after the minister indicated her willingness to answer the questions along with the Director General of the Budget Office of the Federation and the Accountant General of the Federation.
“Also edited out, amongst others, was the unilateral banging of the gavel by the Chair of the Committee to abruptly terminate the proceedings and the astonished reactions of the audience.
“Significantly, Premium Times did not identify the source of the video which it described as an “exclusive”.
“The clear objective is to deceive Nigerians who were rightly outraged by the treatment meted out to the Minister. But we are confident that Nigerians are too wise to fall for this antic.
“Below is the link to the authentic video account of the encounter as captured by Channels TV”.
