The uncertainty as to if anyone edits news report at Sahara Reporters widened on Wednesday when the News website published a sensational story claiming President Buhari and Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, has been “…Named Among World’s Most Powerful Muslims”. A report that tells far less than half the story.
Using a picture mix where President Buhari is seen beside Shekau, Sahara Reporters stared up emotions and religious divide as it claimed that “For the fourth consecutive year, President Muhammadu Buhari, the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammadu Saad Abubakar III, and the infamous Boko Haram leader, Abubakar Shekau, have been listed among the most powerful Muslims in the world.”
The Omoyele Sowore owned website went on to say about the President, whom it has repeatedly blamed for the arrest of its publisher,
“President Buhari, who has always been accused by his critics of being a religious bigot, was described in glowing terms in the Muslim500 report.”
But a review of the Muslim500 List the report refers to shows that President Buhari was not listed with Shekau. Rather the President was listed as the 17th most influential Muslim in the world while Shekau was listed under the heading “Top Extremists”. On the same list were the leader of ISIS, Al Qaeda, and other militant groups. The publication emphatically criticized them and part of why President Buhari was ranked high is his fight against Boko Haram.
After a sensational headline and picture mix, Sahara Reporters put two lists together in a manner that the average reader who does not look further may miss the point. It says,
“Buhari is listed 17th and the Sultan, 20th most powerful Muslims and Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram leader, is listed as one of the seven most powerful Muslim extremists in the world”
The linking of President Buhari and Shekau continued through the report even when the mention of both men is 113 pages apart and Shekau was not the only Nigerian on the list.
At the 20th place was the Sultan of Sokoto. At the 33rd spot was Billionaire businessman and philanthropist, Aliko Dangote. Also making the list was the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi II. Neither the richest man in Africa nor the Emir listed in the same category as the President made the feature picture nor the headline for Sahara Reporters’ story.
Also on the list were Sheikh Dr. Ibrahim Salih is currently the head of the Supreme Council for Fatwa and Islamic Affairs in Nigeria, Dr. Ibrahim Datti Ahmed is the President-General of the Supreme Council for Sharia in Nigeria (SCSN), and Shaykh Ibraheem Zakzaky of the Islamic Movement of Nigeria.
Also mentioned were Sheikh Abdrahman Olanrewaju Ahmad is the National Missionary of the Ansar-Ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Prince Bola Ajibola is the former head of the Nigerian High Commission in London and the president and founder of the Islamic Mission for Africa, and Prof Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede is the Secretary-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council.
Sheikh Tahir Usman Bauchi of the Tijaniyya Sufi order, Sheikh Yakubu Musa Katsina who is the leader of Izala Movement in Katsina, and Imam Ashafa Muhammad, co-director of the Muslim-Christian Interfaith Mediation Centre in the city of Kaduna (Northern Nigeria), were also mentioned as part of the Top 500 Influential Muslims in the World.
