Editor-in-Chief of News of Abdul Malik Kweku Baako has rendered an unqualified apology to the public for making false claims that the BBC worked with Anas Aremeyaw Anas over the latter’s contentious exposé titled Number 12.
A lot of Ghanaians have taken to social media to lambaste the veteran journalist for deceiving them after it turned out that his claims are untrue.
The British broadcaster on Monday debunked Kweku Baako’s claims that they collaborated with the controversial journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas in the investigation.
Prior to Anas’ release on the investigation piece, Kweku Baako stated publicly on several media platforms that the BBC played a key role in the undercover piece that uncovered corruption in Ghana football, an investigative work that has received mixed reaction.
Baako, claimed that the latest investigative piece by his protégé, Anas was a collaboration between the Tiger Eye PI and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
He even revealed that the BBC was angered by President Nana Akufo-Addo’s decision to take the pre-emptive strike by asking the CID to investigate Kwesi Nyantakyi over his claims on the tape.
“Even If I had no remote connection to Anas or BBC, I still will feel it as a person, it hurts. But that doesn’t not mean that you cover up what appears to be a transgression or an infraction,” Baako said last month.
“This project, again, is not exclusively Tiger Eye PI project, it is a joint Tiger Eye-BBC project.”
But these claims were rubbished by BBC on Monday as the latter denied his claims that they collaborated with Anas.
Reacting to the statement by BBC on Peace FM Wednesday, Abdul Malik Kweku Baako admitted he got his facts wrong and said he fully owns responsibility for misrepresenting the facts.
“About a couple of weeks ago Anas was on air pointing out clearly that BBC didn’t sponsor him, I had said so publicly that it was a joint project. Indeed why I said so was because the people who were dealing with Anas, three of them who I’ve known for the last 30 to 40 years are BBC people. Apparently, they’re no more with the BBC but are still with the Technical team, they came to me and I dealt with them on so many things. After the Presidency had held the press conference, I said that those people called me and said they were timing the release of the video, after Anas premiered the video, the BBC premiered theirs the next day so there was a level of collaboration between them but I’d gone to the extent of saying that it was a joint ownership. That’s why the BBC made Anas go on air to deny it.
“This Sulemana thing is belated because already Anas had cleared the air, so if there’s a mistake or a fault then it’s mine and I accept responsibility of what I put out there and if people got deceived, then I apologize. I thought it was the truth I was putting out, it turned out that mine was a misrepresentation but before this Sulemana thing, Anas had cleared the air. Whatever it is, Kweku Baaku takes full responsibility for that misrepresentation or misinformation I put out there and I sincerely apologize.”
