The Sun newspaper in Nigeria reported that a former prominent politician died. But, that was a mistake.
According to a retraction from the Sun, the error happened because an intern mixed up the name of the former speaker of the House of Representatives in Nigeria with a similar name of a politician who had died.
The Sun said the intern has been disciplined, and apologized to Umar Ghali Na’ Abba, the former speaker who is still very much alive.
The full retraction reads:
“Former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Umar Ghali Na’ Abba, is alive, contrary to a report posted on our platform earlier.The said false report was posted by our intern, who meant to write Ambassador Umar Ghali who recently passed on; already the said writer is facing disciplinary action.
“We retract the report and apologise to Hon Na’Abba for the embarrassment the report may have caused him. We hold the former speaker in high esteem and cannot go out of our way to do anything to embarrass him.Na’abba who is currently in London, in refuting the report, declared: ‘For the information of all my colleagues, I’m hale and hearty here in London. I will be back in Abuja as soon as flights are available.'”
iMediaEthics has written to the Sun.