Sahara Reporters is a Nigerian online news outlet created for business purposes of practicing journalism in a way that, ordinarily, should be in strict adherence to the ethical practices that guide the professional practice of the noble profession, journalism.
Sadly and tragically, this news outlet called Sahara Reporters, has become a laughing stock, comic relief platform, and a fake news hub where just anything falsehood, scandalous, sensational, mischievous and predatory among others, hold sway. If you doubt my judgement, please type into Artificial Intelligence (A.I) app on your smart phone, for Nigeria’s most untruthful and controversial news outlet, and sue me if you don’t find Sahara Reporters top among the list. The platform has become a replica of its owner and publisher, Mr. Omoyele Sowore who has become a so called sophisticated political thug, mouthing shamefully, all sorts of dirty political slogans and waging needless and reckless wars against responsible leaders of the country in a desperate attempt to seek relevance and misguide unsuspecting and innocent Nigerian youths to support his perpetually doomed-to-fail Presidential ambition.
We professionals in the field of journalism are usually embarrassed by the gross disregard Mr. Sowore allows his news outlet, Sahara Reporters, to display against the noble profession of journalism whenever we read poorly handled and edited publications that are daily being churned out on the digital space of this ill-fated news outlet called Sahara Reporters.
One of such recent poor outings is the publication, entitled: ” EXCLUSIVE: Nigeria’s Federal University Oye-Ekiti Pro-Chancellor, Suspended VC Accused Of Manipulating Recruitment, Bending Rules To Favour Loyalists” , published on
August 18, 2025.
The said publication is a show of shame and a dirty slap on the noble profession of journalism. It falls grossly, short of what professionals in the field would be proud of as a balanced report, devoid of bias, witch-hunt and smear campaign. It is full of falsehood, pathetically as usual, yellow journalism, sensationalism and unfounded, baseless, illogical and false allegations against the Chairman of the Governing Council of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) and the substantive Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina, who is now currently on Research Leave as gracefully approved by the highest Authority of the University, the Governing Council ably led by a highly respected and experienced statesman, Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, a man of proven integrity and untainted record of long years of service to the nation.
Sahara Reporters’ recent and sustained attack on the Federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE) is no surprise. This pathetic news outlet is renowned for launching predatory media attacks on unsuspecting and decent Nigerians and instances of this heinous act on the part of the Sowore owned and unilaterally controlled Sahara Reporters, abounds as a click on the social media would undoubtedly disclose myriad of legal suits against the malpractices and injustice being perpetrated by Sahara Reporters on several individuals and organizations, with many of these cases shamefully lost by Sahara Reporters.
One wonders if the news outlet called Sahara Reporters has lost every sense of decency and ethical norms in practicing journalism when, after failing woefully to deceive the world that the substantive Vice-Chancellor of FUOYE, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina, was never suspended by the Governing Council of the institution, (but had merely had his well-deserved accumulated leave approved by the Council and therefore proceeded on the six months leave), the news platform still went ahead to launch another media attack against the person of Prof. Fasina and even allowed itself to be used by some recalcitrant elements in the system, (who are hell bent on grabbing VCship position by all illegitimate means possible), as channel and agent of disruption and political witch hunt against the persons of Senator Ndoma Egba and Prof Fasina.
The contents of the above titled publication are shameful testimony to the fact that Sahara Reporters has become a news platform where just any shenanigan could settle scores with political opponents by weaponizing media trials to spread smear campaign against their colleagues in a political race where sanity and strict procedural tenets are sacrosanct.
Pray! Which source or sources is Sahara Reporters citing in many of the falsehoods it has published in the piece with the aforementioned headline?
One of the core ethical practices of Journalism is clarity and balanced reporting, the tone and contents of the aforementioned headline fall grossly short of these ethical practices that make Journalism a noble profession and affirm the profession as the fourth estate of the realm.
Let us tackle the tissues of lies reported in the aforementioned piece one after the other.
First, Sahara Reporters labelled Prof. Fasina as suspended VC of FUOYE, but they failed woefully to, as usual, publish in this fake news, the purported letter of suspension that ought to have been handled out to the substantive Vice-Chancellor of FUOYE, to authenticate this false claim in the ill-fated report.
It appeared that Sahara Reporters in this ill-fated publication was sponsored to deliberately malign the image of both the Governing Council chairman of FUOYE, Senator Victor Ndoma Egba and her substantive Vice-Chancellor as they keep quoting some strange sources as alleging the tissues of lies that the publication pathetically contained.
The Sahara Reporters’ publication alleges that both Senator Egba and Prof. Fasina are manipulating recruitment processes in FUOYE but failed to categorically state from which quarters such allegations was coming from. Ideally, the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof.Olubunmi Shittu is in the best position to publicly make such allegation for well meaning members of the public to believe. Apparently, there is suspicion in quoting sources for such weighty allegations that ordinarily, the Acting VC could have made in his capacity. It does appear that some unscrupulous elements whose ploy is to use Sahara Reporters, as a willing tool, to disrupt the system, are the script writers and sources of this shameless news outlet called Sahara Reporters.
Thankfully, the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the University, Mr. Foluso Ogunmodede has punctured claims by Sahara Reporters when he hit the writer of the ill-fated publication below the belt in the following response:
“Contrary to another lies in a trending report by Sahara Reporters, accusing the duo of Pro-Chancellor of Federal University Oye Ekiti, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, SAN, and the university Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Abayomi Sunday Fasina of “manipulating recruitment and bending rules to favour loyalists,” the duo had no role to play in the appointments of directors, Deans, Professors and the procurement officer of the university except otherwise brought before the Council.
“Instead, the Pro-Chancellor, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, being the Chairman of Council and the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Fasina, who’s on his accumulated leave in the United States of America played no roles in the appointments, as the recent appointments made was the exclusive preserve of the university management being led by the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Olubunmi Shittu.”
The constant mention of the names of Senator Ndoma Egba and Prof. Fasina, who is currently on Research Leave in the United States of America (U.S.A) in this ill-fated report by Sharara Reporters, clearly betrayed the biased position of the news outlet.
Unknown to Sahara Reporters and their cohorts, the University system runs democratically such that no single individual is capable of taking decisions that are binding on all in the system. Members of the Governing Council of FUOYE arrive at any decisions taken, only through a thoroughly democratic process. All views of parties involved are sought and democratically tabled before decisions are arrived at.
So, it is practically impossible for either Senator Ndoma Egba as chairman of Governing Council or Prof. Fasina as substantive Vice-Chancellor, to single-handedly impose their decision on other equally cerebral and well versed members of the Council in administrative matters. This explains why the claim by Sahara Reporters that both Ndoma Egba and Prof. Fasina Lord their wills over others in the system become baseless, unfounded and fictitious.
Ogunmodede also exposed Sahara Reporters’s pitiable gaffe when he informed the world that indeed, it was the Education Minister, Dr. Tunji Alausa who had set the rules followed by FUOYE ‘s Governing Council for the criteria advertised by FUOYE for the position of the Vice-Chancellor. His words, piercing through the devilish lies of Sahara Reporters, are:
“If it’s not in the culture of Sahara Reporters to brazenly spread lies about FUOYE and its officers, Sahara Reporters would have known that criteria for eligibility for Vice-Chancellor was set by the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Olatunji Alausa, who approved a policy establishing eligibility criteria for the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in order to promote equity, transparency and integrity in the selection process.
“This had nothing to do with the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council Federal University Oye Ekiti, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba.”
Ogunmodede continued,
Dr. Alausa had said “the policy became necessary following a pattern of undue advantage observed over the years, where officers serving in acting capacities often leveraged their positions to influence appointment outcomes.
“These officers also compromise the fairness and transparency of the selection process.
“The policy is necessary to eliminate this practice, ensure a level playing field for all qualified candidates, and strengthen institutional governance.
“However, in the interest of fairness, such officers may choose to recuse themselves from their acting positions before the expiration of their non-renewable six-month tenure, thereby becoming eligible to apply for the substantive roles.”
Is the Pro-Chancellor the Minister of Education, who made the policy? No, as the Sahara Reporters has told brazen lies as true to type always.”
If any one with sane mind has read all the aforementioned rebuttal by the PRO of the great University and still continues to believe the pathological lies of Sahara Reporters or take seriously the news outlet’s future publications about the University, then something must be wrong with such individual.
Truth is that Deans and Directors, Heads of Department and others were announced duly by the management and staff members unanimously appraised the development and the officers have since assumed duty and commenced the performance of their various duties with no one raising any eyebrow, thus making the system enjoying its well-deserved peace. Sahara Reporters ‘s publication is merely targeted at hitting the polity but it has failed woefully.
The Governing Council of any federal University is the highest Authority of the University and has the autonomy to take democratically valid decisions on the appointment of principal officers of the University based principally on her peculiarities. The situation in FUOYE could not be compared to some other federal Universities with differing situations and peculiarities. So, comparison with other federal institutions on FUOYE Council ‘s democratic decisions on advertisement of some of her vacant positions of principal officers, including the soon-to-be vacant office of the Vice-Chancellor by Sahara Reporters is an attempt at disrupting the peaceful system and hitting the polity to deliberately cause chaos in FUOYE.
The pertinent question to ask the seemingly jobless reporters in Sahara Reporters, is, is FUOYE the only federal University in Nigeria that they are desirous of reporting, and publish falsehood about her?
The shameless news outlet has been dragged to Court for its sins against Prof Fasina and the federal University Oye-Ekiti (FUOYE), it should dissipate its energy into defending itself against the myriad of charges against it, and stop the laughable smear campaign it is spreading against the persons of Senator Ndoma Egba and Prof Fasina . Enough is enough!!!.
Toun, a public Affairs Analyst writes from Lagos.
