Still On Maimuna’s Brother Wedding..Our Position CKN Nigeria

None of our post has generated the type of reaction as we had in the past twenty hours over the marriage of Miamian’s brother..

Background

On Sunday 3^rd June 2012 Dana air Flight 9J 992 from Abuja to Lagos crashed at Toyin street Iju Ishaga,Lagos barely two minutes to landing killing all 153 passengers and crew as well as over twenty others on ground.

The Anyenes

Among those killed were the families of Mr Onyeka Anyenne,his wife Maimuna,four children (including a set of twins, his mother inlaw and two other relatives.

The Anyenes who were based in the USA were in Nigeria to attend the wedding of Maimuna’s brother which was billed to take place this weekend.

Our Involvement:

CKN Nigeria had the singular privilege of breaking the news of the plane crash online and sustained it with exclusive pictures of the crash which was used and duly acknowledged across the globe by AFP and other world acclaimed networks.

We continued our coverage by giving a minute by minute account of th event, including rescue missions, publication of victims as well as putting a face to most of the victims .

The Anyenne’s as a Special Case

Of all those involved ,the case of the Anyenne’s was the most pathetic because of the nature of death and number of family members involved. The loss of a single relation is hard to bear, talk less of an entire generation and number running into nine.

We sustained their story as well as digging further to know whom the family was..Pictures speaks many languages and that of the Anyennes were mind burgling.

Maimuna’s Brother Marriage

The question on every ones lip was, will the marriage be postponed or will it go on despite the great loss to the family. No one for sure was in a position to ascertain that until early hours of yesterday when we had an urgent call from a close friend of the family that the marriage would take place yesterday.

The Great Search for the Venue and authenticity of report

Immediately we received the massage which we later found was true,we dispatched some of  our best hands to comb the whole of Abuja where every one believed the marriage will take place.

Phone calls were made, leads were followed but after about an hour search, we were able to realize that though the information about the marriage was true,but the venue wasn’t.

A reliable source called to inform us that the marriage will actually take place in the Nigerian commercial capital, Lagos.

We have to collapse the Abuja team and raise another crack team of our reporters in lagos to track down the venue and make sure we get the first information about the wedding before any other news media in Nigeria and overseas.

Though it was tasking, our job was made easier when we finally laid our hand on the text message sent around inviting very few exclusive people to the wedding.

On getting to the venue, gaining access was a big problem since we wre not on the invited list.Moreso, the family apparently wanted to keep the wedding away from the prying eyes of the media.

The organizers were shocked to see our crew. They tried to persuade us that there was nothing like a marriage going on.

We stuck to our gun and even showed them the invitation text messages..With this they had no other option than to let go.

Apart from saving you the full story about the wedding, we decided to take a shot of the couple to authentic our story.

This was how we became the first media house to break the story and follow it up with the picture that is now circulating around the globe.

Accusation of been bias:

Few people have accused us of been bias in our reporting of the wedding. Some have also told us it was a family decision which we have no ,moral right to question. others have accused us of working for some fifth columnists who are out to destroy the young couple.

We have also received several phone calls,text messages,emails ,bb messages on the report.

Our stand

Contrary to some of the above belief, our aim is not to destroy the young marriage.We have tried as much as possible to as balance as we could in our reporting of the event..Sensationalism as we are been accuse of should be left to the judgment of our readers. As could be rightly see on our page, we have published almost three hundred comments of our readers on the issue(unedited)..Everyone has something positive or negative to say.

On our part, we believe and still STRINGLY too that the wedding should have been postponed for the following reasons.

1. Contrary to some opinions that the wedding was a family issue, this to us is not sustainable. The marriage stopped been a family issue immediately the Anyenne’s lost their entire household in that crash.

They have been transformed from a mere family to a national and International loss. Never in the history of Nigeria has a family lost such number in a single air crash. Their loss has become our pains. So whatever her immediate family was doing, the mood of the entire nation should have been taken into consideration.

2. A postponement of the wedding till the dead were buried would have been ideal ,atleast in order to respect Maimuna and her four children whose charred and burnt out bodies are still in the morgue.

3. The reason been adduced that it will be a double liss yo the family if it was postponed due to the elaborate arrangement and expenses already incurred is unsustainable..How much do you put I terms of value to life..How much does a life cost?..Here we are talking about nine people.

4. The theory that they were Muslims and therefore have no reason not to go ahead with the wedding is a complete mirage.

Yes,Maimuna’s family are moslems,but the Anyennes are Christians from the South. This automatically nullifies those analogy..The people being mourned are not mourned because they are Muslims or Christians..A little tarry would have solved this whole issue.

5. The wedding has put a complete a cloud in our resolve and advance towards inter tribal marriage as sustained by this couple. It leaves a sore taste in the mouth for the advocates of inter tribal marriages.

It could be seen by the other party as a sign of INSENSITIVITY..putting into consideration our cultural and religious differences.

To the average Notherner,it may mean nothing, but down south it could be viewed differently, most young couples who may want to engage in such marriages in the future may be prevented from doing so by their siblings if the Anyennes were to be used as a case study

Finally we will disagree with those who said,Maimuna would be happy anywhere she is seeing that the wedding went ahead as planned.

Our simple question is, would Maimuna or her husband had attended the wedding if either of them were alive and their children were still in the morgue?.

We wish the couple the best of luck and wonderful marital bliss.

It is our sustainable belief that in all these,; lessons have been learnt.

May the souls of the departed rest in perfect peace. Amen..CKN Nigeria