The publishers of Sahara Reporters have apologised to millions of Muslims over an offensive headline that compared travails of fugitive Sunday Igboho with the Holy Prophet of Islam, Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
In a statement after it deleted the story from its website, Sahara Reporters stated that they apologised to all those who feel hurt by the report.
The statement goes thus: “On Monday, July 26, 2021, we published a story titled, ‘Igboho Is Like Prophet Mohammed Who Fled Mecca For Media Over Persecution—Afenifere’.
“We apologise to all those who feel hurt by the report. As a media platform, we report on events as they occur.
“We understand that some people who read the report did not understand that it did NOT emanate from SaharaReporters but was a report distilled from a statement released by Afenifere, a socio-cultural organisation.
“We assure our esteemed readers and followers that it was not our intention to denigrate the Islamic faith and Prophet Muhammad as we hold all faiths in high regard. We thank you for your feedback,” it concluded.
The story has attracted a lot of backlash from Muslim faithfuls on social media who said the Prophet’s movement was given a wrong interpretation by Afenifere, a Yoruba group.
