As the International Society for Civil Liberties and Rule of Law (Intersociety) accused the New York Times of falsifying parts of its report on alleged Christian genocide in Nigeria, police authorities have said no one was abducted in the incident referenced, stressing that official security records do not support claims of abduction, even as the controversy deepened over statements attributed to Intersociety founder, Emeka Umeagbalasi, whom the New York Times quoted as admitting that he “often does not verify his data” and relying on “‘secondary sources’, including Christian interest groups, Nigerian news reports and Google searches,” claims Intersociety flatly rejected in a statement describing the report as a “perfidy of lies,” insisting that “New York Times lied when it falsely claimed that ‘our Board Chair admitted that he often does not verify his data’,” while also disputing figures on church attacks, deaths, comments allegedly made about Fulanis, and assertions that abducted Kebbi schoolgirls were mostly Christian, with the group maintaining that its research combines primary and secondary data and that contrary interpretations were inaccurate, as police reiterated that no abduction occurred as alleged.
