There seems to be a pattern on NL. A fully sourced article will grace the front page, generate a lot of traffic, and then a few days later UNSOURCED and CONTRADICTORY claims will hit the front page.

This is confusing to many people. Prime example, is the letter writing saga.

A sourced thread quoted an article in Vanguard. That article contained the contents of Iyabos letter to OBJ. It hit the front page and about 97% of us believed it to be accurate.

A few days later, an UNSOURCED and uncomfirmed post claimed that Iyabo did not author that letter to her father.

We were all confused, and it took a few days to sort out the truth. Nairaland created national confusion, single-handedly, by pushing that unsourcred thread to the Front Page.

There have been even worse instances where threads are "jokes", but presented as truth just to gain views. I am thinking of the Ngige crying over 2bn thread, and Lagbaja removing his mask. Many people STILL believe those threads were truthful.

Shockingly, this pattern is repeating itself again with this latest Oduah scandal.

A story hits the front page with multiple sources and several media outlets are reporting the story. All of us believe the accusations are true.

Then an UNSOURCED and UNCOMFIRMED thread hits the front page, that is completely contradictory. I am of course talking about this post:

theoctopus: B-R-E-A-K-I-N-G News!!! Senate Releases Stella Oduah's CV. The Nigerian Senate have released the Curriculum Vitae (Resume) which Princess Stella Oduah the Aviation Minister used in securing her appointment. According to the release, they confirm that the Aviation Minister's CV was in line with her claims, against what some media outfits have been writing in the last few days. They warned that the online news outlets Sahara Reporters and Premium Times should stop giving out false and malicious information that might lead to breakdown of law and order. Sahara reporters have already accepted misleading Nigerians and still refuse to apologize for their malicious allegations and frivolous claims.

https://www.facebook.com/hopefornigeria?ref=stream

From the very beginning, that person claimed to have gotten their information directly from a public Senate Statement. It was an obvious lie when I first saw the thread, because the pictures of Oduah's CV that OP posted had a very prominent PREMIUM TIMES logo on it. I didnt take the thread serious, and expected it would be deleted as trash. Now it seems that OP figured out that the GIANT PREMIUM TIMES LOGO, was a dead giveaway that they didnt get the CV from the Senate, so they changed it. They downloaded the CV from the Premium Times website (where it doesn't have a logo), and reuploaded it to Nairaland. Hilariously, they decided to photochop a pic of Stella' face onto the resume.

Lets be clear.

1. The Senate is on vacation until January 14th. It is IMPOSSIBLE for them to have released anything.

2. OP did not list a single person from the senate that released it. WHO FROM THE SENATE GAVE OP ODUAH's resume? It might have just as well been ghosts.

3. OP claims (quite fraudulently) that the Senate released a "statement". (Where is this statement, has anyone seen it?)

4. OP claims that the Senate "confirm[ed] that the Aviation Minister's CV was in line with her claims, against what some media outfits have been writing in the last few days. They warned that the online news outlets Sahara Reporters and Premium Times should stop giving out false and malicious information that might lead to breakdown of law and order." SINCE THIS "SENATE'S STATEMENT" DOESNT EXIST, THIS IS AN OUTRIGHT LIE.

5. OP's only source is the facebook page of some random PDP fan site. Where is this Senate Statement?

6. From what I can tell, there is no mention of Oduah AT ALL on that Facebook page. (Apparently I missed it, see below) Can anyone find where they mentioned what OP claimed? (Thanks eGuerilla) In fact, I think that post was WRITTEN by the owner of that Facebook page, and that they included the link to their facebook page as a PROMOTION and not as a source. Did any mod even click on the link to verify OP's claims?

Anyway, I was SHOCKED to see that thread on the front page today. It is an obvious fraud. The question I have, is what are the standards this website uses?

I am not a fan of Sincere9gerian, but he always uses sources, so I respect him. When other's on the politics section discuss issues, we like to use SOURCED articles to bash each other. When I post threads, I always use a source. Personally, this level of yeye journalism is against the politics section culture, and should be stopped. If we cant trust NL, then what is the point? The Senate has not released any statement.

Lastly, let us all wait until the government resumes on Jan 14, when the investigation into Oduah will formally start. These unsourced, and uncomfirmed, claims from the "Nigerian Senate" (which is currently on vacation) will most likely be exposed as fraudulent. In the mean time, this concerned Nigerian would like to know what determines whether or not a thread is front page worthy. Thanks and good day.

FP has been stealer oduah friendly of late. Hope seun hasnt been bribed.

Guy na person-know-person tinz for FP

Kairoseki77,

I have seen many threads on these boards which claim 'Hope for Nigeria' (a facebook user-group) as a veritable source.
My guess is that NL administrators deliberately lowered reporting standards this time, just to balance things out.
While I consider this action to be 'scrapping the barrel', I suppose, it was meant to assuage frailing nerves

eGuerrilla: Kairoseki77,

I have seen many threads on these boards which claim 'Hope for Nigeria' (a facebook user-group) as a veritable source.
My guess is that NL administrators deliberately lowered reporting standards this time, just to balance things out.
It is scrapping the barrel but does go some way to assuaging nerves, I suppose.

The ridiculous thing is that Hope for Nigeria DOESNT MENTION ODUAH.

There is nothing there about her, so it is not even a source. I invite everyone to click the link themselves or call me liar!

Kairoseki77:

The ridiculous thing is that Hope for Nigeria DOESNT MENTION ODUAH.

There is nothing there about her, so it is not even a source. I invite everyone to click the link themselves or call me liar!

Oh, it is there alright.

eGuerrilla:

Oh, it is there alright.

That is simply a variation of what they wrote on NL.

Once again, there is no source. No senate statement. No names listed. Just unsourced lies.

At least they had the decency to remove the line about Sahara Reporters before posting on NL.

I admit that they clearly did mention her, but this just makes me even more disturbed.

Lmao...do you guys take NL this serious Me I just come here to while away time and pic one or two things for my Fans. I don't take things serious here until I see it in Punch newspaper

eGuerrilla: Kairoseki77,

I have seen many threads on these boards which claim 'Hope for Nigeria' (a facebook user-group) as a veritable source.
My guess is that NL administrators deliberately lowered reporting standards this time, just to balance things out.
While I consider this action to be 'scrapping the barrel', I suppose, it was meant to assuage frailing nerves

Hope for Nigeria is another ibo facebook page and most of their topics are from nl or vice versa. You see the same tribal no sense posted on nl on that page even all the tinubu orgies.

I think nl is desperate for traffic and attention so they let anything fly including fake and deceptive trash.

The clowns on nl own that fb. They make up their trash over there and post the same trash on nl with that hope for Nigeria tribal fb page as the source. Its all 419 and deception

agbameta:

Hope for Nigeria is another ibo facebook page and most of their topics are from nl or vice versa. You see the same tribal no sense posted on nl on that page even all the tinubu orgies.

I think nl is desperate for traffic and attention so they let anything fly including fake and deceptive trash.

The clowns on nl own that fb. They make up their trash over there and post the same trash on nl with that hope for Nigeria tribal fb page as the source. Its all 419 and deception

I concur fully with this observation.

OP, you are observant.