The Nigerian Guild of Editors has called for a thorough investigation into the N120m given to the President of the Newspapers Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, Nduka Obaigbena, by the embattled former National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).
The call was one of the resolutions of the NGE at its 4th quarterly Standing Committee meeting which held in Abuja on Saturday.
The guild’s call came on the heels of a heated exchange between the NPAN and The Guardian over their respective roles in a saga that a senior officer of the newspaper described as a “mess.”
Obaigbena, who has been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, for receiving N670m from Dasuki, had said in an open letter last Friday that N550m was given to him as compensation for the losses that his newspaper, Thisday, sustained during the Boko Haram attacks in Abuja on April 6, 2012. He had also added that N120m was given to him to distribute to some members of NPAN whose newspapers were seized by soldiers and intelligence operatives in 2014.
During the brief clampdown, soldiers seized copies of newspapers and vandalised distribution vans of major newspapers, including PUNCH, which refused to join the compensation lobby and also warned of its dangers.
In a communiqué signed by the NGE President, Garba Mohammad, and its Secretary, Victoria Ibanga, the NGE commended the anti-graft war of President Muhammadu Buhari even as it urged the President to respect the rule of law.
It read in part, “The guild notes the efforts of the Federal Government to recover stolen public funds and commends the courage behind it, while urging the government to respect the fundamental human rights of the suspects in the process.
“The guild asks the government to thoroughly investigate every corruption case and pursue same diligently and to a logical conclusion. It advises judges to be circumspect in granting injunctions and be more painstaking in the adjudication of corruption cases.
“The guild calls for a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the involvement of some media executives in the payments from the office of the former NSA in the interest of fairness and justice.”
Meanwhile, The Guardian finally broke its silence on Sunday, claiming never to have demanded for any compensation from the Federal Government. But this claim was quickly countered by Obaigbena who insisted that The Guardian was a party to the decision taken by the NPAN. The positions of both parties became public on Sunday after email exchanges between the two were made public.
In an angry email to the NPAN, the Chief Operating Officer of The Guardian Newspapers, Dr. Alex Thomopulos, expressed shock that the newspaper was included among the list of compensation-seeking media companies. He claimed he had informed the Secretary of NPAN, Mr. Feyi Smith, that the newspaper was not interested in compensation.
Thomopulos wrote that he was, therefore, surprised to see his newspaper on the list of those who received the compensation.
He said, “The Guardian Newspapers wrote Feyi Smith a letter (as the secretary of NPAN) at the beginning of the matter that although we incurred an actual loss of N450,000, we stated categorically that The Guardian Newspapers did not want any compensation. This was in black and white.
“Our letter was not because we did not need the money, but our stand was strictly based on the principles, policies and philosophies of our late founding chairman, Dr. Alexander U. Ibru. In other words, if Dr. Ibru were alive today, what decision would he have taken or instructed us to take? The decision we took is the decision Dr. Ibru would have taken or would have instructed us to take.
“All said and done, as the saying goes, I believe, our official letter to Mr. Feyi Smith overrides everything. Feyi Smith should have known this, and I must say he caused all this mess and he must take full responsibility.”
However, Obaigbena in an email response, insisted that The Guardian requested N2.6m through a letter to the NPAN. The letter is dated July 15, 2014 and signed by Thomopulos. Obaigbena’s email appears to provide incontrovertible proof that The Guardian sought to be compensated for its seized newspapers, contrary to Thomopolus’ protestations.
Obaigbena’s email reads, “Please find below your email to Mr. Feyi Smith – just shared with me by Mr. Feyi Smith who still claims you never told him in words or in BLACK & WHITE, NOT TO INCLUDE THE GUARDIAN amongst list of claimants. Indeed in your mail below you said: Please find below our estimate for compensation for June’s crack down on the Media”…and claimed loses of N2,688,500 ( NOT N450,000). Please check your records and advise accordingly.” Thomopolus’s letter states that the sum demanded comprised the amount of unsold copies between June 6 and 7 of 2014 and N750,000.00 spent on haulage.
Obaigbena also explained that an Executive Director of The Guardian, Mr. Toke Alex Ibru, who represented the newspaper at the final meeting where the compensation was discussed, did not ask forThe Guardian to be removed from the list.
He said, “He (Toke) never objected or asked that The Guardian’s name be removed from the list of compensation – especially at the meeting of March 17, 2015 where we collectively took the final decision to accept the compensation – not because of the value of the money but of the principle on not having newspapers subjected to any military harassment given past history.
“When we hosted the Bayelsa Governor, Mr. Toke Alex Ibru asked for The Guardian’s cheque and as the meeting progressed, it was produced for him but he went away with the Bayelsa Governor and forgot to pick it up. He then followed up with calls to Mr. Feyi Smith who promised to send the cheque to him.
“After all of these, why would we have the impression that The Guardian was not interested in collecting the cheque after filing a claim for N450,000?
“It is entirely within your prerogative to change your mind given the turn of events, but we do have minutes of all the meetings Mr. Toke attended. We must not lose sight of the fact that the decision of NPAN to fight this was to ensure we do not return to the ugly past of military brutality of newspapers, ever again.”
Meanwhile, a former Minister of Education, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, has berated members of the NPAN that collected the N120m compensation. Ezekwesili said in a series of tweets on her official Twitter handle that the excuse for receiving such money was not tenable.
“It would be a double tragedy if our media houses do not see that their transaction with the former NSA does not pass ‘the smell test.” Money for securing the country and citizens was distributed like the old Catholic ‘prebends.’ Prebendalism in its worst manifestation; it stinks!
“Prebendalism refers to political systems where elected officials and government workers feel they have a right to a share of government revenues and use them (public funds) to benefit their supporters, co-religionists and members of their ethnic group.
“The term is commonly used to describe the patterns of corruption in Nigeria. Just see our odious contribution to lexicon.”
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