Spokespersons of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential campaign council Bayo Onanuga and Dele Alake have reacted to claims by the boards and editors of Arise TV and ThisDay that Onanuga and Alake are trying to bully the media.
Reacting in a statement on Wednesday titled “Obaigbena lies again without shame as he manufactures alternate reality,” Onanuga and Alake accused the chairman and publisher of ThisDay and Arise TV Nduka Obaigbena of distorting facts in the statement made by the boards and editors of his establishments.
The duo stressed that the APC presidential candidate Bola Tinubu would not be available for town hall debates organised by Arise TV, adding that it “is nothing but a racket by the Arise TV owner, designed to embarrass our candidate.”
Their statement said, “How laughable that Obaigbena is now denying he was not in EFCC custody for receiving illicit funds from National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki. He attempted to rationalise that the money received was compensation for losses incurred by newspaper proprietors following the clampdown by security agents. But he craftily glossed over the meat of the matter: the grave misconduct to have the funds paid into the bank account of Hydrocarbon, a shell company (obviously set up for money laundering) to which Obaigbena was the sole signatory. Since NPAN has bank accounts, why was the money not transferred there directly?
“Moreover, the petty lie in Obaigbena’s statement was punctured by the joint disclaimer issued on 12 December 2015 by Tribune, New Telegraph and Peoples Daily in whose names he had collected money. The three newspapers said they did not receive a kobo.
“His claim that he pocketed the chunk of the money received from Dasukigate as compensation for the alleged terrorist attack on his Abuja office is a laughable afterthought.”
They also accused him of “rewriting June 12 story.”
According to Alake and Onanuga, “Obaigbena tried to deflect his chronic indebtedness as something common in the media industry. It is an affliction peculiar to THISDAY/Arise which purports to make lots of money (as reflected by bumper advert patronage) but curiously still fails to pay workers as and when due. Even when the economy was relatively ‘good’, Obaigbena never paid workers regularly. His popular saying to staff, as well known in the industry, is that: ‘THISDAY/Arise ID card alone is your meal ticket.’
“Such corrupt philosophy underlies the unethical practices in media companies run by Obaigbena.
“A classic illustration of the untold hardship and dehumanization of his workers was provided by Mr. Paul Ibe, who is now the Special Adviser on Media to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
“Obaigbena tricked Ibe to South Africa with mouth-watering offers. But Ibe ended up enduring hunger there before finding his way back to Nigeria. Following a suit filed at the National Industrial Court in 2011 (suit no NICN/ABJ/26/2011), Mr. Ibe was awarded damages against Obaigbena for backlog of salaries, non-remittance of taxes and pension deducted from his wages over the years and outstanding entitlement. Tens of other staff of Thisday have died due to lack of money for medical care while awaiting Obaigbena to pay them their entitlements.”
Alake and Onanuga knocked Obaigbena for employing as an anchor person on Arise TV Reuben Abati whom they claim is a card-carrying member of PDP.
“Since Nduka Obaigbena introduced his blackmail and extortionist brand of journalism into Nigeria, generation of Bank CEOs, company Chief Executives, politicians and Governors from 1999 have suffered in silence, seeking liberation from oppressive journalism by intimidation,” they added.
