30th
December, 2015.
FURTHER CLARIFICATIONS
The Ag. Executive Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes
Commission ( EFCC),
5, Fomella Street, Wuse 2,
Abuja, Nigeria.
Attention Ibrahim Musa.
At your request, we provide the
following clarifications on payments of N670,000,000 received by GENERAL
HYDROCARBONS LTD on behalf of THISDAY NEWSPAPERS GROUP (N550,000,000) and THE
NEWSPAPERS PROPRIETORS ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (NPAN), for member newspapers (
N120,000,000) from The Federal Government of Nigeria through the Office of The
National Security Adviser ( ONSA) between 2014 and 2015. I have set out the
areas of possible questions and concerns and provided answers below:
1. Why GENERAL HYDROCARBONS LTD?
General Hydrocarbons Ltd was set up as the power supply, diesel and fuel
logistics arm of the THISDAY NEWSPAPERS GROUP, servicing the power and fuel
logistics requirements of the group. There are other business units that
service supplies and imports such as newsprint, ink, chemicals and consumables,
machinery, etc. It is standard practice within large media groups to have
business units meeting special logistics, infrastructural and supply needs.
2. Why was the payment made to General
Hydrocarbons Ltd and not to THISDAY directly? First, President Goodluck
Jonathan made it clear at the beginning that he did not want to create a
precedent by paying THISDAY compensation given we had several victims of Boko
Haram bombings around the country. Once payment was approved for the
reconstruction of the UN Buildings in Abuja, that continued refusal or
reluctance to pay us became tenuous as we were the next institution to be so
bombed after the UN and Police Headquarters buildings which were then being
reconstructed by the Federal Government. So when the ONSA said that they had
approval to pay us, but would rather not set a precedent by paying THISDAY
directly, we nominated a member company of the THISDAY Newspapers Group, called
General Hydrocarbons Ltd., to receive the payments on behalf of the group of
companies, given that the assets of General Hydrocarbons Ltd – mainly generators
– were also destroyed in the bombings.
3. Why did THISDAY Newspapers Group not
seek insurance payments for the bombings? We did ask our insurance consortium
to pay compensation but they said we were not covered for war and or terrorism
risk. Until that time, we never knew we needed war or terrorism insurance in
Nigeria as the Government had not officially declared war. With the power of
hindsight we now know better.
4. What was the N550,000,000 paid to
THISDAY used for? We simply used the compensation funds to defray some 30% of
the N1.7billion we already paid to 3rd party printers for services in lieu of
the Abuja press (please see attached for a listing of each of these payments)
while we went to our banks for refinancing printing presses, computer-to-plate
and other facilities.
5. Why was the payment classified by
ONSA as payment for “Energy Consultancy”? We do not know and cannot determine
why and how security and intelligence agencies classify their payments in
whatever manner they do. General Hydrocarbons Ltd did not engage in “energy
consultancy” – whatever that means – with the Federal Government and or ONSA.
They simply acted in agency collecting approved payments for and on behalf of
THISDAY Newspapers Group and the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria
(NPAN) – to which the newspapers group belongs.
6. Why did ONSA pay General
Hydrocarbons Ltd and not directly to the account of NPAN? We did supply the
account of NPAN to the Federal Government through the ONSA once we agreed the
N120,000,000 compensation for member newspapers. But when I got a call from an
official of the ONSA informing me that the payments agreed with The President
was ready and should arrange to pick up cash, I balked and refused, asking him
to pay to the NPAN account. Even when he suggested that The Nigerian Guild of
Editors – NGE -(who are now calling for a probe) was paid N50,000,000 cash by
the ONSA when President Jonathan donated to the building of the NGE
secretariat, I still refused to collect cash and in any case, I had no
independent confirmation the Nigerian Guild of Editors had collected cash. And
even if they did, I was not prepared to do so. And when he insisted, after I
had refused to pick up such a huge amount in cash, we agreed in good faith they
credit the account of General Hydrocarbons Ltd, who upon legal advice, were
acting in agency in line with industry practice where most payments are
received through agencies, but in this instance, at no cost. General
Hydrocarbons Ltd did receive the payments on behalf of NPAN and delivered same
to NPAN, at no cost, despite bank charges. General Hydrocarbons Ltd – a member
of the THISDAY Newspapers Group – who are bonafide members of NPAN – therefore
collected the compensation on behalf NPAN and passed on exactly what was
collected in fulfillment of the out-of-court settlement reached between
President Goodluck Jonathan and the expanded leadership of NPAN who attended
the June 12, 2014 meeting, at the invitation of The President, at State House
Marina, Lagos to ensure newspapers are never again clamped down after years of
military harassment. Indeed the newspaper chiefs were very concerned that the
military authorities would accuse them of using their circulation vans to ferry
bombs on behalf of terrorists and feared that this was a pretext for more
sinister action against the media by the Federal Government. Against this
background, we summoned a high – powered NPAN team that reached the
out-of-court settlement with the Federal Government and they included: Nduka
Obaigbena (THISDAY), Chief Olusegun Osoba ( Past NPAN President invited to
underscore the seriousness of the issues), Uncle Sam Amuka (Vanguard
Newspapers), Lady Maiden Ibru (Guardian Newspapers), Wale Aboderin (Punch
Newspapers), Victor Ifijeh (The Nation Newspapers), Femi Adesina ( Sun
Newspapers), Bayo Onanuga ( The News Magazine Group), Frank Aigbogun
(BusinessDay), Mrs Nwadiuto Iheakanwa ( Champion Newspapers), Comfort Obi (
Source Magazine and General Secretary), Mr Akanni Aluko ( New Telegraph),
Gbenga Adefaye (Vanguard), Toke Alex Ibru ( Guardian), Ayo Arowolo (THISDAY),
and Feyi Smith ( NPAN). Everyone who attended this meeting did so with their
heads high in defense of Free Speech and sought nothing beyond the national interest
and an enabling environment for the media to operate in a democratic setting.
7. Did NPAN members receive the
N120,000,000 payments and did they know these payments were from the ONSA? Yes.
At the NPAN meeting of March 17, 2015 held at the offices of Media Trust,
Abuja, ahead of honoring the invitation of then Presidential Candidate of APC,
General Muhammadu Buhari, at Sheraton Hotel Abuja, members were, again,
informed that the Federal Government through the ONSA had agreed to make the
payment of compensation for newspapers that had made claims for the military
crackdown on newspapers. Indeed when the ONSA asked for their own meeting
between President Jonathan and the media ahead of the elections, he was told
that the NPAN would not meet with him or President Jonathan until the
out-of-court settlement was paid. The NPAN captured this in the Minutes of the
meeting as follows:
“The President (of NPAN) reported on a
request by the National Security Adviser for a meeting for the following
Wednesday and added that he made as a precondition for attendance, the payment
to affected members, of the agreed sum of N10million compensation for the June
2014, military seizure of newspapers and distruption of circulation. The (NPAN)
meeting endorsed the decision. It also endorsed that each beneficiary will pay
N1million of the paid sum to the Association for its development activities.” –
Extracts from Minutes NPAN Meeting of March 17, 2015 held at Media Trust
offices, Abuja Once payment of the full N120,000,000 was received, we realized
that we had 13 newspapers claiming instead of 12 and bank drafts were then
issued as follows: 1. THISDAY Newspapers / N9,000,000; 2. Media Trust
Newspapers/ N9,000,000; 3.VANGUARD / N9,000,000 ; 4. Leadership Newspapers
/N9,000,000; 5. The Nation Newspapers (Vintage Press) N9,000,000; 6. Business
Day / N9,000,000; 7. The SUN Newspapers/ N9,000,000; 8. Blueprint Newspapers /
N9,000,000; Daily Independent / N9,000,000; 10. Peoples Daily / N9,000,000 (
with secretariat);11. Tribune Newspapers / N9,000,000 ( with secretariat); 12.
Guardian Newspapers / N9,000,000 ( with secretariat) ; 13. New Telegraph /
N9,000,000 ( with secretariat) and NPAN /N3,000,000. TOTAL : 120,000,000.00 as
received from the ONSA ( Not a penny less). The association had ruled that
members should first bring their membership accounts current with the NPAN
Secretariat and then collect their cheques. The onus of whether or not to
collect cheques for compensation they had voluntarily and collectively claimed
remains with each member.
8. Did NPAN members know these payments
were from Arms Purchase budget to fight Boko Haram? The NPAN and indeed THISDAY
Newspapers and / or even General Hydrocarbons Ltd could not have known which
budget head payments ordered by The President through the ONSA came from, given
that security and intelligence agencies have several payment conventions
unknown to the public. But what is in the public domain is that The
Appropriations Act 2014 and the Appropriations Act 2015 provided N28.5 Billion and
N26.49 billion respectively in capital expenditure for the ONSA which included
such miscellaneous subheads, that did not include arms purchase, from which the
payments agreed with the President on June 12, 2014, could have been made after
due process given that it was the ONSA that oversaw the crackdown on
newspapers. Separately, the same Appropriations Act 2014 and the Appropriations
Act 2015 provided the Ministry of Defense with arms budget of some N35.4
billion and N36.7 billion for capital budget and arms purchase. We never dealt
with the Ministry of Defense. So any suggestion that payments made to NPAN and
THISDAY Newspapers Group were for arms purchase is like calling a dog a bad
name in order to hang it; incite the public against us and create panic amongst
our members and stakeholders in such an important national institution as the
media. We never participated in any arms purchase in any shape or form and only
demanded compensation for a horrendous terrorist act against us. In the same
way, the United Nations and others who may have received some compensation,
could not have known the line budget items for the funds being used for the
reconstruction of the UN Abuja buildings. Even the Nigerian Guild of Editors,
which may have received donations for their secretariat from the ONSA, could
not have known which subhead it was paid from. We simply cannot know or be
expected to speculate which line item the spending was made from by the ONSA.
There is simply no nexus between payments made for compensation, to us victims
of terrorism as well as to newspapers in compensation for an unprovoked attack
on free speech, and any arms purchase budget. It will be of interest to have a
full and complete list of all payments made by the ONSA between 2014 and 2015
to make an informed determination and to understand what happened to the over
N70 billion in arms budget allotted to the Ministry of Defense for armament.
9. At the end of the day, we were
victims of a horrendous terrorist attack and should not be victimized any
further as the terrorists will be celebrating what we are now being put
through. We do not deserve further trauma because some official(s), outside of
our control, may or may not have followed due process. All victims of terrorist
attack deserve a fair and just compensation. The fact that we have received
some remedy should be reason to accelerate compensation for all victims of Boko
Haram attacks across Nigeria however big or small. We never wished this upon
ourselves. The central purpose of government is the security of life and
property of all citizens. And the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights,
the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as other
international law instruments and conventions of which Nigeria is a signatory
underscores this – and infact requires that we receive effective remedy and
compensation.
10. Please find attached statements by
the expanded Executive Council Meeting convened in the wake of these
allegations.
Thank you.
Nduka Obaigbena,
Chairman & Editor-in-Chief,
THISDAY Newspapers Group.
President, Newspapers
Proprietors Association of Nigeria.
35 Creek Road Apapa, Lagos
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