Nduka Obaigbena, chairman of ThisDay and Arise media group.
Nduka Obaigbena, editor-in-chief and chairman of THISDAY, says the N550 million payments he received from Sambo Dasuki, former national security adviser (NSA), were compensation for the Boko Haram attack on the Abuja office of the newspaper on April 26, 2012.
He also said the additional N130 million was compensation for 12 newspapers whose circulation was disrupted in June 2014 by soldiers who said they were acting on intelligence that Boko Haram wanted to transport explosive materials under the guise of media vehicles.
The owner of THISDAY newspapers had been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to explain the circumstances surrounding the payments made to his company.
Obaigbena had written to former President Goodluck Jonathan on July 26, 2012, seeking compensation for the Boko Haram attack which left four persons dead and destroyed property estimated by THISDAY to be N2.4 billion.
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He also asked for extra provision of security to protect lives and property at the office.
Download the letter to Jonathan here
Also in June 2014 when soldiers disrupted the circulation of newspapers in controversial circumstances, Obaigbena, who is the president of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), sought compensation for the affected papers “for the brutal and unlawful seizure”.
In a letter dated December 9, 2015 and sent to EFCC on Friday, Obaigbena promised to honour the commission’s invitation after returning from the US.
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Obaigbena said he never received any “suspicious” payment from the NSA.
The full text of the letter
The Executive Chairman,
The Economic & Financial Crimes C omission, 5, Fomella Street, Wuse 11,
Abuja, Nigeria.
Attention: OLAOLU ADEGBITE, MFR.
RE: LETTER OF INVITATION.
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Please refer to your letter of invitation dated 8th November 2015, which was received in our Abuja Office on the 8th of December 2015.
I am currently in the United States of America on my way back to Nigeria to honour your invitation, but I feel it necessary to make the following statements prior to my arrival in Nigeria:
1. We have never received any suspicious funds from the Office of the National Security Adviser. ALL funds received from the Office of the National Security Adviser were PAYMENTS for COMPENSATION to MITIGATE the following:
1.1. N150,000,000 + N150,000,000 and N250,000,000 respectively received in August, November and February 2014 as compensation to mitigate the dastardly Boko Haram twin bombings of the THISDAY NEWSPAPERS offices in Abuja and Kaduna on Thursday April 26, 2012, during which 4 innocent Nigerian lives were lost, our buildings destroyed and we lost full colour Goss printing towers and three (3) pre-press Computer-To-Plate and anxiliary equipments and other (in)valuable property valued at over N2.5 BILLION. This is aside from daily costs to pay 3rd party printers of over N1 Billion having lost our printing facility to terrorist due to inadequate protection by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The bombing of THISDAY offices followed the Abuja United Nations Building bombing for which the Federal Government has so far spent N3 Billion for reconstruction and much more earmarked for furnishing;
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1.2. N100,000,000 and N20,000,000 received in March 2015 for The Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and 12 newspapers who demanded compensation for the brutal and unlawful seizure of newspapers and stoppage of circulation by armed soldiers in Abuja and several cities. As President of the NPAN, it was my duty to lead media leaders to hold discussions with President Goodluck Jonathan to avert a class action lawsuit against the Armed Forces and the Federal Government of Nigeria.
2. On both occasions, President Jonathan said he did not wish to lay precedence and in our case, he specifically said there were many victims of Boko Haram. I had to confront President Jonathan on the issue when I learnt of approvals for the reconstruction of the Abuja United Nations Building, since we were the second major organisation to be attacked by Boko Haram after the UN attack. He therefore directed me to meet the National Security Adviser who processed the 3 payments in question.
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Please find attached a copy of our letter to President Jonathan as well as correspondence with the then NSA on the Newspapers’ payment. I will be making my way to Nigeria to meet with you should you require further information.
Thank you.
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Nduka Obaigbena
Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, THISDAY NEWSPAPERS GROUP.
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14 comments
Nigerians are no fools Nduka
How many people who sustained injury or dead as a result of Boko Haram were compensated ?
Let him come home and answer the charges.
I know his next step will be to run to the court to stop prosecution and apply for permission to travel abroad for medical check up.
We are all watching.
It is not even that. ThisDay is a private business and as such should have insurance coverage. Why should tax payers’ money be used as compensation for a private business’ loss?
On point.
Correction please. Terror attacks are not covered by insurance policies. Go check it out. I think this is happening because PDP lost the General Elections. If PDP had won, no one will hear that compensation was even contemplated. It is a shame.
Once a smart man, always a smart man. Thank goodness, Nduka is only clever by half this time. There are immediate questions popping up from this his bicycle ride story…apologies to the veterans of the Nigerian Civil War:
Why would Nduka want the government to compensate him for an attack on a building which is private? So, why was he paying premium to the insurance companies and then blackmailed the wily and lameduck government of Jonathan to compensate him?
Or should we agree that such a mighty building was not insured? Or that Nduka collected compensations from the government and the insurers at the same time?
Yet, we should not fail to ask the so-called newspapers affected by seizures if Nduka ever reached out to them. If yes, we need to ask them how much was given each of them and on what basis were their losses calculated?
Were the families of those who died in the attack ever benefitted from the Dasuki largesse?
Considered a well-travelled man, has Nduka ever witnessed such a horrendous compensation in any civilised country he has ever lived and been to?
I believe and Nduka himself knows that he has a big case hanging on his neck. In spite of many similar collections he had benefitted from several and state governments, he still would not pay ThisDay journalists, prefering them to opt for ‘commercial journalism’to make both ends meet.
The hen has finally come home to roost, we can only urge the investigators and the prosecutors to tighten the noose. These crooks must vomit the people money and must be made to admit the tons of blood of innocent Nigerians they helped shed.
This government has gotto a crucial junction and could not afford to look back or weary asvit did in the case of MTN Nigeria.
Thanks for your well articulated analysis.
Just returned our money
Nduka? You too? What of other Newspaper proprietors? Na you Waka chop alone? Chai! Dis Money you people are ‘shearing’! Dia riz Buhari o!
The question is was the building in question insured? If not why not? If insured why not process the insurance or was he paid twice? Nduka’s explanation has many holes and leaves much to be desired. He must refund the money to Nigeria. Chikena!
All previous comments adopted. How come it’s th NSA paying or disbursing the compensation? To whom did ThisDay write for compensation? Is th SGF aware? What about th finance Minister? Those who the god of greed wants to kill, he first makes mad. Only madness should make these guys defraud Nigeria on such a large with impunity. Even petty thieves would take caution.
I hope they all get punished for this atrocities committed.
OGK: I never bothered to finish reading your write-up! Did you find out if the insurance for Obaigbena’s ‘private’ building was insured for boko haram terrorist attack? I’m sure if you did, the answer would have been negative, why? Because as at that time, terrorism was not in Nigeria’s dictionary! Why sounding selfish? Why don’t you allow full investigation b4 hacking the man? So selfish indeed! N550m compensation for ppty worth over N2B. Haba, we should be fair nah.
All of you asking if the building was not insured, please is there anything like Boko Haram Insurance or Terrorism insurance? Or under what type of insurance should we classify terrorism? Do you expect an insurance company to pay for what is not covered by the insurance agreement? Please, you guys should kindly educate me on the above posers. Thank you.
Imagine this man runs a public address system media outfit and he never told in his papers that Nigerian governed was so naive and compensated him. It would have been best news in the last days of Mr. Jonathan.