Media Trust Limited, publisher of Daily Trust and Sunday Trust newspapers has confirmed receiving the sum of N9 Million out of the N670 Million which the publisher of ThisDay newspaper, Nduka Obagbena confessed receiving from the former National Security Adviser (NSA), Sambo Dasuki.
The management of the Trust, in a reaction to Nduka’s claim that he gave the Trust N10 Million, said that the N9 Million represented what it lost as a result of the siege on the newspapers by the security operatives.
The statement which was signed by the Editor-In-Chief, Mannir Dan-Ali, said that Nduka deducted one million from the total amount meant for the logistics of the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), which he heads.
“Our attention has been drawn to publications suggesting that Daily Trust may have benefited from some monies paid out from the office of the former National Security Adviser through the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, NPAN.”
The Management of the Trust went on to give an account of what it knows about the payment of compensation made to it through the association.
“You may recall that from 6th to 10th of June 2014, the military authorities seized copies of our newspapers printed on those days just as our distribution vans were setting out to different towns and cities in the country. According to the then Director of Defence Information, Major General Chris Olukolade, the action came after they received “intelligence reports indicating movement of material with grave security implications across the country, using the channel of newsprint related consignments.
“Even when the military authorities found nothing incriminating in any of the vans, the newspapers were never allowed to be sold as some of our distand they repeated this over several days. Following some intervention and especially the widespread condemnation of the action, the seizures stopped. But having suffered huge losses in revenue, our board considered the option of going to court to challenge the illegal action of the military and to seek for compensation.
“We were however prevailed upon by President of NPAN, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, who had intervened to reach out to the security services when the siege was going on, suggesting that working through the newspaper proprietors’ body, he can convince the authorities to compensate his members even without going to the courts.
“He later told a meeting of NPAN that the military authorities were remorseful about their illegal actions especially as it could affect their relationship with the media at a time the military was engaged with the Boko Haram insurgency. He also added that the authorities have agreed to pay compensation for the loss caused by their action and asked each of the affected newspaper houses to submit its claim.
“Media Trust Limited submitted a modest claim of
N10,345,367 based on the direct production cost of the exact copies lost to the illegal siege. The NPAN President thereafter told us that N10 million was approved to be paid to us, but that since the payment was as a result of the intervention of NPAN which was battling to raise funds for its own operations, one million Naira was deducted for the use of the association.
“So we were only compensated for the direct losses, as we did not make claims for associated losses including psychological trauma suffered by our staff and distribution agents, as well as third party liabilities we incurred as a result of the five-day illegal disruption of our business operation.” [myad]
