The management of The Sun newspaper issued the statement below, Sunday, to announce its return of the N9million it received from the office of the National Security Adviser “as compensation for the seizure of its newspapers and stoppage of circulation during the Goodluck Jonathan administration in June 2014.”
It said the the N9million cheque had since been returned to the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, for onward passage to the office of the National Security Adviser.
“In deference to public outcry and the need to protect its corporate integrity, the Management of The Sun Publishing Limited has returned the N9 million received from the Presidency through the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) as compensation for the seizure of its newspapers and stoppage of circulation during the Goodluck Jonathan administration in June 2014.
In a statement issued yesterday and signed by its Managing Director/Editor-in- Chief, Mr. Eric Osagie, The Sun said it took the decision following the controversies, which the payment of the compensation had generated and the need to come clean on the matter.
The statement reads further: “The Management of The Sun Publishing Limited has considered the public outcry and diverse controversies generated among media houses, the Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) and the public over the N120 million paid by the Goodluck Jonathan administration as compensation to newspaper companies for the unlawful seizure of their newspapers and stoppage of circulation by armed soldiers in several cities across the country in June 2014.
Meanwhile, Punch Nigeria Limited, publishers of the PUNCH titles, has suspended its membership of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria, NPAN.
The company communicated the decision to the NPAN in a letter dated Thursday, December 17 and signed by its chairman, Wale Aboderin.
“After a careful review of recent, and still unfolding, developments, Punch Nigeria Limited is suspending its membership of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria until further notice. This suspension takes effect immediately
“The public will recall the criminal charges levelled against a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and several other alleged accomplices.
“These charges border on the diversion of public funds, totalling $2.1 billion, allocated for the purchase of arms to prosecute the war against terrorism.
“The revelations indicate that the sum of N120 million was disbursed in murky circumstances to some member-companies of NPAN, ostensibly as compensation for the losses they incurred in June 2014 when armed soldiers seized newspapers and newspaper distribution vans.
“The source of this money and the manner of its receipt, allegedly through a company called General Hydrocarbons, which is unknown to NPAN, have raised public concerns about the integrity of the press in Nigeria.
“The unfolding scandal has equally cast a shadow on the reputation of the mass media,” the paper said.
PUNCH also said it had always held that state-sponsored attacks against the media should be challenged in the open, boldly and vigorously.
