Tribune, Daily Independent, Telegraph deny getting N10m

Top Nigerian Newspaper houses that include Nigerian Tribune, Daily Independent and New Telegraph have denied getting N10m compensation fee from the publisher of Thisday newspapers, Nduka Obaigbena.

Obaigbena, in a letter he sent to EFCC on December 9, 2015, alleged that the media houses were some of the companies he in his capacity as the Chairman of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), gave N10 million as compensation received from the former administration after the military confiscated their dailies in June last year.

“Our attention has been drawn to claims by the Publisher of Thisday newspapers, who is also the President of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN), Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, that a sum of N10 million was paid to our company through NPAN by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) as compensation for the disruption of our circulation operations, seizure of our newspapers and damage to our property by soldiers in June 2014. “Although, like other NPAN members, we filed claims as requested for by NPAN, the fact of the matter is that up till this moment, 11th December, 2015, our company is yet to receive a kobo as compensation through NPAN for the 2014 disruptive activities of the military to our operations,” Tribune's Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief, Edward Dickson revealed.

Funke Egbemode of New Telegraph, Ted Iwere of Daily Independent and The Chief Operating Officer of the Peoples Daily newspaper, Ali Ali also denied the allegation that their organisations got N10m as compensation by the Federal Government after the military confiscated their newspapers.