Spokesperson threatens NEXT editor over story on petroleum minister

April 11, 2011 03:23PM

The Group General Manager, Public Affairs, of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, Levi Ajuonuma, on Saturday evening threatened to unleash agents of the nation's security agencies on NEXT's Enterprise Editor over a story in our newspaper which uncovered the elaborate bribery scheme in the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency.

At 5.45 pm, shortly after a promo of the story went live on twitter, a livid Mr. Ajuonuma telephoned Mr. Musikilu Mojeed on his mobile telephone, telling him to be ready to be a guest of the security agencies to explain why NEXT went ahead with the story despite his (Mr. Ajuonuma's) counsel.

"I hope you have enough evidence to present to the security agencies if you are asked to justify the damaging story you have done," the NNPC spokesperson raged. "What protection do you have? What machinery do you have around yourself to have gone ahead with the story?"

Mr. Ajuonuma continued, "I really have no reason talking to you because you have already done the damage. If security agencies invite you, are you going to recall the story or what are you going to do. I told you to leave the minister out of the story and just concentrate on the PPRA. Now, you have gone ahead. You want to destroy the woman with a single story."

The NNPC spokesperson, who doubles as publicist for the petroleum minister, proceeded to lambast Mr. Mojeed describing him as irresponsible and unprofessional.

He accused the NEXT editor of doing a hatchet job for an aggrieved cabal in the PPRA and the oil industry. "How come you did not do this story when Olunleye (former PPRA executive secretary) was there? Why are you just doing the story just two months after the PPRA was put under the petroleum ministry and a new man was put in charge of the agency?"

Mr. Mojeed had met Mr. Ajuonuma in his office at the NNPC Towers in Abuja on Thursday night to get his reaction to a story filed by two of his reporters.

The story had named the petroleum minister in a N2.2billion bribe-for-oil scandal going on at the PPRA.

During the meeting, Mr. Ajuonuma requested that the story be dropped because it might damage Mrs. Alison Maduekwe's career and cause instability in the oil industry. After Mr. Mojeed insisted that the stories would not be killed, the NNPC spokesperson pleaded that the minister should at least be left out of the report.

But the NEXT editor again explained to him that the allegation against the minister was central to the story and could not be blanked out. Apparently frustrated that Mr. Mojeed did not accede to his requests, Mr. Ajuonuma reluctantly provided an official reaction to the story, which was well reflected in the report as published this Sunday.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5688426-146/spokesperson_threatens_next_editor_over_story.csp

Levi should know better than this.

They didn't need to name the minister.  It made the story seem like a hatchet job to me.  Sorry.

That journalist was just digging his own grave. He thought it he could go away with such an accusation after the Haliburton scandal experience. He even went to the extent of naming over 5 international companies (including Mobil).

You can read the story here: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5688389-146/story.csp

The allegations are weighty, specific people are named, but the evidence is a joke.  We deserve better.

NNPC's response: http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/fuel-imports-nnpc-absolves-petroleum-minister-of-wrong-doing/89427/

Seun:

You can read the story here: http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5688389-146/story.csp

The allegations are weighty, specific people are named, but the evidence is a joke.  We deserve better.

Absolutely. The story seems totally libellous; somebody needs to sue these folks into liquidation. This is not how to do investigative journalism. Since they cannot carve out a market share, they now resort to doing hatchet jobs in order to break even. Pity.