Alphagan:
NDUKA OBAIGBENA AND HIS THISDAY/ARISE NEWS HYPOCRITICAL GRANDSTANDING ON PUBLIC MORALITY

It is laughably tragic that the Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of THISDAY and Arise News Television, Mr.Nduka Obaigbena, has the temerity to pretend to be a guardian of public morality in contemporary Nigerian media practice.

The fact that this character is an unscrupulous hustler and blackmailer who has done tremendous damage to the journalism profession in the country, is well known within and beyond the profession.

Hiding under his media houses so-called Boards of Editors, Obaigbena, who is one of the most irresponsible media owners in the country, with scant regard for corporate good governance and ethics, issued a statement Monday accusing the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) Director of Media and Publicity, Mr. Bayo Onanuga, and Adviser, Media and Communication, Mr. Dele Alake of attempting to silence independent media and bully the press ahead of next year’s general election.

This allegation is baseless.

The statement published on the front page of THISDAY is illustrative of the penchant of the two media houses under Obaigbena’s corrupting influence to peddle falsehood and engage in brazen political partisanship, contrary to the ethics of journalism practice.

It is instructive that Obaigbena’s media group is isolated in making this frivolous allegation against the duo. Not only does THISDAY newspaper publish unfounded rumours masquerading as truth, many of its columnists substitute vile and vulgar abuse for sound logic and informed analyses while its television anchors heckle and harass their guests, particularly those of the APC in their jaundiced, flagrantly unprofessional programmes.

We recall that both THISDAY and ARISE Television sought to bully and compel the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, into attending its Town Hall meetings with presidential candidates, despite the media team’s explanation that it would not attend such programmes organised in a haphazard and uncoordinated manner by individual media houses.

Each candidate’s campaign team has the right to adopt its own strategies for reaching out to and interacting with Nigerians. As we have repeatedly said, the Tinubu campaign will not succumb to the blackmail, intimidation and harassment of Obaigbena and his media group.

THISDAY’s attempt in the said statement to justify its false news report on the purported death of one Mueez Adegboyega Akande and the attempt to insinuate mischievously that he died in suspicious circumstances failed abysmally. Rather than apologise for this professional lapse, it resorts to tendentious rationalisations. Its futile attempt to link Asiwaju Tinubu to a drug case in the United States, even when as far back as 2003, the United States government had categorically stated that the candidate has no criminal records in that country, shows the depths of mischief the newspaper is willing to descend in its bid to bring down the APC candidate at all costs. This campaign of calumny is doomed to fail as it always has.

Our candidate is focused and will not be distracted by this diversionary tactics to throw mud at him simply because he is the obvious front runner in this race and some believe that the only way to stop him is to peddle falsehood against him.

While pretending to be a public trust, THISDAY and ARISE descend into the political arena by publishing lies in a way that does such a great disservice to journalism. Last month the paper was sanctioned by NBC over a fake report that INEC had ordered a probe of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over the platforms’ equally fake narrative about our candidate.

Nduka Obaigbena tries to cast aspersion on the professional and personal integrity of Mr. Alake and Mr. Onanuga. They stand on a higher moral and professional pedestal than he can ever aspire to. It is astonishing that a man like Obaigbena can even pretend to be protecting public morality and the public interest. How does this media owner run his media outfits? He is notorious for not paying the salaries of his staff or fulfilling his pensions’ obligations, forcing most of the journalists in his stable to resort to the most unethical practices to survive. This model of media practice, which he exported to South Africa in 2003-2004, failed spectacularly as he had to flee that country as a result of his unethical business practices. His short-lived THISDAY left unpaid debts to staff and the printers and the South African tax office.

He exported the same irresponsible business practice to the UK where he operated his Arise TV as a registered company since 2012. In 2021, judge Raquel Agnello disqualified Obaigbena from serving as a company director in the UK for seven years; in a case brought by the official receiver of the Insolvency Office in the country.

The application for disqualification was made under Section 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986 and arose from the compulsory liquidation of Arise Networks Ltd of which Obaigbena was the sole director since its incorporation.

According to the judgment, the company by 2016 had garnered a total debt of £25,671,167, which included debt to trade creditors and staff, estimated at £5,850,730.
Judge Agnello found Obaigbena’s conduct as sole director of Arise TV to be unfit and that the company had continued to trade despite "complete uncertainty" about its funding.
In Nigeria, Obaigbena is notorious for owing his staff their salaries. He is also notorious for owning newsprint suppliers for years without payment. This sharp practice led to the ill-health of one of his suppliers, Afilaka, who suffered massive stroke.

While Alake and Onanuga, were known to have endangered their lives in the struggle against military dictatorship and the enthronement of the democracy we enjoy today, Obaigbena was known to have collected substantial sums of money from the military junta to campaign against the June 12, 1993 elections, widely acknowledged as the freest and fairest polls in the country’s history. He even featured on the CNN to justify the annulment of the election and the continuation of military dictatorship. Yet, this man dares to preach on public morality and the national interest. He even claims that Alake and Onanuga are envious of him! How preposterous!! What is there to be envious from a man whose business practices and personal lifestyle offend every known decency. Mr. Alake and Onanuga can never be jealous of a man uses extortion, subterfuge, and cheap blackmail as his working capital. Here is a publisher who deployed his media group in aid of the immoral and illegal presidential ambition of a sitting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) even when this flagrantly violated and threatened the integrity of that critical institution.

It is absurd when Obaigbena uses his media outfits to push the false narrative of Tinubu’s link with narcotics in the US, when a member of his Board of Editors and Arise TV anchor, Dr. Reuben Abati, was a running mate in 2019 to the governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun State, the late Senator Buruji Kashamu; a man who had been indicted for narcotics trafficking in the US and was a fugitive from the laws of that country until his death. The same Abati remains a card carrying member of the PDP and yet, shamelessly pontificates and postures on ARISE TV as a dispassionate analyst.

Lest it be forgotten, Abati was Media Adviser to former President Goodluck Jonathan and was detained by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in 2015 for reportedly collecting N500 million from ex – National Security Adviser, Colonel Sambo Dasuki purportedly on behalf of the media.

Obaigbena himself was detained for weeks and made to refund N600 million by the EFCC, which was part of the diverted funds for arms purchase for the Nigerian military under Jonathan. Obaigbena as president of NPAN also collected millions of Naira meant as compensation for the media owners whose papers were seized by overzealous security agents during the Jonathan presidency. Many newspapers reported that they did not get the money.

It is a sad commentary on the state of the Nigerian media that a man with no moral scruples whatsoever like Obaigbena will boldly pose as a publisher who can preach morality to others.

Here is a man who has done such grave damage to media practice in Nigeria, posturing as defender of free speech.

Unless media practitioners begin to treat him like the plague and cancer he constitutes to the industry, the future of the industry will be endangered.

It is well known that many private sector corporate executives pay him huge sums of money as retainership to avoid being blackmailed by him. It is also a pity that many of the journalists who work as his employees pose as self-righteous saints who criticise others and keep mum on the unhidden moral deficits and shenanigans of their boss

ISSUED By DELE ALAKE and BAYO Onanuga on behalf of the APC PCC Media and Communication Directorate

Source: Bayo Onanuga official facebook page.

Cc: Mynd44

MrCGPA:
This One is the Placeholder for the Jahadist Islamist and we all know that Nigerians can never allow such Combination to succeed in a Religiously Polarized Nigeria. Tinubu has no single Regards for the Northern Christians. He believes they are Politically irrelevant.

How can a Sane Man Vote a Muslim-Muslim Ticket Orchestrated by a Weakling Grandfather who is suffering from Dementia?
God Forbid BAT thing to happen in 2023 in Nigeria. We Northerners have rejected Such Calamity in Totality.

GoooodHardDick:
Dbanj is in for a long ride.

However, when will tehifnubu be arrested and persecuted for the bullion van and all the criminalities he has done in Lagos and Chicago?

femisplash:
In Nigeria, being famous and popular could only open doors to you but being powerful would make people bow to you. Dbanj is famous but ain't powerful, so could easily be arrested that he is found wanting diverting 600 million monthly into his pocket, a recurring phenomenon that's most common among the powerful while they get away with it at a snap of the fingers. Unfortunately, there's no level playing field of justice, if there was, a Dbanj would not be in detention while s certain Peter Obi would be freed for diverting 250million monthly in state's funds to his Lagos office when his official car that ferried the money was grounded by the police... Obi got away with the crime.
Peter Obi also approached the court to stop the EndSars tribunal from summoning him to appear before it and give an account of his role in the killings of Anambra youths that were killed under his Administration. Unfortunately, same culprit is being championed by some gullible youths who are being deceived on social media. Obi got away with the crime.
In essence, the crime of Dbanj is that while he's popular and famous, he isn't powerful, otherwise he would have been kissing his wife every other nights as Peter Obi.

Majesty2:
All i know is that Tinubu is the next president of this country

fuckJones:
But deep down we all know our next President. Deep down everyone knows including the online mop that BAT is the next president.
even Atiku and obi know the next president
they are still in denial stage.

etrouble:


Bring out your father's record, let's compare and contrast

TheChameleon:


Bola Tinubu.. Next President of Nigeria

The Ambassadors of

US, UK, France, South Africa, China and India

All went to this man's private residence to pay homage.

And you think he bribed them all?

That's how some flat heads stupidly said Tinubu won APC Primaries because he spent dollars.

Do you realize he convinced Akpabio, Amosun, Fayemi all to step down? How much could he have offered billionaire Governors in cash?

Do you know the President + Vice President + Senate President + Party Chairman all fought against him and he flogged them all?

Who has fought OBJ and remained relevant?

I pray he's healthy enough and God grants him the strength & wisdom.

This is the man to fix Nigeria - Asiwaju, Jagaban, Conqueror of All Okoros Dead or Alive

dat9jaguy:
The man had to be reminded before doing the needful.
A man gunning for presidency had to be reminded about the most basic thing in seeking elective position, presenting your manifesto (I.e,your action plan if you get elected).

FreeStuffsNG:
He already said the unprofessional Arise Tv is not on his schedule

check my signature for free stuffs!

NigeriaIsGreat:
Lol




Obi na clown

lhordspy:
Legend has it that:

If you are destined to collect slap in Kogi state. and your flight is on its destination to Abuja. Enroute abuja, when you reach Kogi. You will jump down anyway and anyhow so as to collect that slap. It was destined.

A man who is destined to Embarass himself will always find a way to collect the embarrassment. Even if it is by going from one place to another wey dem no invite am.

Reality check: If you watch the video, they all laughed at Obi after Apkororo said those words not jokingly but seriously. This is awakening to reality i am always talking about that has started manifesting.

No Christian vote anywhere to depend on. The true Christian believers believe the only way out of this current Nigeria situtation is to vote a competent man like Asiwaju , a proven candidate. Not depending on trial and error like Obi, who is not practical about even the quotes and figures he is dishing around. A man without manifesto. Someone that cant even honour his Political engagement and rallies. Skipping it like a spoilt brat missing lectures.


Nigeria are wiser now. It is no more that country where you can use religious partioning and division to attain an unrealistic political ambition. Apkororo is from south-south i guess and also a Christian. I spoke to my Ijaw friends yesterday, they said same thing. That the whole south-south rural areas are tilting to the tent of Tinubu. Even some south-south nairalanders are confirming it here themselves.

With the rate this is going and turning out. Peter obi will not even win a single state in South-EasT, the only hope left for him too now, is shaky.

ATLIEN2027:
Pastor President?

This pandora pathological liar Obi tuary trying to turn Nigeria into a Church.
Christinization of Nigeria by this IPOB terrorist project is already a failed project.
Mumu man will be pronouncing important national statements from a Church podium, we need a President not a Pastor wanna be.
Brainwashed retarded Religious fanatical IPOB terrorist zombidient fools.

lifeandjoy:
Apc government is known for looting.

CoronaVirusRelo:





From PDP to LP, all are getting destroyed!

The house can not hold if its not for the sake of His Excellence, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu!

MoneySEASON:
What do you expect from a president that sees black as white and left as right.

Buhari is a disaster not just to Nigeria, but to other African countries

But, I tell you, you all will miss Buhari should Tinubu grace that seat.

Vote Peter Obi and enjoy heaven on earth in Nigeria.

I won't talk much as if E get as E be, I go just japa leave una to suffer the consequences of voting in fresh clowns as president money no go be my problem Lai lai.

BATified2023:
u igbos are like cobweb that can’t stop an elephant

If buhari can call your whole tribe inconsequential nonentities n still win re-election,what makes u feel u can stop tinubu?

Buhari have opened peoples eye to how u can win election twice without d igbos

Cherrybae:
I see APC taken over Abia state. The God of Tinubu will do it again.

God needs Tinubu the incoming president Federal Republic of Nigeria

Newton2024:
The body language of one vice-presidential candidate scares me - Toolz

https://www.lindaikejisblog.com/2022/11/theres-one-vice-presidential-candidate-that-scares-me-toolz.html

lhordspy:
Country that take accountability seriously.

Yet in Nigeria here, a certain man, Peter Pandora was caught with 250m naira cash in his car. When he was trying to sneak it into lagos state in 2009.

This same man was involved in a secret oversea business. These are businesses he clandestinely set up and operated overseas, including in notorious tax and secrecy havens in ways that breached Nigerian laws. Which was blown open by the Pandora findings.

This same man diverted billions of anambra state money into his daughter oversee account, invested the few funds left and ran all of it into historical loss. Where the present governor of Anambra state had to scream so loud for the world to know..

This same man declared openly that he lives, wine and dine with Ipob.

And many more....

Yet, this same man is a presidential candidate in Nigeria here contesting for the sit of Power. Being champion and cheerlead by aggressive, insulting, disrespectful bullies who thinks he is the best thing after chocolate.

Robert greene states that:
People that controls people perceptions of reality, control them

That is why: You need to judge people by their actions and maneuvers, not by fake stories or unproven figure they quote.

Resist people who sell stories of Nigeria's failure to you just to score cheap political point.

LeoDeKing:
Illiterate spare parts dealers have started pulling economic statistics out of their arssessss to teach practical economists and economics professors the implications of naira redesign.

They have started explaining how Russia and Germany's refusal to redesign in 1847 is the reason behind their economic stability. Most of them have turned overnight economics consultants on top Buhari and Emefiele matter.

Meanwhile, apart from screaming all over the places that pandora Obituary is such a simple that drink water himself, non of them has been able to explain why Nigerians should vote the clown.

He was governor for 8 years, what are his achievements that should justify his appointment into any elective office? They will rather insult the living daylight out of you than answer this simple question.

rinaf18:
like d fool u are wat else is expected