Several newspapers including Peoples Daily, Tribune and New Telegraph have distanced themselves from claims by Nduka Obaigbena, publisher of Thisday Newspaper, that he paid them N10 million each from a total of N650 million he received from the former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.

Obaigbena, in response to an invitation from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, in connection with money received from Dasuki, said that the money was compensation paid to 12 newspapers for the disruption of their activities by security forces in 2014.

Ali Ali, Chief Operating Officer of the Peoples Daily newspaper, said the paper was hearing about the money for the first time, adding that nobody paid any money to it.

“This is news to us. At no time was such money made available to us in whatever guise. We wish to state clearly that it is false and therefore, wish to completely distance this medium from this revelation,” Ali stated.

Also reacting to Obaigbena’s claims, the Managing Director/ Editor-in-Chief of Daily Telegraph, Funke Egbemode, explained that although the newspaper requested for its share of the money, it never got paid despite three letters written to NPAN.

“Following a report that NPAN had begun paying N9 million (not N10 million as contained in the report that has gone viral on the internet), the management of Daily Telegraph Publishing Company Limited, publishers of New Telegraph, Saturday Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph, has written three letters to NPAN for its share of the compensation; but regrettably, as at this moment, not even a kobo has been received.

“The first letter was written on May 22, 2015, followed by another on July 16, 2015, with a reminder written on November 19, 2015,” Egbmode explained.

The management of Tribune newspapers also denied receiving any payment even though a request was also made to NPAN.

“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,” Edward Dickson, Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of Tribune, said on Friday.

But on Saturday, NPAN issued a statement explaining why some newspapers are yet to receive their compensations.

In the statement issued by Feyi Smith, the Executive Secretary of NPAN, while the cheques for Peoples Daily and Tribune were ready for collection, there was a complication involving that of New Telegraph, as a result of Blueprint being paid, bringing the total number of newspapers to 13 instead of 12.

“It should be recalled that the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria (NPAN) Executive Council meeting of March 17, 2015, held at the offices of Daily Trust, Abuja, resolved to accept the N120million compensation and passed two other resolutions thereto:

“(1) that each member- organisation accepts to donate N1million from the compensation to the Association for the up-keep of the Secretariat;

“(2) that members should bring their membership account current, by paying all past dues to the Secretariat before collecting their cheques,” the statement read, adding that the cheques for Tribune and Peoples’ Daily were still the secretariat ready for collection.

“In the case of New Telegraph, the Secretariat was confronted with a situation where 13 Newspapers made claims while compensation for 12 newspapers was made. Blueprint Newspapers which was inadvertently omitted from the list has since been paid.

“When New Telegraph now demanded payment that had been collected by Blueprint Newspapers, the secretariat then brought the matter to the attention of the of the President, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, who then called Governor Orji Kalu , the Publisher of both the Sun Newspapers (who had been paid) and the New Telegraph (which has not been paid), to urge him to be patient for the matter to be tabled at the next Executive Council meeting, where he would seek the approval of the EXCO to take the funds earmarked for the Secretariat to pay them,” NPAN added.