Freed Journalists In Corruption Scandal

The four journalists released by kidnappers in Aba yesterday are now the subject of deep controversy following their disclosure that their abductors robbed them of N3 million ($25,000). In their testimonies to their colleagues shortly after they arrived in Lagos yesterday, the group, led by Wahab Oba, the head of the Nigeria Union of Journalists in Lagos state and a staff of the federal ministry of information and communication, Adolphus Okonkwo of the Voice of Nigeria, Sylvester Okere of the Champion Newspapers, and Sola Oyeyipo, another Lagos-based freelance journalist, said the kidnappers took away the money from them as soon as they were carjacked and driven into the bush. In an account captured by the Lagos based Punch newspaper, Oba said, “When we went for the NEC meeting, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Obong Godswill Akpabio, gave us N1m as fulfilment of his promise to bankroll a national seminar which we had in the state three months ago.

“He also gave each NEC official N100, 000 as transport fare. I also had some money on me because I had been travelling recently. Other people had some money on them too.

“The kidnappers collected all the money. If you value what they collected from us in terms of cash and other things, it is almost N5m. We had about N2.6m cash and the car which we bought not long ago valued at N2.4m was also stolen.”


These explanations constitute the first time that professional journalists are admitting in public to have collected bribes, in this case called “seminar bankroll” or “transport fare.” It is leading to a public gasp about the way journalists do their official business, and the legality of carrying such huge funds around in contravention of the Nigerian money laundering law. The men spent eight days in the den of the armed men in deep forests in the Southeast.



Saharareporters had reported that the journalists, in addition to participating in a National Executive Council meeting in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State two weeks ago, also visited Governor Godswill Akpabio and gave him a special award tagged 'Responsive Governance Award'. It is unclear what Governor Akpabio, a notably corrupt governor, may have accomplished to win the “award,” or even whether the award was officially recognized by the NUJ bylaws. 


Akwa Ibom state government house sources told our reporters that each of the journalists that met with Akpabio received bribes aimed at silencing the media. One source told our reporters that in this particular circumstance, each of the visitors individually received N1 million while the national executives of the National Union of Journalists, including the president, Mr. Mohammed Garba, collected a N20 million gratification from Mr. Akpabio.

Our sources further said that the information leading to the kidnap of the journalists emanated from the state, specifically from persons who were aware that the governor had doled out the bribes to the journalists. That may explain why they were trailed as soon as they left Government House, one source said. 



Recently, SaharaReporters trained its spotlight on the penchant of Governor Akpabio to use bribery as an instrument of official policy. In a high profile case meticulously covered by SaharaReporters, we demonstrated the "gift" of a bulletproof Mercedes Benz GL 450 SUV worth $500,000 to the chair of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mrs. Farida Waziri. After we concluded the exposé, Mr. Akpabio hired some journalists to visit the state to inspect the vehicle, which he claimed to be a “security vehicle” owned by the state.

Further investigation revealed that the license plate on the vehicle displayed by Akpabio was fake, as it belonged to a different car make which was licensed to one Chief C. Orizu, with an address of Adotolo Nnewi in Anambra State. A few days later the supplier of the vehicle, Charles Ahize, also issued a statement in The Sun newspaper in which he contradicted the governor’s claims, saying he had privately supplied the $500,000 bullet proof car to Mr. Akpabio. This confirmed the car was purchased privately, contrary to Akpabio's alibi that it was owned by Akwa Ibom state.



The latest jamboree by the NUJ leadership to Akpabio and the granting of a dubious award to the governor was done quid pro quo to help him further evade scrutiny for his corrupt ways. It is instructive that the leaders of the NUJ in Lagos have studiously avoided investigating the source of the car Akpabio gave to the EFCC’s Waziri, even after the licence plate number found on the vehicle displayed by the governor bore a Lagos number. It is even more disturbing that the Lagos press has generally ignored the story even after the Lagos State government declared Governor Akpabio’s licence plate to have been forged.

It would be recalled that in one of our stories last April, following the invitation of selected journalists to Government House in an effort to discredit the Saharareporters story about Governor Akpabio’s bribe car, we wondered why none of the journalists asked any professional questions.



The possession of huge sums of cash by the journalists was already a source of rebuke by a police officer last week, who wondered aloud why the journalists had not traveled by air, given the long distance to their destination. But a Lagos-based journalist told SaharaReporters that his colleagues probably didn't want others to notice when they returned to Lagos, as a quiet return from such trips enable them to hide the booty from politicians from such colleagues who may want a cut.

Also, a Lagos based attorney said that by their admission the journalists have contravened Section 1 of the Money Laundering legislation of 2004, which prohibits individuals from carrying more than N500,000 on them while companies may carry up to two million Naira.

The kidnapped journalists arrived Lagos yesterday in private jet chartered and paid for by the the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi.

As expected the revelations by the freed journalists have gingered Nigerians on the Internet. Social networking sites, chatrooms and internet forums are buzzing with the story and people are pressing for answers.

As one commentator asked, "Is the Lagos press going to investigate the obvious issues in this case, or are they going to protect their colleagues? Where did the journalists and their driver get a whopping N3 million that they admitted the kidnappers took from them? Under what conditions does the NUJ go around the country to give “awards” to politicians, and what was Governor Akpabio’s award for?

Are members of the NUJ executive immune to the provisions of the Money Laundering Act of 2004?”
Another commentator asked, “Can journalists who collect transport fare and mobilization fees report a governor professionally? This is a big scandal,” he added.

http://www.saharareporters.com/real-news/sr-headlines/6585-kidnappings-freed-journalists-dogged-by-bribery-and-money-laundering-allegations.html

The truth will still emerge

From the story we heard, the kidnappers were aware they (Journalists) were given some money bearing mind that they(the Kidnappers) pursued the journalist's convoy and some of them escaped. Initially, it was beating my imaginations how the kidnappers were demanding for N250,000,000 when almost everybody in Nigeria presume journalists are poor, they (Kidnappers) were very sure somebody will cough out some money either the state governor they gave award to or some of the escaped journalists cos they escaped with their own share of the booty. This story is more complicated than we are seeing, the whole mystery will be exposed if the kidnappers are eventually caught. Its rather painful that the pen pushers are for sale, who will save Nigeria.

Thanks to the men and women of the Nigerian Police for uncovering this scandal.

Okija_juju:

Thanks to the men and women of the Nigerian Police for uncovering this scandal.

Wow thatz a first. i mean hearing a thank u to the NPF? Ok o!

Nigeria we hail thee - Everything get k Leg - you are not even sure of anything straight - Everybody is just compromised.

Na wa ooo.
We are yet to hear the truth of this story.

Djswaggz:

Wow thatz a first. i mean hearing a thank u to the NPF? Ok o!

I have always said all thanks should be to the Nigerian Police for carrying out their investigation despite poor equipments and forcing the kidnappers into releasing these fraudulent journalists.
And even more thanks to them for investigating further to reveal that the journalists put themselves in danger when they decided to travel with such a huge some of money without police protection.

And finally I think we should encourage the Police to finish the good work they started by getting to the root of this 3million Naira scandal.

I was reading this in a soft news bulletin on my station this morning and i was forced to comment out loud on air  that what on earth were they doing with that kind of cash? Where were they coming from? Is journalism that lucrative? 3m or 1.6m, both are pretty ridiculous! The truth is yet to unfold,

Which means the kidnappers want their own federal cake in their own way. Ok now the kidnappers got their info from Akwa Ibom, does it mean that they have insider in Akwa ibom govt house. This kidnapping of a thing seems to be too organised than what we all think. If not how come they have infor  that the car they are after is the real one.

This story if true makes this kidnapping case somehow justifiable. How can they be sharing money like pure water when 99% of the masses are suffering. If they can only kidnap the politicians and their bribe takers i have no problem with that.

Maybe someone should begin to put two and two together with this kidnapping thing.

State government bankrolls journalists. . .they were immediately kidnapped for ransom. Sani Lulu was accused of siphoning dollars belonging to NFF, the next thing his mother was kidnapped.

Mayb someone should begin to look at the trends and investigate further

They are bunch of pen robbers. EFCC should arrest them for money laundering and bribery.

Sincerely, Nigerian Newspapers and Magazines [ with a few exceptions ] are up for sale to Politicians and moneybags on a daily basis. This is because Nigerian Journalists are not well paid unlike their western counterparts. Many Editors of Nigerian Publications rely on the graciousness of politicians in the country to survive. How much is a reporter in Nigeria paid? In 2007, I came across a friend of mine who works for a News Magazine with offices in the Agidingbi-Ikeja area of Lagos. I was carrying out some research in the library of this Media Company and I asked my friend [ We were classmates at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism ]  how much he was being paid. He told me 22,000 Naira monthly. Some Media companies even pay less than that.  I thank God for not allowing me to get a job with Nigerian Newspapers and Magazines. I did all I could to get the attention of the editors of some Magazines and dailies in Nigeria but I was not offered a job. I hope things will get better for Nigerian journalists in the future. Cheers.


www.vibes-extra..com

I have to conclude that these journalists were legitimate targets of kidnapping, as direct beneficiaries of curruption.

No one should link Gov Akpabio on this mater. He is a generous man and anyone travelling through Abia State risk being kipnapped. the publishers of sahararepporters have not told us what their issues are with Gov Akpabio. No one is interested in your publications any more.

for the freed journalists, let them lead Nigerians to the truth on this mater

there is nothing in that report,who does not collect reward for a job well done?

Naija , i dey hail o

Everybody just dey chop chop their own, corruption has littered every sphere of our lives.

Nothing will come out of this story.
Most journalists are in this mafia.
That is why they have senseless seminars around the place and silly awards all over the place.
After all the noise about Azu of Punch, what has happened.
When some of us express our pessimism, we are called cynical.

I wish there was a way to ask the kidnappers how much they found.

Everything truth is still not in their story. we need to ask some question like what are they doing with such an amount of money?

Where(who) did they get the money from and why were they paid (sale of what) and the Governor too should

watch his Ass cos there are some shit asshole ppl in that Govt house otherewise HE(Governor) could be the next to be kidnapped.

Nigerian journalism is shit, They betray the ppl already why should they get worst treatment,


Piss out,

Guys,
this kind of things happen at times, it is very common when you give someone a gift and you later have a rethink of getting it back,
the guvnor dash dem money but him com send boyz to help am collect d money back (dis is a hypothesis anyway)

You guys think journalists do not like money

ohhhhhhh chineke  GOD! have mercy on us the poor nigerian masses even the journalist are corrupt and fraudulant too!who will save us from this mess, fellow nigerians its time we ordinary nigerians comes together and act irrespective of our tribe, religion or ethnicity.nigeria is the only place we can call home, all these politicians are messing with us, they know if they create some problems withing us, using religion or tribal differencies that will give them the chance and space they need to loot us dry, afterall a muslem from saudi arabia will always see a black muslem from nigeria as a slave and 3rd class! a christian from United kingdom or  United states will always see a black christian from nigeria as a criminal from a third world whom his only priority is to scramble for a left over of our national wealth which our thiefing politicians dump in their verious banks in their country while we nigerian masses suffer. NIGERIA WE HAIL THEE!

Now we know why they were actually kidnapped.

DaddyO:

I have to conclude that these journalists were legitimate targets of kidnapping, as direct beneficiaries of curruption.

That's an outrageous statement! Fighting fire with fire created the inferno now called Nigeria! E.g. Pillaging armed robbers also justify their brazen actions as 'enforced redistribution of wealth'. Crazy!

Mohr:

They are bunch of pen robbers. EFCC should arrest them for money laundering and bribery.

Gbam! This is definitely the way to go.[color=#990000][/color]

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Re: Freed Journalists In Corruption Scandal
« #22 on: Today at 01:53:30 PM »

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ohhhhhhh chineke GOD! have mercy on us the poor nigerian masses even the journalist are corrupt and fraudulant too!who will save us from this mess, fellow nigerians its time we ordinary nigerians comes together and act irrespective of our tribe, religion or ethnicity.nigeria is the only place we can call home, all these politicians are messing with us, they know if they create some problems withing us, using religion or tribal differencies that will give them the chance and space they need to loot us dry, afterall a muslem from saudi arabia will always see a black muslem from nigeria as a slave and 3rd class! a christian from United kingdom or United states will always see a black christian from nigeria as a criminal from a third world whom his only priority is to scramble for a left over of our national wealth which our thiefing politicians dump in their verious banks in their country while we nigerian masses suffer. NIGERIA WE HAIL THEE!




The only way to for Nigerains to save themselves to vote out the useless politicians next year

Brown Envelope Syndrome problem facing Nigeria's journalism.
If crooks and thieves like Gbenga Daniel could be given so much airtime on AIT, and someone as enterprising as BRF gets little airtime, then you should start wondering what journalism is all about. Those three kidnapped journalists should have been left to die because they are not patriots but crooks collecting bribes for the NUJ. Shikena!

omo men there are so many kpomo men

but let us be realistic; could anyone do better than the journalist in this case? if you can reject N100 as a gift can you when it is N100,000?

someone needs to differentiate between bribery, gratification, gift, huspitality and financial assistance before we start to throw stones.

I have to conclude that these journalists were legitimate targets of kidnapping, as direct beneficiaries of curruption.


That's an outrageous statement! Fighting fire with fire created the inferno now called Nigeria! E.g. Pillaging armed robbers also justify their brazen actions as 'enforced redistribution of wealth'. Crazy!

What's so outrageous about that statement?? For starters, most of these pen robbers are no different from the armed robbers / kidnappers we condemn - so they're just as culpable and will not earn my sympathy.

I've always stated that the Press is a major clog in the progress of our nation- as they consistently subvert their social responsibility for a pot of porridge.  They should be the victims of the anachy that is a consequence of their derelection of duy and abdication of responsibility to the people. They and the thieving elite that sustain them!

Someone has spoken too much without thinking. The journalists in trying to get their funds back have told us all. So much money flying around.  No wonder kidnappers trail and kidnap journalists.  
The hope for a better Nigeria just dimmed further as our journalists can no longer be trusted to tell the truth and they can be bought.