The Management of Media Trust Group, owners of Daily Trust, Trust TV and Trust Radio, has reacted to the threat of the Federal Government to sue the publication over a report on Samoa agreement.

At a media briefing in Abuja, on Saturday, Mohammed Idris, Minister of Information, had described the report on the agreement as “baseless and sensational”.

He also accused Daily Trust of attempting to set the country on fire, saying an issue not as severe as such made other governments clamped down on the media.

“On the part of the Government, we continue on the honourable path of civility by restraining ourselves from taking self-help or draconian measures. While past governments clamped down on the media for infractions much lower than this, we are however toeing the path of civility and the rule of law.”


“The Federal Government is lodging a formal complaint to the NPAN Ombudsman on this irresponsible reporting. In addition, the Federal Government will use every lawful means to seek redress in the court of law,” he had said.

But responding in a statement signed by Maryam Aminu Bello, Esq, the Company Secretary/Legal Adviser,

Media Trust Group, the newspaper said, “Two ministers of government, and other sundry commentators have taken us to the cleaners over our story on the Samoa Agreement in particular, and some other reports published earlier. We have followed with attention what these government officials said, and left unsaid, and we will publish that in full, for the records. We have also acknowledged lapses in our reporting on this particular matter, pointed out to us by professional colleagues, and we will review and take appropriate measures.

“As our editors understood it, the Samoa Agreement signed by Nigeria has expanded the definition of gender rights, from the traditional male-female, to a new norm, captured by the term LGBTQ (Lesbian; Bi-sexual, Gay, Transgender and Queer). That is the crux of the matter.

“If the agreement does not aim at promoting such new orientation, widely accepted in Western countries, then we are wrong in our interpretation. We will readily apologise both to the government and to the public for crying wolf.



“We expect that those qualified, by training and experience, to make such a judgement, will weigh into the matter and we will as usual, publish all sides in the discussion, including that of the government.

“We wish to add that in this story, as in others over the last 26 years, the Daily Trust tried to be guided by public interest.

“It is also important for us to clarify some of the insinuations by the information minister about other stories that Daily Trust had done.

First, the statement that our newspaper had given “a banner headline to a baseless accusation that the Government was working on citing foreign military bases in the country”. Nothing could be further from the truth. We only reported in the Daily Trust of Sunday, 5th May, 2024, details of an open letter by six scholars and activists urging the president and the National Assembly to reject any bid to cite United States of America and French military bases within Nigeria.


“Also, the minister said “Daily Trust concocted and popularised a lie that the Federal Government had renamed the Murtala Muhammed Expressway in Abuja to Wole Soyinka Way”. We did publish two opinion articles in Daily Trust of Wednesday and Saturday, June 12 and 15, 2024, in which the opinion writers raised concerns over alleged renaming of the Murtala Muhammed Way, Abuja, after Wole Soyinka.

“We recall that the information minister’s press statement on that matter, which was issued on the 17th of June, 2024, with the headline “Abuja’s Murtala Muhammed Way NOT Renamed after Soyinka-FG”, was reported generously in our online and offline platforms.


“We wish to reiterate that we are an impartial media outlet. Since 1998, we have operated under six different governments, with the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration being the seventh. Throughout this period, we have consistently demonstrated a high level of impartiality in our reportage.”

“If the agreement does not aim at promoting such new orientation, widely accepted in Western countries, then we are wrong in our interpretation. We will readily apologise both to the government and to the public for crying wolf.

Gondonu:
“Two ministers of government, and other sundry commentators have taken us to the cleaners over our story on the Samoa Agreement in particular, and some other reports published earlier. We have followed with attention what these government officials said, and left unsaid, and we will publish that in full, for the records.

We have also acknowledged lapses in our reporting on this particular matter, pointed out to us by professional colleagues, and we will review and take appropriate measures.

“As our editors understood it, the Samoa Agreement signed by Nigeria has expanded the definition of gender rights, from the traditional male-female, to a new norm, captured by the term LGBTQ (Lesbian; Bi-sexual, Gay, Transgender and Queer). That is the crux of the matter.

ALTERNATEID:
Any sensible person can easily see from this response that Daily Trust have absolutely no defense for all the stories they have published against the government. They couldn’t offer any reasonable explanation or evidence for any of the stories. Hopefully, FG will go all out and sue them for the lies and attempt to set the country on fire through outrightly false publication.

Democracy and freedom of the press shouldn’t be an excuse for publishing that can lead to breakdown of law and order. Enough should be enough.

FreeStuffsNG:

They are trying to whittle down the severity of their serious professional misconduct of not reaching out to the government to get their side of the story before showing their bad intentions. This is a lesson to those who think those in government don't know what they say or do because you have access to the internet and social media.

In one breadth you are admitting that government signed but while you are yet to be sure of what government signed you are now suggesting that the meaning has been expanded. What a low reasoning!

If same document is taken to countries that already have gay rights then the meaning is broad and suitable for them but for countries like Nigeria, the gender will be in the original context gender was defined as male and female. You don't even know what government signed and don't have a fair reporting channel to verify what FG signed yet you went to publish and now want to apologize after FG has caught you redhanded ?

The organization and the individuals are both liable and FG should follow what the law prescribed as lawful remedy to stop irresponsible journalism and publication of fake news.

helinues:


Toh

FreeStuffsNG:

They are trying to whittle down the severity of their serious professional misconduct of not reaching out to the government to get their side of the story before showing their bad intentions. This is a lesson to those who think those in government don't know what they say or do because you have access to the internet and social media.

In one breadth you are admitting that government signed but while you are yet to be sure of what government signed you are now suggesting that the meaning has been expanded. What a low reasoning!

If same document is taken to countries that already have gay rights then the meaning is broad and suitable for them but for countries like Nigeria, the gender will be in the original context gender was defined as male and female. You don't even know what government signed and don't have a fair reporting channel to verify what FG signed yet you went to publish and now want to apologize after FG has caught you redhanded ?

The organization and the individuals are both liable and FG should follow what the law prescribed as lawful remedy to stop irresponsible journalism and publication of fake news.

israelmao:
This is Muslim-Muslim presidency remember,thanks God it's not Jonathan government the whole hell would've been let loose and Nigerian Christianity would've received both physical and non-physical bashing.Jonathan sacrificed his second term on the altar of rejecting gay bill influenced and garnished with a lot of goodies from the west while Obama was in power as US president.