Arise TV owner Nduka Obaigbena immoral, extortionist – APC
The All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign Council has taken a swipe at the proprietor of Arise TV and ThisDay newspaper Prince Nduka Obaigbena following his accusation that the duo of Bayo Onanuga and Dele Alake attempt to stifle press freedom.
Obaigbena had caused a publication accusing Onanuga, who is the director of media for the campaign, and Alake of being “petty and jealous” for repeatedly mentioning his name in their press releases.
In their riposte, Onanuga and Alake said, “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.”
The APC statement accused Obaigena of unwholesome practices as a media owner including owing staff salaries and owing newsprints vendors, leading to the death of a certain Afilaka.
They claimed that Obaigbena “has done such grave damage to media practice in Nigeria, while 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.
“Mr. Alake and Onanuga can never be jealous of a man who 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.
“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.”
