More cracks in NPAN as Nation returns GEJ’s N9m

The cracks which appeared on the walls of the Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) over the issue of money given to the association by the Goodluck Jonathan administration as compensation for losses suffered in June 2014 seem to be getting wider.

Vintage Press Limited, publishers of Nation SportingLife newspaper titles, said it has returned the N9 million it received as compensation for the seizure of copies of its papers by soldiers during that time.

It would be recalled that in the Sun newspaper also returned the money it got in the aftermath of the controversy thrown up by the compensation reportedly received from the Jonathan administration by the Nduka Obaigbena-led NPAN.

Nation, in a statement yesterday, explained why it took the decision: It said: “We do this for two reasons. First, to restate the sequence of events, that culminated in the payment, thereby debunking insinuations about the motive for the compensation. Second, to inform the public that the N9 million collected from NPAN on behalf of the Jonathan government
has been returned to the association.”

It went on to say that the company had opted to go to court then but was advised by its lawyers to stay action who advised that the N10 million compensation offered by government after a meeting with NPAN’s leadership, was reasonable.

“In May, the secretary of NPAN, Mr. Feyi Smith, brought a draft for N9 million to Vintage Press Limited. The draft was accepted in good faith, believing it was from the account of the association and also from the appropriate department of government.

Read also: NPAN in disarray as the Sun, Punch express anger

“Who was in a better position to deliver a draft from NPAN to Vintage Press than the NPAN secretary? Vintage Press, like other newspapers that received drafts/cheques from the NPAN, did not know that the money was paid to a private company by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and from funds collected by that office specifically for the procurement of arms? This was until The Nation, in its edition of Friday, December 4, published details of the stupendous sums of money collected by individuals and organisations from the ONSA.

“Now, the source of the payment to us is beyond contention. We now know it came from the ONSA and routed through a private company, General Hydrocarbon Limited. This company is unknown to NPAN. Facts in the public domain show clearly that the money
the company collected was for ‘energy consultancy.’

That this company would collect the compensation on NPAN’s behalf was never disclosed to the association in line with corporate best practice. As a business that subscribes fully to the tenets of sound governance, we are not at ease with this revelation.

“We are also uncomfortable with the revelation that the compensation was from the money earmarked for the purchase of arms for troops fighting insurgency,” the company stated, and that “A draft for N9million was handed over to Mr Smith today (yesterday) in Lagos.”

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