Dasuki: Punch newspaper pulls out of NPAN over “media corruption”
Prominent Nigerian newspaper Punch has indefinitely withdrawn its membership of the Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria.
The newspaper’s decision came amid the ongoing corruption allegations levelled against high and mighty Nigerian officials who served under former president Goodluck Jonathan.
Punch “communicated the decision to the NPAN in a letter dated Thursday, December 17, 2015 and signed by its Chairman, Mr. Wale Aboderin,” the newspaper said in a statement on Friday.
The letter reads in part:
The public will recall the criminal charges levelled against a former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and several other alleged accomplices. These charges border on the diversion of public funds, totalling $2.1 billion, allocated for the purchase of arms to prosecute the war against terrorism.
The revelations indicate that the sum of N120 million was disbursed in murky circumstances to some member-companies of NPAN, ostensibly as compensation for the losses they incurred in June 2014 when armed soldiers seized newspapers and newspaper distribution vans.
The source of this money and the manner of its receipt, allegedly through a company called General Hydrocarbons, which is unknown to NPAN, have raised public concerns about the integrity of the Press in Nigeria. The unfolding scandal has equally cast a shadow on the reputation of the mass media.
PUNCH’s reputation, integrity, independence and high ethical standards are well known. Our readers trust their newspaper and believe that our editorial content is not influenced by pecuniary, political or personal interests.
We will ONLY reconsider our withdrawal from NPAN when the critical issues which we, and other concerned stakeholders, have raised are addressed.
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After Punch announced the decision on Friday, some commenters went on the website to heap praises on its owners..
