The Newspaper Proprietors’ Association of Nigeria
has given reasons why it collected N120m from the
office of the embattled former National Security
Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.).

It said its members whose newspapers were
impounded by military personnel decided to jettison
the idea of suing the Federal Government for the
incident after the government agreed to a out of
court settlement.

NPAN stated this in a communiqué issued at the end
of its Executive Council meeting in Lagos on
Thursday, December 17, to address the issues
bordering on the compensation which had generated controversy.

According to NPAN, members of the association
suffered huge losses in sales, advertising revenue
and business goodwill by the military seizure of
newspapers between Friday, June 6 and Sunday, June 8, 2014 in Abuja , Oyo, Ondo, Edo, Ekiti, Delta, Niger, Kogi, Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, Imo, and Enugu states.

It added that many NPAN members affected by the
assault considered court actions especially as the
military authorities claimed that they had intelligence that newspaper vans were being used to ferry bomb-making materials.

“Amidst this tension, and perhaps to stem the spate
of multiple litigation against the security agencies
and the Federal Government, the then President
Goodluck Jonathan, decided to hold a meeting with
the executives of NPAN on June 12, 2014, at the State
House, Marina, Lagos.

“At this meeting, the President apologised for the
infraction of press freedom and the disruption of the business rhythm of our members. This was well
received by our members. In recognition of the
President’s gesture, one of our executive officers,
Lady Maiden Ibru, spoke in favour of the association
dropping the demand for compensation. But because some members wanted to seek redress in court, it was decided to pursue a civil resolution of the matter,” NPAN added.

The association further stated that having agreed
with the Federal Government to settle the matter out
of court, its members were consequently requested
to submit a statement of their losses for
consideration.

It stated, “All active member newspapers submitted
their claims, with some as low as a few hundred
thousand naira and others running into hundreds of
millions. With no easy way to verify these widely
divergent claims, the association leadership accepted the offer from the government, of a flat rate of N10m to each of the 12 media houses affected. The total amount came to N120m. Most of our members duly collected the compensation in good faith.

Meanwhile, the cheques for The Guardian, Tribune and Peoples Daily, are still with our secretariat.”

Also, the association added that its member
newspapers that received the money could not have
any suspicion why it was paid from the office of the
former NSA since the onslaught was carried out by
the security forces which the office of the NSA
superintended.

While saying that it was unfortunate that some
people with modicum facts about the matter were
linking it with the alleged misdeeds of those who
might have received huge sums of money from the
office of the NSA unlawfully, NPAN assured Nigerians that the trust reposed in the media remains unshaken.

The communiqué listed those who attended the
meeting to include Mr. Sam Amuka (Life Patron,
NPAN), Mallam Ismaila Isa (Life Patron, NPAN), Chief Segun Osoba( Past President, NPAN) and Mr. Ray Ekpu (Past President, NPAN).