…It’s shoddy and lacks credibility, says rights group
…Let appropriate agencies do their work – Lawyer
…Ex-Gov innocent – Aide
By Emeka Alex Duru
Mixed reactions continue to trail a report by an online medium, PREMIUM TIMES, on the Vice Presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 elections, Peter Obi, alleging infraction of the law over his suspected business activities while serving as Anambra state governor.
The online portal, had in its Monday, October 4, publication, titled “Pandora Papers: Inside Peter Obi’s secret businesses — and how he broke the law”, alleged that Obi serially violated the law by failing to declare to the Code of Conduct Bureau the companies and assets he tucked away in secrecy havens. It went ahead to pontificate on areas the former governor may have gone against the law. But no sooner had the publication hit the internet when Nigerians took it from different angles, with many dismissing it as mere fiction garbed in journalistic language.
A lawyer, Sylva Mukoru, pointedly picked holes in the report, arguing that as smooth as the allegations raised in the report looked, PREMIUM TIMES was partisan and presumptuous by delving into areas that are clearly beyond its reach. He reminded the medium that as a watchdog of the society, its duty lies in exposing the alleged infractions by Obi and not making suggestions on where he might have erred. “At that moment, it becomes obvious that the report is a sponsored job; a hatchet outing intended to serve some interests. The maxim that facts are sacred, opinions are free, remain trite, any day. PREMIUM TIMES did not observe this but chose to enter into the ring”, he said.
He argued that much as he was not the spokesman for Obi nor his defence counsel, it would be appropriate law enforcement agencies be allowed to do their job on the issue and if they find something against Obi, they should take the necessary actions. Mukoru warned, “As much as possible, we should do away with sensational journalism and mudslinging to bring people down. Nigeria has had enough of bad image out there. We cannot continue to rubbish ourselves because of obvious political reasons”.
Weighing into the matter, a human rights group, Nigerians For Justice (NFJ), dismissed the report, describing it as an “obviously sponsored inquest”. The group in a statement issued on Monday in Asaba, Delta State capital, said that the PREMIUM TIMES report on Obi’s foreign business activities tried to create a wrong impression about him. The statement signed by NFJ’s Chairman, Francis Ezeoka, accused the newspaper of bad faith and of doing a hatchet job “lacking in substance” and “purity of motive.”
The group posed several posers for PREMIUM TIMES: “Did you trace any missing government money to any company Obi has real or imaginary interest? Is any public money missing in any public establishment Obi has had contact with, such as Anambra State, Security and Exchange Commission?”
It wondered the nexus between Obi’s numerous speeches the report referred to and the actual issue the newspaper pretended to be investigating.
“There is nothing in PREMIUM TIMES’ investigations or report that impeaches Obi’s integrity. It provides no proof of corruption by Obi but merely alleges failure to declare his foreign assets”, NFJ stated. It advised the public to disregard the sponsored report, assuring that fighting corruption is good, but must be differentiated from witch-hunting.
On his own, veteran journalist, Bob Anikwe, lauded PREMIUM TIMES for being able to dig deep and unearth the alleged elaborate web of financial smokescreen that Obi erected to hide his foreign assets from tax hounds all over the world. He however raised two issues that the report failed to address properly, identifying them as the tax angle and corruption angle. “The PT (PREMIUM TIMES) report is quite unclear and embarrassingly short on data and facts on whether Obi’s companies are paying appropriate taxes where they are supposed to pay them or not”, he noted on his Facebook, social media page.
Anikwe continued: “The second is the corruption angle: Again, the report is also shoddy because it failed to show whether and how the former Governor funneled State Government funds to any of his elaborately concealed offshore companies. My suspicion is that the online newspaper tried but may have failed to establish any such corruption linkages. Hence it resorted to focusing on the letters of the local law to accuse Obi of wrongdoing”.
However, Media aide to Senator Ibikunle Amosun, erstwhile governor of Ogun state, erstwhile Olusola Balogun maintained: “This PREMIUM TIMES special report on ex-Gov. Peter Obi is very damning. ICPC should take it from there”.
But a source close to Obi confided in this medium that the former governor is not bothered at the report, having not soiled his hands in his days of stewardship in Anambra. “Transparent investigations will prove him innocent. We are sure of that”, he stated.