The management of Folio
Communications Limited, owners of Daily Times of Nigeria, DTN, has petitioned
President Muhammdau Buhari alleging threat to life of its publisher, Fidelis
Anosike.
Folio also alleged in the
petition an attempt by the police and a former lawmaker, Ikechukwu Obiora to
illegally change the ownership of Daily Times Newspapers.
Police High Command and the
Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, were also included in the petition which
accused the police of colluding with the former to change the ownership of DTN
and possess its assets.
In the petition entitled, “Urgent
Appeal to Investigate and Address Gross Injustice, Abuse of Office and
Connivance by Police High Command and Corporate Affairs Commission to Destroy
Daily Times of Nigeria,” Folio alleged that Senator Obiora is using the Police
to arrest both management and staff of DTN as well as circulating fake
documents in desperate attempt to annex landed properties of the Company.
The letter was dated 24th
January, 2018 and personally signed by Chairman of Folio Communications,
Fidelis Anosike.
He narrated how Daily Times Nigeria’s
offices in Abuja and Lagos were raided and ransacked with the Publisher, Group
Managing Director, many line staff and reporters arrested and detained for many
days.
Apart from the President, Anosike
also petitioned the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Senate President,
Bukola Saraki and Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara, the
Attorney General of the Federation, the Chief Justice of Nigeria and the
Chairman Police Service Commission.
They also wrote to the Minister
for Industry, Trade and Investment, the National Judicial Council (NJC) and the
Newspaper Proprietors of Nigeria, NPAN.
In the petitions, Anosike said
that Folio Communications Limited bided for and bought DTN in a widely
publicised and transparent privatisation process executed by the Federal
Government and that DTN was duly handed over to Folio Communications Limited in
September, 2014.
He said a minority shareholder in
DTN later relinquished such minority shares to a company in which Ikechukwu
Obiora had interest for which Obiora has done everything possible to convert
DTN to himself including going to the Corporate Affairs Commission with forged
documents to change ownership of the Company which the courts have severally
declared illegal.
The petition added, “Obiora have
initiated several criminal cases against us and DTN, all of which have been
dismissed including by a Lagos State High Court, a Federal High Court and the
Court of Appeal. In dismissing the cases, the courts expressly declared that
the issues in dispute are purely civil and not criminal in nature.
“It is for that he cannot have
DTN that Ikechukwu Obiora resorted to obtaining injustice from the back door by
running to a Magistrate Court in Mpape Abuja with active connivance of the
Police High Command led by DIG Hyacinth Dangana to commit this high level of
impunity, injustice and gross abuse of judicial process on a case that has been
dismissed by superior courts, severally.
“We wish to inform Mr. President
that the Police High Command played active roles in the abuse and victimisation
of the Publisher, management and staff of DTN with direct supervision of the
Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) Force Investigation and Intelligence
Department.
“It is important to state here
that DTN was completely dead before Folio Communications Limited bought it
through a transparent privatisation process. All of its equipments were
unserviceable. We have over the years invested billions of Naira to resuscitate
and reposition DTN and make it a brand. The intention is restore its lost glory
as the face of Nigeria and viable brand.
“The activities of Ikechukwu
Obiora in connivance with the Police and Corporate Affairs Commission has had;
and continued to have huge but negative impact on the progress of DTN. Such
impunities meted against investors by privileged individuals and authorities
like the Nigerian Police and Corporate Affairs Commission should be of grave
concern to the government as they combine to scare away genuine investors at a
time that the Federal Government is putting much efforts and resources to
positively change the perception of Nigeria and Ease of Doing Business in the
country.”
All relevant documents related to
the purchase of DTN including receipts of payment and Shares Purchase
Agreement, SSA, were all attached in the petition where Anosike also told the
President and others that a dispute between Folio Communications and Ikechukwu
Obiora on Daily Times ownership was resolved in 2006 following intervention of
some stakeholders in the media industry after which a consent judgement was
granted by a Federal High Court in 2006, adding that Obiora has continued to
act in breach of both the Statement of Agreement and the Consent Judgement.
It added, “We have gone through many
legal battles over the years on this same matter both civil and criminal most
of which were initiated by Ikechukwu Obiora, in spite of the Consent Judgement
arising from the amicable settlement of April 2006.
“It is however of importance to
state that we have won all the cases so far while others are pending at the
High Courts and the Court of Appeal. In the same vein, the courts have
dismissed all criminal prosecutions initiated against us by Ikechukwu while
declaring that issues arising from the suits are civil and not criminal, yet he
remains unabated.
Anosike further prayed the
President to direct the Inspector General of Police to halt the illegal arrest,
detention and abuse of the Publisher, management and staff of Daily Times of
Nigeria; the IGP to release, without further delay all management, line staff
and reporters working with Daily Times of Nigeria; and that the President
directs either of the Vice President, the Attorney General of the Federation,
AGF, or anybody of his choice, to carry out a detailed and comprehensive
investigation of the immediate and remote cause(s) of the attempt to destroy
Daily Times of Nigeria by Sen. Ikechukwu Obiora, the Nigerian Police and the
Corporate Affairs Commission.
On the part of the Senate and
House of Representatives, the petition sought for a Public Hearing where the
parties can present their claims before Nigerians in order to save Daily Times
of Nigeria.
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