ThisDay, one of the nation’s major newspapers, and its publisher, Nduka Obaigbena, seem to have encountered difficulties as a result of a report connecting Bola Tinubu, the APC’s presidential candidate, to the drug trade.
Bayo Onanuga, the director of media and publicity for the APC Presidential Campaign Council, demanded that the newspaper apologizes for the allegation in a statement he released on Sunday.
ThisDay newspaper took their campaign of defamation against our presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, too far on Friday with a fabricated claim on the passing of a reputable physician, Kolapo Akande, who was the husband of Lola Akande, a commissioner in Lagos.
Kolapo Akande and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu were disparaged in the report and accused of being involved in the narcotics trade.
The newspaper described Akande as a drug king who had “lived beneath the radar” and had avoided social interaction, giving not a damn about the need to respect the deceased.
ThisDay was unaware of their hypothetical “hibernating”
A few years ago, Kolapo ran for the House of Representatives as an Accord Party candidate.
However, the newspaper announced with delight that Kolapo Akande was the same Mueez Akande referenced in the closed 30-year-old drug inquiry against our candidate in the U.S.
But everything was untrue.
ThisDay published a fictitious article and relied on a bogus tweet made by David Hundeyin, a slanderous author and purported investigative journalist who has endorsed Peter Obi.
Any sane publishing company should be sceptical of any material originating from such a biased source.
Not ThisDay however.
Anything that casts Tinubu in a very negative light is fair game because it will explain the enormous sum of Naira that goes along with the report.
The report, however, caused the publication great humiliation and severely damaged its integrity and reputation.
The moral standards of ThisDay should make them very embarrassed.
Even the loathsome David Hundeyin, who is rumoured to be yearning for refuge in the UK, condemned the newspaper for the piece because of how low it had sunk.
Without apologizing, Hundeyin retracted his tweet and wrote: “Not sure why ThisDay published such a piece of news without verifying it, but my knowledge today is that Dr Kolapo Akande, who recently passed away, was Mueez Adegboyega Akande’s older brother (who is still very much alive.)
I’m removing my earlier tweet with the link to the ThisDay piece as a result.
The careless journalist, whose working style is more akin to Alex Jones of the American Infowars, claimed in an earlier complete tweet that Tinubu was responsible for Kolapo Akande’s murder by citing fictitious “back channel sources.”
What a nasty, repugnant falsehood!
The principle that a media should attempt to verify its information before disseminating it to the public is at the core of journalism.
ThisDay has now amply demonstrated that it does not adhere to such norms, much like its sibling Arise TV News.
“For the past 48 hours, we have been waiting in the hopes that the publication will apologize to the Akandes and Asiwaju Tinubu for the false narrative.
We are astonished that it hasn’t acted in such a respectable manner.
“WE NOW FORMALLY DEMAND a complete apology for the highly unprofessional story from the publication and its publisher, Prince Nduka Obaigbena.
We hope that going forward, the daily will strive to be motivated by journalism’s ethical standards rather than other material motives.
We demand that the Nigeria Press Council take appropriate disciplinary action against Thisday in light of the amply established evidence of a violation of fundamental journalistic ethics to protect journalism during this delicate time from those who trade in falsehood and abuse the public trust that the press represents.
“We demand that the Independent National Electoral Commission use the appropriate provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 to file a lawsuit against Thisday and any other media outlet that flagrantly violates editorial guidelines.
These are the only solutions to Thisday’s careless journalism.
They serve as assurances that the Constitution’s provisions requiring protection of the Press as the Fourth Estate of the Realm would be followed.
