news
Nduka Obaigbena, a congenital blackmailer and hustler, “lies without shame” Says Alake and Onanuga
Ordinarily, we consider it beneath us as well-bred media professionals to continue to engage in public spat with Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, a congenital blackmailer and hustler, especially in deference to ceasefire calls by well-meaning leaders and elders. The interventions followed our statement on Monday entitled “Obaigbena and His THISDAY/ARISE News’ Hypocritical Grandstanding On Public Morality”.
But we crave the indulgence of these well-meaning Nigerians to allow us respond to Obaigbena’s latest rambling, called a statement.
The largely diversionary composition was an attempt to deodorise his ethical problems.
Obaigbena tried to deflect attention from those pertinent issues we raised about ethics. There is nothing he said to creditably detract a jot from our accurate summation of his well-known perverse and ignoble approach to media practice over the years, a practice that continues to undermine the integrity of journalism profession in the country.
In his first statement attacking us, Obaigbena craftily attempted to mis-characterise as an attack on free speech, our principled stand against his blackmail to have Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu appear on Arise TV and its PDP sponsored Town Hall meetings.
In the second statement, he was still adamant that our candidate must attend his Town Hall debate, despite our stance that our candidate is already executing another communications strategy to reach the most important target: the Nigerian voters. We, repeat again: We will not make our candidate available to validate a scheme which, in the light of unassailable information at our disposal, is nothing but a racket by the Arise TV owner, designed to embarrass our candidate.
We now proceed to give a blow-by-blow response to Obaigbena’s latest very poor attempt at red-herring:
Rigmarole on Dasukigate:
How laughable that Obaigbena is now denying he was not in EFCC custody for receiving illicit funds from National Security Adviser Sambo Dasuki. He attempted to rationalise that the money received was compensation for losses incurred by newspaper proprietors following the clampdown by security agents. But he craftily glossed over the meat of the matter: the grave misconduct to have the funds paid into the bank account of Hydrocarbon, a shell company (obviously set up for money-laundering) to which Obaigbena was the sole signatory. Since NPAN has bank accounts, why was the money not transferred there directly?
Moreover, the petty lie in Obaigbena’s statement was punctured by the joint disclaimer issued on 12 December 2015 by Tribune, New Telegraph and Peoples Daily in whose names he had collected money. The three newspapers said they did not receive a kobo.
His claim that he pocketed the chunk of the money received from Dasukigate as compensation for the alleged terrorist attack on his Abuja office is a laughable afterthought.
Rewriting June 12 story:
Contrary to Obaigbena’s lame attempt to rationalise his campaign against June 12 as action taken in furtherance of his membership of National Republican Convention (NRC), nothing can be further from the truth. His long story about sitting close to MKO Abiola on a London-Johannesburg flight begs the questions. He craftily sidestepped the issue of being recruited by the military regime to go on CNN to unconscionably declare “Abiola did not win any election”, shortly after NEC suspended the announcement of June 12 results. That dirty campaign was to prepare the grounds for the eventual annulment on June 23 of the election. If Obaigbena was pro-democracy as he falsely claims, why did he take up media consultancy work to Ernest Shonekan, the head of the Interim National Government, cobbled together by the junta to legitimise the illegality?
South African/London fiascos:
Obaigbena also tried to downplay the gravity of his misadventure in South Africa for which he had to flee, abandoning his office equipment and furniture till today. On one hand, he lied that it was President Nelson Mandela who asked that he set up the newspaper in South Africa because the dominant newspapers in the country were owned by the white establishment. On the other hand, he claimed that the same white establishment frustrated his venture. He forgot that when he floated ThisDay South Africa in 2003-4, a black President was in power!
Contrary to claims that he met a hostile environment, his habitual unethical practices gave him out. His business model of funding his newspapers and a champagne lifestyle from proceeds of blackmail rackets fell flat in South Africa where rules of a good society are rigidly enforced. To deceive advertisers, he inflated his circulation figures which the regulatory agency frowned at. Also, he owed printers and his workers. Gale of complaints against the “carpetbagger from Nigeria” soon reached the authorities and one official was quoted as famously saying, “You call yourself Thisday, very soon it will become That-day”. The prophecy came to pass with chilling accuracy soon after.
On his misadventure in London, Obaigbena disingenuously put it down to Forex crisis as if it happened this year or last year. The details of the judgment by the presiding judge were damning enough: Obaigbena lacks the personal honour and integrity to run any decent company.
His claim that his seven year directorship ban has been appealed is not the full story. He already lost one appeal at the Chancery in August.
Payment of salaries/pension:
Obaigbena tried to deflect his chronic indebtedness as something common in the media industry. It is an affliction peculiar to THISDAY/Arise which purports to make lots of money (as reflected by bumper advert patronage) but curiously still fails to pay workers as and when due. Even when the economy was relatively “good”, Obaigbena never paid workers regularly. His popular saying to staff, as well known in the industry, is that : “THISDAY/Arise ID card alone is your meal ticket”.
Such corrupt philosophy underlies the unethical practices in media companies run by Obaigbena.
A classic illustration of the untold hardship and dehumanization of his workers was provided by Mr. Paul Ibe, who is now the Special Adviser on Media to Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.
Obaigbena tricked Ibe to South Africa with mouth-watering offers. But Ibe ended up enduring hunger there before finding his way back to Nigeria. Following a suit filed at the National Industrial Court in 2011 (suit no NICN/ABJ/26/2011), Mr. Ibe was awarded damages against Obaigbena for backlog of salaries, non-remittance of taxes and pension deducted from his wages over the years and outstanding entitlement. Tens of other staff of Thisday have died due to lack of money for medical care while awaiting Obaigbena to pay them their entitlements.
Open partisanship/Mefy racket:
We observe too that Obaigbena disingenuously sidestepped the questions raised about employing the services of Dr Reuben Abati, a card-carrying member of PDP as anchor person on Arise TV, as well as Obaigbena’s multi-million Naira consultancy role in the ill-fated attempt by a sitting Central Bank governor, Godwin Emefiele to compete for APC’ presidential ticket.
These are weighty moral issues Obaigbena, with all his resourceful facilities to lie and dissemble, could not defend.
Again, we challenge him to deny if Abati wasn’t the running-mate of Senator Buruji Kashamu on PDP’s platform in the governorship contest in Ogun in 2019. Kashamu was a wanted drug lord in the US. Of course, the same Abati, who never allows any opportunity to pass without attacking Asiwaju Tinubu daily, would have been one of those Obaigbena would have lined up at his dubious Town Hall meetings to “interrogate” Tinubu! Such shameless, unethical practice!
Further, while pontificating on public morality, Obaigbena conveniently ignored the perversity of collecting hundreds of millions as “media consultant” to Godwin Emefiele, the occupant of a critical public office from which utmost sobriety and non-partisanship is expected. Through patronizing reportage in THISDAY/Arise, Emefiele was egged on to openly descend into the political arena and bid for the presidential ticket of APC in its last primaries in what is now commonly called the “Mefy racket”.
This has antecedents: Obaigbena was also “consultant” to President Jonathan as he was to Chief Ernest Shonekan. Whatever happened to journalism ethics?
The culture of media merchandising:
In a futile attempt to burnish his image, Obaigbena resorted to dropping the names of U.S. and UK leaders who had attended events staged by him. Dropping the names and pictures of these former Western leaders who attended paid-for-appearance ThisDay events as if they attended when serving in office, is another Obaigbena’s vainglorious clout chasing scheme to scam the public. He failed to disclose that the high-profile personalities who delivered keynote addresses at such events were handsomely paid from money he collected through media blackmail from captains of industries notably bank chiefs. To con the outside world, Obaigbena had boasted in an interview with New York Times that he had corporate fortune of $100m accruing to his company annually. But later, tax officials in Lagos could not reconcile those bogus claims with his tax records and non-remittance of taxes deducted from workers. It was so easy to expose his fake lifestyle.
Since Nduka Obaigbena introduced his blackmail and extortionist brand of journalism into Nigeria, generation of Bank CEOs, company Chief Executives, politicians and Governors from 1999 have suffered in silence, seeking liberation from oppressive journalism by intimidation. In 2009, Nduka Obaigbena raided Niger Delta states with his Thisday Entertainment’s packaged Niger-Delta Peace Concert. He coerced the Niger-Delta Governors then to contribute hundreds of millions of Naira with a promise to bring A-list pop stars such as Jay-Z and Beyonce to perform. After collecting the money the promised superstars didn’t show up. One of the governors was at the airport till almost midnight waiting to receive the superstars. These governors complained and suffered in silence because they were afraid of Nduka and his Thisday Newspaper which he has turned to instrument of oppression.
We took notice of Reuben Abati’s ramblings on Arise TV on his Wednesday Morning Show where he laboured in vain to defend his despicable record and perversions. Abati queried our statement that he is a registered member of PDP.
The query is rather for him. How did he become a deputy governorship candidate to the Late Senator Buruji Kashamu in 2019 without a membership of PDP as required by law?
We really do not expect much from Abati. He is a known pathological liar, who has lived on lies and deceit all his professional life. While he has successfully created the image of a conscientious public intellectual over the years, the fact is that he is a morally bankrupt man who has no scruples in selling his soul to the devil as long as money is involved.
Abati has very odious reputation within the corporate and political circles as “anything goes newspaper columnist” as long as the money is right.
Alake, Adviser, Media and Strategic Communication, and Onanuga, Director of Media and Publicity, sent the statement on behalf of All Progressives Congress (APC) Media and Communication Directorate
Engr. Marcus Adedini, Aspirant for Ife Federal Constituency, heartily congratulate the distinguished Ife-born retired military officer, Major General Adeyinka FAMADEWA (Rtd), on his well-deserved appointment as Special Adviser on Homeland Security by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
This prestigious appointment is a clear recognition of your years of meritorious service, professionalism, discipline, and unwavering commitment to national development and security.
Your appointment has brought immense pride, honour, and joy to the people of Ife Kingdom, as it further reflects the excellence and capacity of our sons and daughters who continue to contribute meaningfully to nation-building. Your outstanding record of leadership and dedication to service remains a great source of inspiration to many across the country.
As you assume this important national assignment, I am confident that your wealth of experience and strategic leadership will contribute significantly to strengthening peace, stability, and homeland security in Nigeria.
I pray that God grants you wisdom, strength, and greater success in this new office. Congratulations once again, Sir.
Signed:
Engr. Marcus Adedini
Aspirant, Ife Federal Constituency
The Permanent Chairman of the Southern Nigerian Traditional Rulers Council (SNTRC), Arole Oodua Olofin Adimula and the Natural Head of the Oduduwa race worldwide, the Ooni of Ife, Ooni Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, CFR, Ojaja II, has celebrated renowned businessman and illustrious son of Ile-Ife, Prince Eludipo Elusanmi Eludoyin, on the occasion of his 78th birthday.
In a statement on Monday released by the Director of Media and Public Affairs, Ooni’s Palace, Otunba Moses Olafare, the Ooni who is also the Permanent Co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria (NCTRN) described Prince Eludoyin as one of the shining lights of Ile-Ife whose life has remained dedicated to hard work, service to humanity and the growth of Nigeria’s economy.
The Ooni praised the Ife-born business mogul for his remarkable achievements in the international business community, noting that his contributions through Paragon Holdings Limited and other business platforms have created employment opportunities for thousands of people while also supporting meaningful development projects within and outside Nigeria.
Ooni Ogunwusi said Prince Eludoyin’s impact goes beyond business, describing him as a man who has consistently used his success to uplift people and support communities through various philanthropic activities.
According to the Ooni, the celebrant’s humility, wisdom and commitment to humanity have earned him respect across different sectors both in Nigeria and abroad.
The royal father also acknowledged Prince Eludoyin’s longstanding relationship with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, describing the celebrant as a trusted confidant and loyal friend whose influence and experience continue to contribute positively to national development.
“Prince Eludoyin is a pride to Ile-Ife and the Yoruba race. His life story is one of vision, resilience and service. At 78, he remains a source of inspiration to younger generations who desire success built on integrity, excellence and compassion,” the Ooni stated.
The Ooni prayed for more years of sound health, peace, strength and continued accomplishments for the elder statesman as he continues to serve humanity and contribute to the progress of society.
By Michael Olukayode
For decades, electricity has remained Nigeria’s most enduring national embarrassment. From military administrations to democratic governments, promises of stable power supply have come and gone with little to show beyond recurring darkness, collapsing grids, abandoned projects and rising public frustration.
Now, with the appointment of Joseph Olasunkanmi Tegbe as Minister of Power, expectations are once again rising. Yet unlike in previous eras, Nigerians are no longer impressed by ambitious declarations. They are demanding results.
The question confronting Tegbe is not whether he understands the scale of the crisis. It is whether he can succeed where many before him failed.
Nigeria’s electricity sector is littered with the ruins of grand promises.
From the Olusegun Obasanjo administration’s multi-billion dollar National Integrated Power Projects (NIPP), to the Goodluck Jonathan-era privatisation of generation and distribution companies, successive governments repeatedly promised that stable electricity was around the corner. Under former President Muhammadu Buhari, Nigerians were told that the Siemens-backed Presidential Power Initiative would revolutionise transmission and distribution. The current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu also pledged sweeping reforms, improved generation and a more efficient market-driven electricity sector.
Yet millions of Nigerians still rely on generators as their primary source of power.
The irony remains painful: Africa’s largest economy continues to generate barely between 4,000 and 5,000 megawatts for over 200 million people, despite an installed capacity exceeding 13,000MW.
Entire industries have collapsed under the burden of self-generated electricity. Small businesses spend more on diesel than on salaries. Manufacturers complain of rising operational costs. Students study under torchlights. Hospitals struggle to preserve vaccines and operate life-saving equipment. For many Nigerians, electricity is not merely an infrastructure issue; it is the dividing line between poverty and productivity.
That is why Tegbe’s appointment comes with enormous pressure.
Unlike many previous political appointees in the sector, Tegbe comes into office with the image of a technocrat rather than a career politician. A chartered accountant and management consultant, he built his reputation in the private sector through years of corporate advisory work, investment strategy and institutional restructuring. He previously served as the Director-General and Global Liaison for the Nigeria-China Strategic Partnership, where he was credited with helping to deepen investment engagement between Nigeria and Chinese investors in infrastructure, manufacturing and industrial development initiatives.
Before that appointment, Tegbe had a long corporate career spanning consulting, finance and business transformation. He worked with multinational consulting firm Deloitte and later became a senior business strategist with extensive experience in public-private partnerships, governance systems and economic planning. Supporters argue that this background gives him a better understanding of the financial and structural complexities that have crippled Nigeria’s power sector for years.
His defenders also point to his record in economic coordination and institutional reforms, arguing that the electricity crisis is no longer just a technical problem but a management and governance challenge requiring strategic execution, investor confidence and policy discipline.
At his Senate screening, Tegbe outlined a reform agenda focused on improving gas supply, strengthening grid reliability, accelerating metering, enforcing accountability among distribution companies and restoring financial discipline across the sector.
Those priorities are significant because Nigeria’s electricity crisis is no longer just about generation. The problems are systemic.
Generation companies complain of unpaid debts and inadequate gas supply. Distribution companies struggle with huge financial losses, weak infrastructure, electricity theft and poor revenue collection. Transmission infrastructure remains fragile and outdated, leading to frequent system collapses and stranded power capacity.
The national grid itself has become symbolic of institutional weakness. Grid collapses have repeatedly plunged large sections of the country into darkness, disrupting businesses and exposing the fragility of the system. Regulatory reports continue to show wide gaps between installed generation capacity and actual available electricity supply.
For many Nigerians, these recurring failures have destroyed public confidence.
Citizens openly question whether government officials genuinely intend to solve the crisis or merely manage it politically. Some blame corruption and weak regulation; others argue that decades of policy inconsistency and poor implementation are the real culprits.
That skepticism explains why Tegbe’s promises are being greeted with cautious optimism rather than celebration.
Still, his supporters believe he enters office with certain advantages. His experience in corporate restructuring and investment negotiations may prove useful in a sector desperate for efficiency, investor confidence and credible execution. But technical knowledge alone will not solve Nigeria’s electricity crisis.
What the sector requires most is political courage.
Any meaningful reform will involve difficult decisions: enforcing payment discipline, restructuring failing distribution companies, addressing subsidy distortions, improving tariff transparency, tackling electricity theft and compelling stronger private sector accountability. These reforms are politically sensitive because electricity affects every household and business in the country.
The minister must also confront the deeper institutional problem that has undermined previous reforms — weak governance.
Over the years, billions of dollars have reportedly been invested in power infrastructure with minimal impact on supply. Projects are often launched with fanfare only to disappear into bureaucratic delays, contractual disputes or funding crises. Nigerians have grown weary of ceremonial commissioning without measurable outcomes.
That is why measurable targets will matter more than speeches.
If Tegbe hopes to build public trust, Nigerians will expect clear timelines, transparent reporting and visible improvements in supply stability. Citizens want fewer excuses and more accountability. They want to know why power plants cannot get gas despite Nigeria’s enormous natural gas reserves. They want to know why transmission bottlenecks continue years after repeated intervention programmes. They want to know why estimated billing still persists despite promises of mass metering.
Most importantly, they want leadership that acknowledges that electricity is central to national development.
No serious industrial economy can thrive in darkness.
Countries that transformed their economies invested heavily in stable electricity infrastructure. Without reliable power, Nigeria’s ambitions for industrialisation, digital innovation, manufacturing growth and foreign investment will remain severely constrained.
The challenge before Tegbe therefore goes beyond fixing transformers or stabilising the grid. His real assignment is to restore credibility to a sector where public trust has nearly collapsed.
There are signs that structural reforms may finally be gaining momentum. The Electricity Act 2023 has opened the door for states to develop independent electricity markets, reducing overdependence on the fragile national grid. Several states are already moving toward decentralised power arrangements.
But Nigerians have heard reform language before.
What they seek now is evidence.
The success or failure of Tegbe’s tenure may ultimately depend on one simple question: can his administration deliver stable and predictable improvement, even if gradual?
If he succeeds, he could become the minister who finally begins the long-delayed transformation of Nigeria’s electricity sector.
If he fails, he risks joining a long list of officials whose promises disappeared into the darkness Nigerians know too well.
-
news6 years agoUPDATE: #ENDSARS: CCTV footage of Lekki shootings intact – Says Sanwo – Olu
-
lifestyle6 years agoFormer Miss World: Mixed reactions trail Agbani Darego’s looks
-
health5 years agoChairman Agege LG, Ganiyu Egunjobi Receives Covid-19 Vaccines
-
lifestyle5 years agoObateru: Celebrating a Quintessential PR Man at 60
-
health6 years agoUPDATE : Nigeria Records 790 new cases of COVID-19
-
health6 years agoBREAKING: Nigeria confirms 663 new cases of COVID-19
-
entertainment1 year agoAshny Set for Valentine Special and new Album ‘ Femme Fatale’
-
news12 months agoBREAKING: Tinubu swears in new NNPCL Board