Nigerian Editors condemn EFCC raid on Sun Newspapers

ITRealms:

The Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) has received with shock news of the invasion of the premises of the SUN Publishing Limited by heavily armed operatives of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in the early hours of June 12, 2017, reports ITRealms.

Condemning the raid, the Guild of Editors through its President, Mrs. Funke Egbèmode, lamented that the fierce looking operatives prevented staff of the organisation from either entering or leaving the premises of the company and disrupted the circulation processes.

“The unwarranted siege to the company subjected staff of the organisation to crude intimidation, psychological and emotional trauma,” she said.

The EFCC, she said, had accused The SUN of publishing pro-Biafra, Boko Haram and Niger Delta militant stories.

Also, she said, the latest action of the EFCC on a newspaper house is a sad reminder of the dark years of military dictatorship and a deliberate effort to muzzle the press.

As a statutory agency birthed by an Act of Parliament in a democracy, we had expected the EFCC to explore civil means of addressing perceived infraction by a critical stakeholder in the Nigerian democratic project.

Rather than see the Fourth Estate of the Realm as an opposition, the Commission should realise that the media is an indispensable partner in its fight against corruption.

The Guild noted that the latest affront on The SUN by operatives of the EFCC is one in a number of targeted attempts by a section of the nation’s security agency to gag free press.

“We recall the recent expulsion of Mr. Olalekan Adetayo, the State House correspondent of Punch Newspapers from Aso Rock by Bashir Abubakar, the Chief Security Officer (CSO) to President Muhammadu Buhari.

NGE said, the alleged forfeiture order the EFCC brandished this morning was 10 years old and a matter still before the Court of Appeal.

“The Guild wonders why the Commission felt it had to act ahead of a case before a court of competent jurisdiction. It bears restating that such an attempt to intimidate the media does incalculable damage to the image of the EFCC and indeed the Nigerian government. Besides, it does not only undermine the foundation of our young democracy, it is a major threat to its sustenance and existence,” she said.

Further, the Guild condemned the EFCC action in its entirety and calls on the Commission to purge itself of all anti-democratic tendencies in order to foster mutual cooperation with the media and other stakeholders in its crusade against graft.

And called on EFCC to put an end to its current attempts to gag the Press and also demands an unreserved apology from the Commission to the SUN Publishing Limited.

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Bisi Olaleye to unveil book on telecoms

ITRealms:

Telecoms industry in Nigeria is gearing up to witness the unveiling of another chronicle authored by Mrs. Olabisi Olaleye of the Sun Newspapers in her work entitled ‘Our Nigerian Story,’ reports ITRealms.

A press statement by Olaleye noted that the past 15 years has witnessed successes, countered challenges and continued to exude tremendous prospects for economic development, pointing out that chronicling these milestones forms the key contents of a new book to be unveiled later this year in the nation’s telecoms sector.

Olaleye, a multiple award-winning journalist, said the work recounts the experiences of the Global System for Mobile (GSM) operators in Nigeria since the sector’s liberalisation in 2001.

'Our Nigerian Story' , is the first of its kind in the nation’s sector, that catalogues the development of the telecoms industry, starting from 2001, when the various companies came into the country to invest, even when the Nigeria’s business climate was adjudged ‘a  war zone and porous’ by the international communities.

The book highlights how the demographic dividend or the large population in Nigeria then (which is still growing), served as a critical factor that attracted telecoms investment into the country with the sector now boasting of over $32 billion from about $500 million in 2001.

“In this book, the various telcos, Agencies, retail phone dealers share their experiences, the NCC’s involvement, the Ministry of Communication Technology or Ministry of Communications support and the numerous challenges faced in a system that is not too conducive for business, while leveraging on their strengths for more improvement in the sector,” Olaleye said, while providing insight into the contents of the soon-to-be-launched book.

In addition, other providers, such as the Value-Added Services (VAS) provider, which ride on the networks of the main telecoms networks, also tell their stories. 

Visafone, the ‘last man standing’ in the Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA segment of the telecoms industry, also tells its story.

Olaleye hails from Ake, Abeokuta South of Ogun State and a 1998 graduate of Mass Communication from the Ogun State Polytechnic, now Moshood Abiola Polytechnic. She has undergone several local and international trainings to enhance her career.

Currently, she works with The SUN Publishing Limited Nigeria, publishers of The Sun newspaper titles and with over 12-year experience in journalism, she has  several awards in her kitty including ’Rotary International Humanitarian Report Award’(2012), triple winner of 'Best ICT Reporter of the Year' awards and is married with children.

 

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Toyin Nwosu abductors makes no contact with family

ITRealms

The abductors of Mrs Oluwatoyin Nwosu, the wife of one of the Sun newspapers' senior editors, Mr. Steve Nwosu, has not contacted the family, reports ITRealms.

Correspondent recalls that Mrs Nwosu was abducted from their home at the Okota area of Lagos, about 2:30am on Monday, September 14, 2015.

As said by the husband, Mr. Steve Nwosu, as at 9am on Monday, his wife’s abductors were yet to get in touch with the family.

Mr Nwosu outside being a senior editor is also an Executive Director with the Sun newspaper as well as respected columnist.

Before his present appointment as Executive Director, Nwosu was the Daily Editor of the Sun.

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