Samoa report: Ombudsman writes Daily Trust, asks for response

The National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC), otherwise known as the Ombudsman, has written to Daily Trust, requesting a response to the federal government’s formal complaint on the newspaper’s report on the Samoa deal.

In a letter dated July 12 and signed by Feyi Smith, the interim secretary of the commission, Daily Trust is expected to file a formal response to the complaint filed by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, which alleged that Daily Trust’s report on the Samoa deal was fake news published for public incitement.

“The commission is in receipt of a complaint from the office of the Minister of Information and National Orientation dated July 8, 2024.

“In the said complaint, your esteemed organisation was accused of publishing fake news and public incitement through your front page of July 4, 2024, headlined “LGBT: Nigeria signs $150bn Samoa deal.” We request that you should avail the commission your response to all allegations within 14 working days of receipt of this notice,” the letter read in part.

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Reacting, the Group Chief Executive Office/Editor-in-Chief (Print), Ahmed I. Shekarau, said the newspaper will respond to the letter within the specified timeframe.

It would be recalled that in the letter of complaint signed by Dr Ngozi Onwudiwe, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and National Orientation, the federal government stated that the content of the report was misleading.

The demands of the federal government to the Ombudsman also include: “To direct the management of Daily Trust to publicly retract and correct the false information with equal prominence as the original article; and also direct the management of Daily Trust Newspaper to issue an unequivocal apology for recklessly disseminating false information.

“Also, for the management of Daily Trust Newspaper to implement stricter editorial guidelines to prevent a repeat of such reports by any newspaper in the future,” it equally demanded.