$2.1bn arms deal: We didn't know compensations were from arms fund - Nduka Obaigbena

Chairman of ThisDay newspapers and president of
Newspapers Proprietors Association of Nigeria
(NPAN) Nduka Obaigbena has written to EFCC on
allegations he received part of the controversial
arms deal money. In a letter yesterday, Obaigbena
said his company and NPAN didn’t know that the
N670million compensation they got from the office
of the National Security Adviser were from arms
purchase fund. Obaigbena disclosed this in his
reaction to EFCC on the payments his company and
the 12 other newspapers received from the NSA in
2015. In a letter sent to EFCC, Obaigbena said;
"When the ONSA (Office of the National
Security Adviser) said that they had approval to
pay us, but would rather not set a precedent by
paying THISDAY directly, we nominated a
member company of the THISDAY Newspapers
Group, called General Hydrocarbons Ltd., to
receive the payments on behalf of the group of
companies, given that the assets of General
Hydrocarbons Ltd – mainly generators – were
also destroyed in the bombings;
“We did ask our insurance consortium to pay
compensation but they said we were not
covered for war and or terrorism risk. Until that
time, we never knew we needed war or
terrorism insurance in Nigeria as the
government had not officially declared war.
With the power of hindsight, we now know
better.
“We simply used the compensation funds to
defray some 30 per cent of the N1.7 billion we
already paid to 3rd party printers for services in
lieu of the Abuja press, while we went to our
banks for refinancing printing presses,
computer-to-plate and other facilities.”
"We never participated in any arms purchase in
any shape or form and only demanded
compensation for a horrendous terrorist act
against us. In the same way, the United
Nations and others who may have received
some compensation could not have known the
line budget items for the funds being used for
the reconstruction of the UN Abuja buildings.
Even the Nigerian Guild of Editors, which may
have received donations for their secretariat
from the ONSA, could not have known which
subhead it was paid from. We simply cannot
know or be expected to speculate which line
item the spending was made from by the
ONSA. There is simply no nexus between
payments made for compensation, to us
victims of terrorism as well as to newspapers
in compensation for an unprovoked attack on
free speech, and any arms purchase budget'
We do not deserve further trauma because
some official(s), outside of our control, may or
may not have followed due process. All victims
of terrorist attack deserve a fair and just
compensation. The fact that we have received
some remedy should be reason to accelerate
compensation for all victims of Boko Haram
attacks across Nigeria however big or small,”
he said.