September 24, (THEWILL) – The National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC), also known as the Ombudsman, has indicted Daily Trust over a report on the Samoa Agreement.
Nigeria on June 28, 2024, signed the Samoa Agreement at the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) Secretariat in Brussels, Belgium. The partnership agreement is between the EU and its Member States, on one hand, and the members of the OACPS on the other.
However, Daily Trust had on July 4, 2024, published a report titled “LGBT: Knocks as Nigeria Signs $150 Billion Samoa Deal”. The report said that the federal government signed an agreement with clauses requiring Nigeria to endorse the rights of Lesbians, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex, and LGBTQI+ people. It also said that Nigeria would collect 150 billion dollars for endorsing the deal.
While the report generated outrage among Nigerians over the purported agreement that allows for LGBT rights, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, filed a letter of complaint to the media ombudsman, the Nigerian Press Council (NPC), to compel the newspaper from circulating wrong and misleading information.
According to the complaint filed by Dr Ngozi Onwudiwe, Permanent Secretary of the information ministry, the Federal Government alleged that the Daily Trust report posed a threat to national security.
However, in its 19-page report released on Monday, the commission said the Daily Trust was “inaccurate” on the Samoa Agreement, and failed to meet journalistic standards as stipulated in Article 2.1 of the 2022 Revised Code of Ethics for Nigerian Journalists.
It directed Daily Trust to issue an apology in both its print and online editions, as well as a commitment to take internal editorial steps to prevent future occurrence.
Also, the Commission berated the federal government over poor handling of issues around the Samoa Agreement, stating that had the government demonstrated “greater openness, transparency and accountability” in dealing with matters relating to the deal, “the attendant conjectures and speculations about the content of the Samoa Agreement could have been avoided.”
The NMCC, chaired by Emeka Izeze, former Managing Director of The Guardian, has among its members, a former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Mr A. B. Mahmoud (SAN); a Deputy Vice Chancellor of Paul University, Awka, Anambra State, Prof. Chinyere Stella Okunna; the Editor-in-Chief of Diamond Publication, Mr Lanre Idowu; and the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Mr Edetaen Ojo.
Other members of the body are Mrs Dupe Ajayi-Gbadebo, a journalist, lawyer and arbitrator; Mrs Eugenia Abu, broadcaster, author, columnist and former Executive Director of Programmes at the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA); and Dr Hussain Abdu, the Country Director of Care International (Nigeria).
