Media failed to paint the complete picture on Adeosun’s judgement – Mojeed
Musikilu Mojeed is the Editor-in-Chief and Chief Operating Officer of Nigeria’s foremost online publication Premium Times. In this interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, he speaks on why the media got it wrong on the reportage of the recent judgement in a case instituted by former finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, and why the judgement is a minute part of the picture that led to the resignation of the erstwhile minister of finance. He added that the publication stands by the story published three years ago as he knocks the government for foot dragging in prosecuting Adeosun. Excerpts
What is your reaction to the recent judgement that acquitted former Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on your report that led to her resignation from office?
There is no acquittal. It was a civil case so you can’t get an acquittal through a civil case. She was the one who went to court seeking interpretation of the law on whether she is under any obligation to serve or whether she stands to be disqualified from being minister as a result of not participating in National Youth Service (NYSC). So that was the issue for determination and there was no acquittal at all.
As far as we are concerned, the issues were raised in our story remain. We believe that the attorney general, who was the defendant in the case, did not put up a strong defence in the case. He basically agreed with all the points raised by the plaintiff, which is Adeosun. He basically concurred to almost all of her points. He is wrong to agree that Adeosun was not eligible for NYSC.
Why did you say the attorney general was wrong?
Anyone familiar with the law knows it was true that at a point under the Nigeria law, when Adeosun was 22 years old, she lost her citizenship of Nigeria but the law was again amended by the Babangida regime with a decree.
At the age of 25, she regained her citizenship. She lost her citizenship at 22 and regained it at 25 so she should have served. I am not sure that was put before the court.
The impression that was created in court was that she lost her citizenship at 22 and that it was only when she was 34 that she returned to the country to obtain her first passport. Remember that obtaining a passport is not a determinant of citizenship. There are several citizens of Nigeria who have never obtained passport. So, the fact that she came at 34 to obtain a passport does not mean that she was not a citizen before then. So that strand of our story remains valid as far as we are concerned.
But there are two sides to our story. One is that she skipped NYSC. The second part of the story was that she presented a forged NYSC exemption certificate and that has not been controverted by anyone. She
admitted realising eventually that that the certificate was forged but that she didn’t know that until our investigation. Even the government conducted an inquiry and it came to the same conclusion that the NYSC exemption certificate she presented was not genuine. So, we are wondering why the government is yet to charge her for forgery. Basically, we feel strongly that our story is 100 percent correct and we will continue to stand by our story.
Does the judgement indicate there is a collusion between the government and Adeosun?
I won’t say there is collusion because I have no strong evidence to say so. But what is curious is why the Attorney General will put up such a weak defence in court. What the Attorney General has done by agreeing that she was not eligible for NYSC has a huge implication for our country. It has weakened the whole essence of the NYSC scheme, because now, it does appear that a lot of people won’t bother about enlisting for national service. When you kill an institution like the scheme, you can imagine the damage you are doing to Nigeria.
I will not say there is collusion, even though it is curious that the Attorney General will go to court simply to concur with what was brought to court by the lawyers to Kemi Adeosun.
Another thing that is curious is why will a government that claims to be fighting corruption refuse, for about three years, to charge Kemi Adeosun for forgery. Yet, every now and then, Nigerians, either those who forged certificates of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) or other institutions are being charged and convicted for forgery. Why are we not all equal before the law? Why is Kemi Adeosun bigger than our law? Why has she not been in the dock to explain? She has even confessed that her certificate was forged and the government has done an inquiry and determined that the document she submitted to the DSS and the Senate for clearance to be confirmed as minister was fake. Why is the government reluctant about prosecuting her?
So, what moral right does the government have to put any Nigerian who forged any certificate behind bars. Every day around the country, the federal government, governors and agencies of government continue to dismiss people who they believe presented forged certificates to be employed. Some of them are then prosecuted. So why is that of Adeosun different?
You made it clear that your story is still valid, is the validity in the public opinion since the court gave a judgement that affected a part of the story?
I have said that she has not been cleared. The criminal aspect has not been tested in court. She has admitted to forgery herself; the government has found out that the document she presented was fake. She has to be put before the law. I am saying that our story remains valid because it can stand the test of time.
There is also the suggestion that she might sue Premium Times and we are happy to meet her in court because that was a thorough report that took several months. So, if she wants to test her integrity in court, we are happy to meet her there.
What has been the action and reaction of the public since the judgement was made?
Those who understand the issue have continued to praise the work that Premium Times did. Although, there is an attempt to deceive a lot of people to paint the impression that she has been cleared or exonerated, there is nothing like that. A few people are propagating that narrative. But generally, we have received praises for our work. We are not even surprised by the orchestrated attempt to rewrite history. Even before the story was published, we faced all kinds of resistance and after the story came out, we faced all sorts of attacks from her supporters, online and offline. We didn’t bulge because we believe that if we want to build the country of our dreams, we must all be equal before the law.
We believe that everyone who commits a crime in our country should pay for it. We have no battle against Kemi Adeosun as a person but of course, that is our job to hold those in government accountable. The constitution of Nigeria expects the media to hold individuals, government and businesses accountable. That is what we are doing, which we will continue to do. We came under tremendous pressure not to do the story. But we remain unbowed and will continue the job that the constitution of our country has asked us to do.
What is the implication of the judgement for the media?
I was a bit disappointed with the way the media reported the judgement. Some of our colleagues did not quite understand the issues and contexts of the matter. How can you be reporting as a serious media organisation that somebody has been exonerated or acquitted by a civil case which merely sought constitutional interpretation. What the court only said is that she did not need to provide NYSC certificate to be appointed minister. Is it that the media did not know of the forgery aspect of the case? Why can’t the media look deeply into the issue of her citizenship and loss of citizenship to determine whether the judgement itself can stand an appeal?
I was quite surprised and can’t understand why the media decided to report the issue like that. This is another evidence that we really need to up our game in the media and need to learn to deepen our understanding of important matters. We need to master how to put issues in their proper contexts. We need to be competent enough to provide the right guidance to our readers and audiences because we must know more than them. We must be able to provide authentic and factual information that can help our audiences to make the right kind of decisions. To be honest, the media did not perform well in the reporting of the Adeosun judgment. I think we need to invest more in training.