Army Sues Premium Times over Alleged False Publication

As Editor kicks, demands apology

Emma Okonji

The Nigerian Army has told its lawyers to institute legal action against Premium Times, an online news site for allegedly publishing series of false and malicious news against the Nigerian Army and the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai.

The Director, Army Public Relations, Brigadier General Sani Kukasheka Usman, who made the disclosure, said the action of the Nigerian Army to go to court, was prompted by the refusal of the online publication to retract the stories, despite several warnings by the army, backed with a letter dated December 22, 2016, calling for retraction.

The letter which was signed by Major General IM Alkali, accused Premium Times of publishing false stories against the Chief of Army Staff and the Nigerian Army, over insurgency in the North-east, without verification from the army. Alkali had in the letter, asked Premium Times to retract the stories and publish same before December 31, 2016, but the online publication stood its ground, and had rather demanded for an apology from the army over its threat issued against the staff of the medium.

Based on its refusal to retract the story, the army briefed its lawyers and asked them to institute a legal action against the publication, Usman said in a statement.

According to him, “The Nigerian Army has instituted a legal action against an online publication, the Premium Times, over its failure to retract and apologies over false, subversive and malicious publications against the person of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai and the Nigerian Army. All efforts to make the medium make amend proved abortive. The medium however remained adamant and recalcitrant. Consequently, the Nigerian Army has briefed it’s lawyers to institute legal action against the medium.”

But rather than retracting the publication, Premium Times has written the Nigerian Army, through its lawyer, Barrister Jiti Ogunye, demanding apology from Buratai.

The Editor-in-Chief/Chief Operating Officer, PREMIUM TIMES, Musikilu Mojeed, who confirmed the letter in a statement, said on Wednesday, the newspaper published a letter dated December 22, written on behalf of Mr. Buratai, by I.M Alkali, a Major General, accusing Premium Times of “unwarranted serial provocative, unauthorised, libelous and defamatory publications.

According to Musikilu, the letter from the army, expressed displeasure with three stories published by the medium between October and December last year. The army described the stories as “false, unsubstantiated, and unprofessional” but provided no evidence to back its claim.

Musikilu however said that Premium Times, on Tuesday, through its lawyers, delivered a detailed response to the Army, affirming its stories, and unequivocally rejecting the demand for retractions and apology.

The paper, instead, asked the army to write a letter within seven days of receiving its reply, withdrawing the allegations and threats against it and its staff, or risk being sued.

Ogunye, the newspaper’s principal counsel, who signed the response, took the army to task on the “grave implications” of its letter, and describing the army’s letter as a threat to the well-being and life of Premium Times’ staff.

“By your letter you have threatened the lives of our clients, and our clients are thus obliged to put the public on notice that should any harm come to them, you, the Chief of Army Staff and the Nigerian Army should be held accountable,” Ogunye wrote.

He said the “chilling threats” contained in the army’s letter was an affront on the constitutional guarantee of civilian control of the army and the freedom of the press.

“It is our view that all working journalists and news outlets are entitled to some protection from public officers, especially of the military and security agencies who are charged with the duty to secure and protect Nigeria and Nigerians, their lives and property, and maintain law and order, but who often, because of the uniqueness of that duty and for reason of the exclusive bearing of arms and control of our commonly owned ordinance, assume very erroneously that they are above the law,” Ogunye said.

He rebuked the army for describing Premium Times,’ stories as “unprofessional” saying military and other public officials were not in a position to question the paper’s professionalism.

“The penchant of public officers to flippantly, arrogantly and ignorantly label media reports and stories and journalists ‘unprofessional’ once they are affected by media reports and stories must be deprecated with decorous pungency. Sir, you are not in any position at all to teach our client media professionalism, ethics and standards,” the paper said.

“It really can be exasperating and disconcerting to see public officers condescendingly castigate journalists, many of whom are not only internationally acclaimed and celebrated but who also have up to forty years of practice as journalists under their belt,” the letter stated.

Ogunye also criticised the army’s penchant for claiming exclusivity of patriotism and national sacrifice.

“Sir, the Nigerian Army of which you spoke so glowingly is an heir to a military that unpatriotically subverted, many times, constitutional governance in Nigeria, plunged Nigeria into a three-year internecine civil war, committed unspeakable rights violations against the Nigerian people and thwarted the efforts of Nigerians to restore democratic governance to Nigeria,” Ogunye told the army in his letter.

Part of the letter read: Even under the current civil government, the officers and men of the Nigerian Army continue to carry out acts that threaten the survival of democratic governance. The roles played by officers and men of the Nigerian Army in the Ekiti State Governorship Election in 2014; the insertion of the Nigerian Army in the partisan allegation that the WASC School Certificate of our President, Muhammadu Buhari; the seizure and confiscation of newspapers nationwide during the Presidency of Goodluck Jonathan by men and officers of the Nigerian Army under the guise of looking for terrorist elements; and the recent killings that attended the insistence on right of way by the Nigerian Army against the adherents of the Shiite Islamic Sect in Zaria, in which hundreds of civilians lost their lives, are cases in point.