Economic Confidential
Economic Confidential Dismisses Tonye Clinton Jaja’s
Threats, Media Blackmail
… Presidency Casts doubt on his ability as Board
Chairman of Copyright Commission
The management of Economic Confidential, an Abuja-based
authoritative and credible economy-focused magazine said neither it
nor other media organisations, will be cowed to do the sinister
bidding of one Mr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, no matter the orchestrated
threats and campaign of calumny.
Managing Editor and Director of the magazine, Mr. Ewache Ajefu,
in a statement on Tuesday, said Jaja, who is a part-time Chairman
of the Governing Board of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC)
is hell-bent on smearing the image of the country’s media.
According to Ajefu, the NCC Governing Board Chairman has been
threatening media houses to drop a report on the response of the
Director-General (DG) of the agency, John Asein, to his
detractors.
The Editor’s statement, which was titled, “Clinton Jaja and the
Orchestrated Attempt in Media Blackmail,” reads: “The attention of
Economic Confidential has been drawn to an orchestrated attempt by
one Mr. Tonye Clinton Jaja, a part-time Chairman of the Governing
Board of the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) to drag the name
of our media in the mud, by threatening media houses to drop a
report on the response of the Director-General of the agency, John
Asein to his detractors.
“In our efforts to fight corruption, especially in the public
service, our media welcome credible information from reliable
sources.
“While investigating NCC, Tonye Clinton Jaja was not only among
sources that provided useful information to Economic Confidential
in the initial report on the NCC DG but played a major role in
facilitating some documents against the DG, John Asein (See the
report: DG Copyright Commission Caught in Web of
Corruption, Abuse of Office https://cutt.ly/nccweb[1])
“However, when we sighted an official memo by the Presidency
rejecting an unwholesome request of Tonye Clinton Jaja to be made
Full term Chairman of NCC among other unbecoming attitudes, we
became curious.
“In the said memo to Tonye Clinton Jaja dated 2nd March 2020 and
signed by the Legal Adviser in the Office of the Secretary to the
Government of the Federation (SGF), Emmanuel E. Akissa stated thus:
‘Your application which is strange and inconsistent with the public
service rules and your recent activities have clearly demonstrated
a conflict of interest situation and therefore casts doubt on your
ability to continue to offer neutral and effective leadership to
the Copyright Commission as the Board Chairman. It is clear that
peace will elude the Commission going forward.’
“When other opinions came up on the issue for balance and fair
hearing, we find it compelling to do a follow-up in the second
report by reflecting a statement of the DG to clear his name on the
allegations. Hence, we used John Asein’s response in our second
story in order to balance the initial report, in accordance with
the extant principle of balance reporting. (See the report:
Public Service Rules: Copyright Commission
Boss, John Asein Replies Detractors
https://cutt.ly/asein[2])
“Few days after the second publication, we were shocked beyond
utter disbelief learning that Tonye Clinton Jaja wrote to Editors
of some media houses, asking them to drop the stories they
published from the Economic Confidential on the response of the NCC
DG.
“It is imperative for us to put on record that Dr. Tonye Clinton
Jaja sent a barrage of SMS, WhatsApp, and email messages to
Economic Confidential Editor and also physically visited our Abuja
office several times in the course of our first investigative
report against the DG NCC John Asein.
“But even more distressing is the fact that on the basis of the
second report, Jaja went to the extent of threatening to take
unwholesome actions against the media houses, after calling and
exchanging correspondences with the Editors of Economic
Confidential and other media organizations.
“In the light of the threat issued by the part-time Chairman of
the NCC Board, and the fact that he could abuse his position for
mischief, the Economic Confidential hereby urge the media concerned
to disregard the threat as we are taking further actions on the
said Clinton Jaja’s unethical conducts.
“Equally, we also wish to state that the Economic Confidential
has clips of telephone conversations as well as his correspondences
that are unbefitting of a part-time chairman of a regulatory body,
a lawyer for that matter and surprisingly a public servant in
another agency of government in his attempt to compromise fairness
and objectivity in editorial judgement.
“Therefore, we wish to inform Mr. Tonye Clinton Jaja that
Economic Confidential and other media outfits cannot and would
never be cowed to do his sinister bidding no matter the
orchestrated threats and campaign of calumny.
“See attached a memo by the Presidency on the Character of Mr.
Tonye Clinton Jaja,” it concluded.
THE PDF OF: Memo by Presidency on Tonye
Clinton Jaja[3]