A consortium of lawyers for human rights and justice and the Council of Ethnic Youth Leaders of Nigeria (CEYLN) in conjunction with some Civil Society organizations have said that there is an ongoing global media campaign plot against the Aiteo Group of Companies and its founder, Mr. Benedict Peters, using an international media organization, The Washington Post.
In a joint press conference by the different groups, they alleged that the allegations being peddled against Mr. Peters and Aiteo were the same issues which had already been conclusively determined by courts of competent jurisdiction or pending in court and the purpose of the publication could only be to impugn the integrity of Mr. Peters and the company.
“Out of the five questions Mr. Whoriskey inquired about, question 1 has been resolved by a competent court of law in Nigeria and the decision widely publicized. A simple internet search would have availed Mr. Whoriskey of the judgment of the case and the present state of affairs. Further, questions 2-5 were directly extracted from untested allegations contained in a first amended verified complaint filed before the United States District Court, Southern District of Texas, Houston Division,” the groups said.
They called on media houses not to yield their platforms to people whose objectives were not noble.
They added,“There is a plethora of questions which The Washington Post rather has to answer and which directly calls to question its genuineness in permitting this to happen. It is bad for the image of The Washington Post that its staff have yielded the platform to be used for a global smear campaign and unhealthy business rivalry.”
Mr. Tochukwu Ohazuruike who addressed the press on behalf of the groups, said, “Mr. Peters has stated several times that he has never received any favour by way of facilitation or otherwise from Dieziani Alison-Madueke, and there was therefore nothing to be grateful for. “He has several times denounced any such attempt to link the purchase of his property with Dieziani under such premises. His purchase of the furniture was in furtherance of his desire to furnish a property that belonged to him, and the furniture can be found, even today, at his said property at 58 Harley House. No furniture that belonged to him can be found at any other place other than in his property. “The furniture found at the UK address of Dieziani Alison-Madueke does not belong to him, and certainly could not have been the same found in his said property at 58 Harley House.”
The groups said that the answers they provided should discourage future smear campaigns, saying that was not the first time it happened.
They added, “We hope that with these answers we would have satisfied Mr. Whoriskey and got him to alert his sponsors that the plot is dead on arrival and cannot be revived.
“We also say to all such persons who would in the future want to reopen these issues that the answers are already available in the public space as there is nothing hidden and there is nothing any media house can unearth again so no need taking any jobs from the sponsors of this smear campaign.”
Lawyers, youth leaders, CSOs condemn Washington Post’s attack on AITEO, Peters
