"On the occasion, our chairman, Lady Maiden Alex-Ibru, expressed appreciation for the presence of the President in person. Speaking to the issue, she urged the President to see to it that such disruption to newspaper business does not occur again. Turning to her colleagues, she unequivocally spoke against compensation for newspapers and pleaded with them to let it pass. This did not go down well with many of her colleagues. Not even with the intervention of the President could they be dissuaded. Dr. Jonathan, touched by the argument of Mrs. Ibru, in his genial way, wondered why other newspapers would not go along with her on the matter. Those who wanted compensation, however, carried the day.
In furtherance of her stance what The Guardian lost in the unfortunate Army clampdown in a democratic order, communicated to the NPAN, was N450,000 all things considered, which made any claim for compensation by us all the more unwarranted. That was on 15 July, 2014. This was followed with a letter two days later in which we made our position clear. The communication was sequel to a meeting at which every newspaper was asked to file claims.
Our understanding was that the computation of the losses would enable the NPAN to know what the losses came to in total. Consistent with our practice within a week our auditors already knew what our loss was. In general it came to N2.6million including agency fees and sundry expenses. The NPAN was accordingly advised. After we computed the actual which came to N450, 000 we similarly advised the secretariat and withdrew the computation of N2.6 million. In a letter dated 17 July 2014, we stated categorically that we would not need the N10 million compensation. Since July last year nothing was heard either from the NPAN secretariat or its leadership until the controversy broke out two weeks ago. We wish to state clearly that The Guardian was not a beneficiary of any compensation..."
- Ikhide
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