A journalist with the New Telegraph newspaper has
threatened to sue the Peoples Democratic Party
Chairman, Adamu Muazu, over the alleged refusal of
the disbanded PDP Presidential Declaration
Committee, to settle N6.9m advertisement debt.
The newspaper gave the party two week-ultimatum
to settle the debt or face legal action.
The organisation in the petition by a Kaduna-based
lawyer, Festus Okoye, claimed that the committee,
headed by Senator Aniete Okon, failed to settle
advertisements it placed in several newspapers on
December 24, 2014.
Okoye, in the petition, dated May 11, 2015, stated
that his client, Ibrahim Musa, the Bureau Chief of
New Telegraph newspaper in Kaduna State, had
placed centre-spread advertisements in Daily Trust,
Leadership, The Sun and Vanguard newspapers on
the instruction of Dr. Okey Ikechukwu, a member of
the PDP Presidential Declaration Committee.
The petition reads, “Our client has exercised
sufficient restraint in relation to the payment for
these advertisements and his integrity and the
livelihood of some of his colleagues are at stake.
“We plead that you use your good offices to ensure
that our client is paid to enable him to meet his
own commitments to his colleagues and their
newspapers. Our client has given us the mandate to
use all legal and constitutional means to affirm the
integrity of the contract but we feel that we should
explore an amicable resolution of this matter.”
However, the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Olisa
Metuh, said he was not aware of the petition, noting,
however, that the Declaration Committee was not
created by the PDP, but by the Presidency.
He said, “No, I am not aware of the letter. Until I see
a copy of the letter, I cannot comment, but the
Committee wasn’t set up by the party; it was a
creation of the Presidency”.