Babatunde Fasola

Following a sharp disputation between the Government of Lagos State, South West Nigeria and the Publisher of ThisDay Newspaper titles, Mr. Nduka Obaigbena, the Governor of the State, Mr. Babatunde Fasola has ordered the return of an award recently given to the State on account of good performance on infrastructural development.

Governor Fasola was said to have issued an executive order for the return of the award as a sign of deep anger against an alleged campaign of calumny and blackmailed said to have been perpetuated by Mr. Obaigbena, using ThisDay Newspapers.

Pointblanknews.com learnt that the award rejection is coming in the wake of another major scandal trailing the much publicized African Rising event which was recently held in Lagos, Nigeria; it ended as a major public relations fiasco for both the organizers, Leaders and Company, publishers of ThisDay and the host nation, Nigeria.

Nduka Obaigbena, Publisher, ThisDay Newspapers

Obaigbena’s troubles started after he granted an interview to the New York Times, Americas biggest News daily in which he claimed a corporate fortune of over $100 Million accruing annually to his Leaders And Company, Publishers of his ThisDay Newspaper titles.

Revenue officials at Alausa, the Secretariat of Lagos State Government were miffed at the staggering amount that Mr. Obaigbena boasted of in revenue, while his company is not registered as a non-for-profit and yet refusing to pay relevant taxes and tariffs on account of several events staged by Mr. Obaigbena in the State.

In short, the Lagos State Government is accusing Mr. Obaigbena and his Newspaper titles of tax evasion both on business and personal earnings, an act deemed as criminal by Lagos State Laws.

With specificity, Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Opeyemi Bamidele had said “ "the Lagos Internal Revenue Service has been pursuing him both for the remittance of the PAYE tax of his companies and his personal income tax, enquiries to which he has refused to respond."

Officials of Lagos State Government who described Mr. Obaigbena’s trouble with Governor Fasola as “fundamental” said that the well known Newspaper proprietor had staged several events at Lekki in the past, to the dissatisfaction of residents of the town. The officials alleged that organizers and patrons of the various events always ended up breaching the terms of the use of the concerned facility. The town was always littered and major access roads often blocked and commuters usually stranded.

As a matter of fact, it was said that their have been people who had to pass several hours and sometimes full night in their vehicles because of alleged disregard for the rule engagement by Mr. Obaigbena each time he stages an event.

And to further complicate the already bad situation, Mr. Obaigbena is said to be in the habit repeatedly telling revenue officials that his events were for charity and that he did not make any money. Therefore, it became an issue of great consternation when Mr. Obaigbena claimed to the New York Times that he netted over $100 Million with his ThisDay titles while promoting his most recent project-Africa Rising.

advertisement

Sources told Pointblanknews.com that the maverick publisher may have chosen the wrong Nigerian officials to mess with this time particularly the Lagos State Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Bamidele is an angry middle-age youthful lawyer, former President of the radical National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, who would not condone the sheer criminality of Nigerian elite who hardly pay correct taxes.

Apart from Obaigbena’s running battles with Lagos State Government, sources told pointblanknews.com that his much advertised Africa Rising event to which world class musicians and Models like Jay-Z, Usher, Naomi Campbell were invited ended being a big embarrassment as most of the models were not paid the pre agreed fees.

Many of the models who were lodged at a well known Lagos five Star hotel were refused check out, their international passports confiscated because of Mr. Obaigbena’s failure to pay the appropriate hotel bills. While the high profile guests were being held at the hotel, Mr. Obaigbena stated making desperate calls to friends and politicians for a bail out. As at the time of filing this report, it was not clear if he was succeeding.

Professor Wole Soyinka was said to have almost suffered the same fate when he was invited to the ThisDay event in New York tagged Nigeria Meet the World. After agreeing to pay for the Nobel Laureate’s hotel bill, the Publisher reneged and Professor Soyinka had to make a last minute arrangement at the Waldorf Astoria.

Mr. Obaigbena was said to have made $5 Million from the Nigerian Government for the New York event which he is said to have shared with Professor Babagana Kingibe who facilitated the release of the funds.

At the present, Mr. Obaigbena is locking horns with the officials of the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, PMAN who are angry that the publisher has often time undermined Nigerian musicians with his frequent invitation of foreign artistes to the country while organizations he is indebted to have threatened legal actions.

-------------------------------------------------------------