The Source Magazine's Unprovoked Attack on PREMIUM TIMES: Our Stand

Our attention has been drawn to a recent publication by The Source Magazine, with a Cover Story entitled: ” Alamieyeseigha: How False Story Killed Him”.

In the said story, the magazine, owned by Comfort Obi, insinuated that the recent death of a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, penultimate week, was triggered by a purported story published by PREMIUM TIMES that the British government made a request to the Nigerian government for the extradition of the former governor to the United Kingdom to face money laundering charges.

The magazine specifically stated: “An online portal, PREMIUM TIMES had recently rehashed its March 28, 2013 story and presented it to unsuspecting readers as fresh. A section of the traditional media also strangely keyed into the PREMIUM TIMES stale story and published it as fresh. Quoting the immediate past British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Andrew Pocock, PREMIUM TIMES had reported that the UK government was interested in extraditing Alamieyeseigha to stand trial and that a request had already been made to the federal government to that effect”.

To say that the story carried by the magazine on this subject and its direct reference to PREMIUM TIMES is shocking is to say the least. In the first instance, PREMIUM TIMES never published any such story in its recent publications. The last time a story was published on a proposed extradition of the deceased governor was on March 28, 2013. The story entitled: “Britain writes FG, requests ex-convict Alamieyeseigha’s extradition to London” was a reportage of the request made on the subject by the British government. The circumstances surrounding the story and the personalities quoted in it are clearly different from the realities of today and nothing should have made The Source Magazine come to the conclusion that the story was a recent publication of our newspaper.

Aside the hasty and incredible conclusion drawn by the magazine against PREMIUM TIMES, it is amazing that the magazine’s publisher, Comfort Obi, proceeded to write a commentary based on the falsehood concocted by her publication. No effort was made to reach the management of this newspaper to get its own side of the story before the magazine went to town with its tendentious and patently unprofessional publication.

PREMIUM TIMES is a medium built on impregnable tradition of objectivity, courage, professionalism and globally-acclaimed penchant for excellence and diligence. It leaves much to be desired that a national magazine like The Source would hit the newsstands with a story that is neither true nor researched in line with the ethos and ethics of journalism.

We challenge The Source Magazine to quote any recent publication by PREMIUM TIMES where the extradition issue of the former governor was raised. We challenge the magazine to justify its malicious stance against PREMIUM TIMES with unassailable proof that we indeed rehashed any such story or that it reached out to any of our editors for comments.

If the magazine fails to come forward with any of these, it should be ready for a legal action. We have already advised our lawyers to initiate the necessary processes for litigation against the magazine.

SIGNED: