The Leadership Weekend has apologised to President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua and members of his family for the report published by the newspaper weekend.
The newspaper had in its Saturday publication with the headline “Yar’Adua Sick Again” reported that the President had “fallen critically ill and this has prevented him from attending public functions in the last two days including Jumma’at prayer at the National Mosque Friday and 4th Africa/German Forum at Sheraton Hotel.”
In a statement by the newspaper’s Managing Editor, entitled: “Leadership Weekend Story: Our Statement“, it said: “We admit that portions of the lead story carried yesterday [Saturday] by Leadership Weekend did not meet the standard we have set for ourselves as a newspaper.
“After taking a second look at the offensive part of that report, we can understand the concerns of the presidency and therefore sincerely apologise to the president and members of his family.”
It said the mix-up in the story did not suggest that it was working in alliance with any person, group or party who did not mean well for the President or the country.
“We may not agree with the manner in which the President ‘won’ his election, but that does not mean we are in cahoots with detractors of his administration. As a newspaper, we believe that the people’s right to know is sacrosanct,” it said.
The newspaper said it was obvious from the responses it received from well-meaning Nigerians and friends of the country “(who drew our attention to the offensive part of the story) that many rely on us for veritable and credible information.”
It said the slip should not be misconstrued in any way.
Even at the risk of sounding immodest, it said, it could state without equivocation that it was concerned about the progress of the nation and was making positive contributions in its development.
“We have supported this presidency in our own little way whenever we identify the need for it, but, in the same vein, we consider the oaths of secrecy that this government is imposing on its officials as utterly needless.
“As a result of this embarrassment, however, we have relieved the persons responsible of their duties even before the presidency’s statement. A thorough in-house cleansing of our reportorial mechanism has since commenced. We do not take the issue of our integrity lightly, for our professional competence has never been in doubt,” it stated.
According to the statement, “We do not wish the president ill and his ailment, for us, is not a matter for celebration. It is not an impeachable offence to be ill, but report we must when we have to, as it is our statutory and constitutional obligation to inform the public.”
The President had directed his lawyers to sue the newspaper for libel over what he termed “malicious rumours and outright falsehood” over his health.
Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, had said in a statement weekend that the planned legal battle against the newspaper was in furtherance to the President’s belief in the rule of law.
“In keeping with his commitment to upholding the rule of law at all times, Yar’Adua has directed his lawyers to take appropriate legal action against the Leadership newspapers and pursue the case to its logical conclusion,” he said.
Nov102008