THE newsroom of of leadership newspaper in Abuja is literally on fire following alleged indiscretion of an editor, Mr. Chuck Ohuegbe to accept an unverified material from a an amorphous group, the International Human Rights Monitors, purported to be operating from the United States as a result of which the news corporation now faces charges of slander, defamation and misinformation from the law chambers of Benjamin Whitfield Jr. and Associates, attorneys to Nigeria’s ambassador to the US, Professor Ade Adefuye.
Several colleagues at the Leadership Newspaper told sharpedgenews.com that Mr. Ohuegbe was tongue-lashed during editorial meeting for consistently demonstrating gluttony and allowing unverified copies to pop-up on the pages of the budding media house, the latest of which was published on Saturday, purporting that the International Human Rights Monitors led by Carlisle Umunnah and Carol Olubufunmi was leading Nigerians in the US on a “mega protest” at the Nigerian embassy for alleged crimes perpetrated by the ambassador.
The management of leadership allegedly dissected the content of the material said to have been foisted by Ohuegbe as the lead story for Saturday after what a source said was influenced by “unprofessional compromise.”
Many of the editors came to the meeting on Sunday, disturbed by the obvious inconsistencies and gaffes in the story which Ohuegbe unethically pushed through,” confided one of the sources.
The source explained that Ohuegbe was tongue-lashed for not scrutinizing the pedigree, the background and antecedents of the fraudulent group’s sponsors before suppressing the opinion and the investigated reports from the newspaper’s US correspondent, Abiodun Oluwarotimi. Ohuegbe who was allegedly notorious for playing Smart Alec as a correspondent in the National Assembly, was suspected of collecting a yet to be determined amount of money from the sponsors of the story before agreeing to play ball.
“It has now been discovered that Abiodun Oluwarotimi, the Leadership correspondent in the US, had the views of the accused ambassador, but Ohuegbe methodically brushed him aside and decided to impose the smear copy from Emeka Ugwonye, the arrowhead of the campaign, to discredit Mr. Adefuye,” said another source who disclosed that Monday’s editorial board meeting promises to be hot.
Sharpedgenews.com was reliably told that Ohuegbe, considering his antecedents as a consultant to Daniel Kanu of the notorious Youth Earnestly Ask for Abacha was given to hyperbolic conjectures.
“Even when there were less than ten thousand marchers for Abacha, he was one of those who made fat financial rewards and claimed that there was two million man march.
Ohuegbe’s angry colleagues allegedly felt that if he cared, he would see the inconsistencies in the titles and roles assumed by Umunna and Olubufunmi. They both claim to be protesting against Mr. Ambassador, but it is obvious that Umunna is a Biafran separatist advocate of proven mental instability, questionable litigations through which he creamed off past employers and established disturbed thought process. He may be part of an organized group of fraudsters who goes about posing as journalist on the internet. Olubufunmi was recently exposed for trying to swindle the wife of Vice President Namadi Sambo. Olubufunmi’s lawyer, Emeka Ugwonye has a suspended license as a result which he cannot practice currently. He had been exposed as a thief in a documented court case which is still ongoing, acting unprofessionally by orchestrating an easy way out.
The owners of the newspaper company are said to be worried about the possible indiscretion that may arise from the legal actions that could come from lawyers to Ambassador Adefuye.