July 8, 2008
Full Text Of The Press Statement By The News Management
Our attention has been drawn to an assortment of advertorials either written or instigated by Otunba Kunle Kalejaiye (SAN), Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s lawyer, since TheNEWS current cover story, entitled: ‘‘The Scandal of Judges, How Osun Tribunal Was Compromised’’ hit the streets on Sunday. We naturally expected a fight back from Otunba Kalejaiye, so we were not in the least surprised at his moves to cast doubts on the authenticity of our story.
Kalejaiye and his friends, including a media aide to the Osun State Governor, want the world to believe that the call records of the lawyer, Justice Thomas Naron and others were forged. This infantile submission is very far from the truth.
In advertorials published by Kalejaiye in July 9 daily newspapers, the MTN claimed it “is not the source of the story.” Our reaction to this is that we never claimed that the MTN officially handed us the material. Every rookie journalist knows that great journalistic stuffs are never released officially. Not the Watergate Scandal. Not the Profumo Scandal. Not the Monica Lewinsky Scandal. Not the Salisu Buhari Scandal,which TheNEWS magazine broke nine years ago.
But we want to emphasize that the phone logs are authentic, incontrovertible and unimpeachable. Our lawyer has already been mandated to do a letter to MTN Nigeria, warning it of the consequences of succumbing to the desperate blackmail of Kalejaiye and others by tampering with the call records of Kalejaiye and Justice Naron. In any case, we shall be willing to tackle Kalejaiye in court because we are very sure of our facts.
We are delighted that MTN has admitted that only the court and security agencies can cause it to release individuals’ phone logs. We are eager to see this matter get to court so that the company can be ordered to release the phone logs of Kalejaiye and Co. and show who is lying between us and this desperate lawyer.
Kalejaiye makes a huge capital out of the error on Page 22 of TheNEWS this week, which ascribed text messages sent to him by Justice Thomas Naron as having been sent by him (Kalejaiye). This was just an error, which we have since rectified in our electronic version.
We tried our best to be fair to all concerned in the story, by interviewing Kalejaiye and the judges at the centre of the monumental scandal. And it is on record that we called Kalejaiye and Justice Naron on the numbers they have been using since 1 December 2007. On 3 July, we put a call through to 08034105705, which is suspected to belong to a judge of the Osun tribunal. However, the man, whom Kalejaiye now describes as a junior lawyer in his chambers, confirmed that he was Justice Ekpo Ekanem. Could Kalejaiye’s junior counsel have impersonated Justice Ekanem because a female voice made the enquiry? Besides, many calls to Kalejaiye from that number, according to MTN logs available to us, emanated from Ilobu in Osun State, where judges of the Osun Election Tribunal are quartered. If indeed it is true the number belongs to a young lawyer in Kalejaiye’s chambers, what could he possibly be doing at the base of the judges?
It is true that sometime ago we had cause to settle a matter out of court with Kalejaiye and paid him compensation. The matter had to do with the trial of Senator Iyiola Omisore over the murder of Chief Bola Ige. Kalejaiye was Omisore’s lawyer.
At the time, we had to take that decision because our main witnesses, a senior judge and a top lawyer, at the eleventh hour said they would not risk being murdered by appearing in court. It had nothing to do with the veracity or otherwise of the story. The judge handling the case in question (who refused to be bribed) was later relieved of the case and punitively transferred out of Ibadan for refusing to grant bail to Omisore.
Our lawyer has been instructed to file an action against Kalejaiye and anyone who, without proof, accuses us of forgery in this case.
The truth is that we have the logs of all calls and text messages made by Kalejaiye and Justice Naron in the last six months to colleagues, friends and family members, and those made to them.
Kalejaiye knows that it is in court that he can clear his name. Not on the pages of newspapers.
We affirm that our story is true. It is the truth. And we are sure in the fullness of time, this shadow chasing by Kalejaiye and his agents will come to naught.
Our attention has been drawn to an assortment of advertorials either written or instigated by Otunba Kunle Kalejaiye (SAN), Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola’s lawyer, since TheNEWS current cover story, entitled: ‘‘The Scandal of Judges, How Osun Tribunal Was Compromised’’ hit the streets on Sunday. We naturally expected a fight back from Otunba Kalejaiye, so we were not in the least surprised at his moves to cast doubts on the authenticity of our story.
Kalejaiye and his friends, including a media aide to the Osun State Governor, want the world to believe that the call records of the lawyer, Justice Thomas Naron and others were forged. This infantile submission is very far from the truth.
In advertorials published by Kalejaiye in July 9 daily newspapers, the MTN claimed it “is not the source of the story.” Our reaction to this is that we never claimed that the MTN officially handed us the material. Every rookie journalist knows that great journalistic stuffs are never released officially. Not the Watergate Scandal. Not the Profumo Scandal. Not the Monica Lewinsky Scandal. Not the Salisu Buhari Scandal,which TheNEWS magazine broke nine years ago.
But we want to emphasize that the phone logs are authentic, incontrovertible and unimpeachable. Our lawyer has already been mandated to do a letter to MTN Nigeria, warning it of the consequences of succumbing to the desperate blackmail of Kalejaiye and others by tampering with the call records of Kalejaiye and Justice Naron. In any case, we shall be willing to tackle Kalejaiye in court because we are very sure of our facts.
We are delighted that MTN has admitted that only the court and security agencies can cause it to release individuals’ phone logs. We are eager to see this matter get to court so that the company can be ordered to release the phone logs of Kalejaiye and Co. and show who is lying between us and this desperate lawyer.
Kalejaiye makes a huge capital out of the error on Page 22 of TheNEWS this week, which ascribed text messages sent to him by Justice Thomas Naron as having been sent by him (Kalejaiye). This was just an error, which we have since rectified in our electronic version.
We tried our best to be fair to all concerned in the story, by interviewing Kalejaiye and the judges at the centre of the monumental scandal. And it is on record that we called Kalejaiye and Justice Naron on the numbers they have been using since 1 December 2007. On 3 July, we put a call through to 08034105705, which is suspected to belong to a judge of the Osun tribunal. However, the man, whom Kalejaiye now describes as a junior lawyer in his chambers, confirmed that he was Justice Ekpo Ekanem. Could Kalejaiye’s junior counsel have impersonated Justice Ekanem because a female voice made the enquiry? Besides, many calls to Kalejaiye from that number, according to MTN logs available to us, emanated from Ilobu in Osun State, where judges of the Osun Election Tribunal are quartered. If indeed it is true the number belongs to a young lawyer in Kalejaiye’s chambers, what could he possibly be doing at the base of the judges?
It is true that sometime ago we had cause to settle a matter out of court with Kalejaiye and paid him compensation. The matter had to do with the trial of Senator Iyiola Omisore over the murder of Chief Bola Ige. Kalejaiye was Omisore’s lawyer.
At the time, we had to take that decision because our main witnesses, a senior judge and a top lawyer, at the eleventh hour said they would not risk being murdered by appearing in court. It had nothing to do with the veracity or otherwise of the story. The judge handling the case in question (who refused to be bribed) was later relieved of the case and punitively transferred out of Ibadan for refusing to grant bail to Omisore.
Our lawyer has been instructed to file an action against Kalejaiye and anyone who, without proof, accuses us of forgery in this case.
The truth is that we have the logs of all calls and text messages made by Kalejaiye and Justice Naron in the last six months to colleagues, friends and family members, and those made to them.
Kalejaiye knows that it is in court that he can clear his name. Not on the pages of newspapers.
We affirm that our story is true. It is the truth. And we are sure in the fullness of time, this shadow chasing by Kalejaiye and his agents will come to naught.
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