TheSun announces returning of #9million collected from Dasuki

The management of The Sun newspaper issued the statement below,
Sunday, to announce its return of the N9million it received from the
office of the National Security Adviser "as compensation for the
seizure of its newspapers and stop­page of circulation during the
Good­luck Jonathan administration in June 2014."
It said the the N9million cheque had since been returned to the
Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria, NPAN, for onward passage
to the office of the National Security Adviser.
NPAN and N120 million compensation: Our position 1
In deference to public outcry and the need to protect its corporate
integrity, the Management of The Sun Publishing Limited has re­turned
the N9 million received from the Presidency through the Newspa­per
Proprietors Association of Nige­ria (NPAN) as compensation for the
seizure of its newspapers and stop­page of circulation during the
Good­luck Jonathan administration in June 2014.
In a statement issued yesterday and signed by its Managing
Director/Editor-in- Chief, Mr. Eric Osagie, The Sun said it took the
decision following the controversies, which the payment of the
compensation had generated and the need to come clean on the matter.
The statement reads further: "The Man­agement of The Sun Publishing
Limited has considered the public outcry and diverse controversies
generated among media hous­es, the Newspaper Proprietors Association
of Nigeria (NPAN) and the public over the N120 million paid by the
Goodluck Jonathan administration as compensation to newspa­per
companies for the unlawful seizure of their newspapers and stoppage of
circulation by armed soldiers in several cities across the country in
June 2014.
Having reviewed the situation, we wish to state as follows:
After the unlawful action of the military, to which The Sun lost
millions of naira, we had signified the intention to commence
liti­gation against the Federal Government along with other affected
newspaper companies.
2. However, at the level of the NPAN, which The Sun is a member, a
de­cision was collectively taken to accept the Presi­dency's offer of
peace­ful settlement in place of litigation in the interest of peace
and national se­curity.
We were later in­formed of the payment of N120 million compensa­tion
out of which the sum of N9 million was paid to The Sun Management by
the NPAN.
At the time the com­pensation was paid, we had no inkling whatso­ever
under which expen­diture sub-head in the Presidency the fund was
sourced and that it was al­legedly part of the funds meant for the
purchase of arms.
As a very responsible newspaper organization, which places premium on
ethics, individual and cor­porate integrity, we are certainly
embarrassed by the turn of events and the unfortunate insinuation of
involvement in the illegal sharing of the nation's commonwealth and
the feasting on the blood of soldiers fighting the war against
insurgency.
We believe strongly in our corporate integrity and principles of
fairness and social justice, which have driven our business
considerations over the years.
In the light of the foregoing, we have re­turned the cheque of N9
million to the NPAN for onward transmission to the source through
which it came.
We have seen that the good intention not to seek redress in court has
seem­ingly backfired.
We have also given notice to our lawyers to immediately commence the
process in court to redress the huge loss suffered through the actions
of the military.
We assure our teem­ing readers of our commitment to serving them
faithfully and conscientiously by upholding the time-tested principles
of fair business ethics, eq­uity and social justice