In this report, Ise-Oluwa Ige examines the background facts surrounding the complaints filed by the Federal Government before the National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC) against Daily Trust newspaper over its purported colouring of the details of Samoa Agreement endorsed by Nigeria on June 28, 2024 as it affects the recognition of the rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer community, LGBTQ, in Nigeria and surveys stakeholders on the implications of the parties surrendering to the jurisdiction of the commission.
Background
On June 28, 2024, the Federal Republic of Nigeria signed a vital partnership agreement (otherwise called Samoa Agreement) with the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, designed to tackle challenges on six key priorities in the country in the next two decades.
That was after extensive reviews and consultations by the inter-ministerial committee convened by the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that of Justice.
The areas of cooperation between the parties include human rights, democracy and governance; peace and security; human and social development; inclusive, sustainable economic growth and development; environmental sustainability and climate change; and mobility/migration.
The endorsement made Nigeria the 73rd member of Organisation of Africa, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) to sign the document.
Negotiations on the agreement began in 2018 but it was signed on November 15, 2023 by all 27 EU member states and 47 of the 79 OACPS states.
Before the deadline of June 30, 2024, 74 of the 79 OACPS states including Nigeria, had signed the Agreement, leaving out only Equatorial Guinea (Africa) Cuba and Trinidad and Tobago (Caribbean) and Nauru and Tuvalu (Pacific).
The Nigerian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Belgium, Grand Duchy of Luxembourg and the European Union, Obinna Onowu, signed the agreement on behalf of the Nigerian Government.
Specifically, the agreement seeks to foster cooperation between EU’s 27 members and OACPC with 79 nations.
In the clean agreement signed by both EU or OACPC member states, there was no where Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer were either explicitly or implicitly mentioned.
Essentially, the negotiations and outcomes of the agreement were largely based on universally accepted international laws, conventions and treaties applicable to the parties (while recognising the supremacy of the constitutions of the constituent countries as uppermost).
Although Nigeria signed the Agreement on June 28, 2024, information about the ratification of the deal became a public knowledge on Monday, July 1, when the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Alhaji Abubakar Atiku Bagudu confirmed the development at a reception organised by the European Union (EU) in Abuja.
Lagos lawyers raises alarm over Samoa Agreement
But in less than 72 hours after the endorsement of the deal became a public knowledge, a Lagos-based lawyer, Mr Sonnie Ekwowusi, wrote an article wherein he raised the alarm that Nigeria’s endorsement of the Samoa agreement amounted to legalisation of LGBTQ in the country, citing the purported provisions of Articles 2.5 and 29.5 of the Agreement as reason for his claim.
Ekwowusi who queried the rationale for signing the agreement consequently advised the Federal Government to urgently undo the damage, by immediately withdrawing from the LGBT agreement even as he urged the National Assembly to invite the Nigerian officials who signed the pact to explain why they did so.
Daily Trust says FG has endorsed LBGTQ by its endorsement of Samoa Agreement
That was the situation when on July 4, 2024, the Daily Trust, in a front page report titled: LGBT: Knocks As Nigeria Signs $150 Billion Samoa Deal, similarly raised a fresh alarm that the partnership agreement signed by Nigeria in Brussels contained certain clauses that compelled underdeveloped and developing nations to support the agitations by the LGBT community for recognition, as a condition for benefiting from a $150bn funding package, among other supports from advanced societies.
The Daily Trust report however heavily relied on the opinion article authored by the Lagos lawyer, Ekwowusi, rather than the original document signed by Nigeria with EU while the story formed a basis for Khutba (sermons) by some respected imams who were misled by the story thereby raising tempers in the country.
Media scholars blast Daily Trust, FG
But an Assistant Professor in Political Communication at the School of Arts and Sciences, American University of Nigeria, Yola, Nigeria, Dr Suleiman A. Suleiman and another Professor of Journalism and Emerging Media at Kennesaw State University, Farooq A. Kperogi, faulted the Daily Trust report on four counts including that the story in question did not cite the contentious clauses in the agreement on which the entire reporting—and the ensuing controversy—was based; that as a fact, there is no provision mandating member states to adopt LGBTQ rights in the Samoa Agreement; that though, the European Union (EU) actually tried, but ultimately failed, to have provisions on LGBTQ included in the clean agreement signed by EU and OACPS member states.
“It is not enough for Daily Trust to say “The agreement reportedly has some clauses that compel underdeveloped and developing nations to support the agitations by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) community for recognition, as condition for getting financial and other supports from advanced societies” as the story in question merely did, Suleiman said.
“The story must cite the said contentious sections directly from the original document, both to affirm them as fact and also to give the reader a chance to make up their own minds about what makes them contentious or important. Unfortunately, the story failed this fundamental test of reporting. The headline is also misleading, as it suggests that the government traded away our sovereignty and religious values for money.
“Nowhere in the entire text of the “Negotiated Agreement” first approved by the joint EU-Organization of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States (OACPS) chief negotiators on 15th April 2021, a 187-page document, was money mentioned in any specific sense,” he added.
Suleiman however said that he is of the view that the mistake that brewed the on-going controversy were definitely errors on the side of duty and not of malicious intent, adding that the Nigerian government itself was slow in responding to such mistakes.
“What was needed from the government, by the evening of July 4 when the story was published, was for a very senior official of the government—a Minister or higher—to use their own Muslim or Christian backgrounds to defuse the story,” which he claimed they did not do.
Similarly, Professor Kperogi, instead of Daily Trust to cite the portion of the Samoa agreement that purportedly mandates Nigeria to change its laws to accommodate LGBTQ-friendly policies, it anchored its headline and the entire story on an unnamed report without even citing evidence from the report.
“The paper then proceeded to fish for people who would express fury and consternation over a piece of information that it hasn’t originally seen, and these expressions of fury and consternation created a self-reinforcing loop. We call this circular reporting.
“Circular reporting, also called false confirmation, occurs when a source contrives a piece of information, repeats the information to multiple sources in the form of interviews and then cleverly passes off the views of the interviewees as the original source of the information. It’s basically creating something from nothing.
“Again, page 8 of the partnership agreement notes that not only African, Caribbean, and Pacific countries but also some European Union members resisted being bludgeoned into agreeing to LGBTQ+ rights,” Kperogi added.
Other sins of Daily Trust—FG
The Federal Government has however disagreed with Prof Suleiman on his view that Daily Trust merely fell into error, citing a couple of instances when the same newspaper took caution to the wind to publish hearsay as news stories in the last few months, citing aftermath of the coup in Niger Republic, when itreported that the federal government was driving the country into war and twisted it with regional sentiment to cause disaffection (amongst our people) and while it gave a banner headline to a baseless accusation that the government was working on citing foreign military bases in the country without any shred of evidence to prove its point.
The government also said that three weeks ago, the newspaper purportedly concocted and popularised a lie that the federal government had renamed the Murtala Muhammed Expressway in Abuja to Wole Soyinka Way.
FG drags Daily Trust before National Ombudsman
The government has already dragged the newspaper before a nine-member Board of the National Media Complaints Commission (NMCC) otherwise called National Ombudsman.
The committee is chaired by Emeka Izeze, former Managing Director of the Guardian Newspapers.
Others include A. B Mahmoud, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria and former President of the Nigerian Bar Association; Chinyere Okunna, Professor and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (academics), Paul University, Awka, Anambra State; Hussain Abdu, a Development Specialist and Country Director, Care International (Nigeria); Lanre Idowu, Editor-in-Chief, Diamond Publications Ltd. and Founder, Diamond Awards For Media Excellence (DAME); Edetaen Ojo, Executive Director, Media Rights Agenda (MRA); Dupe Ajayi-Gbadebo, journalist, lawyer and arbitrator; and Eugenia Abu, broadcaster, author, and columnist.
In the complaint, filed by the Federal Government, it is contending that the Daily Trust’s report on the Samoa deal was fake news specifically published for public incitement.
The government urged the commission to, among other things, carry out a thorough investigation of the alleged misleading publication; direct the newspaper’s management to publicly retract and correct the alleged false information, with equal prominence as the original article; direct the newspaper’s management to issue an unequivocal apology for “allegedly recklessly disseminating false information and implement stricter editorial guidelines to prevent a repeat of such alleged unwholesome report by any newspaper in the future”.
Samoa Report: Ombudsman Writes Daily Trust, Asks For Response
Already, the NMCC has written Daily Trust newspaper requesting a response to the Federal Government’s formal complaint on the newspaper’s report on the Samoa deal within 14 days.
In a letter dated July 12 and signed by Feyi Smith, the interim secretary of the commission, Daily Trust is expected to file a formal response to the complaint filed by the Ministry of Information and National Orientation, which alleged that Daily Trust’s report on the Samoa deal was fake news published for public incitement.
The Group Chief Executive Office/Editor-in-Chief (Print), Ahmed I. Shekarau, has however assured that the newspaper will respond to the letter within the specified timeframe.
Implication of Daily Trust case for NMCC
Media advocates in Nigeria have commended the federal government’s decision to file a complaint to the Ombudsman.
For instance, the Executive Director of the International Press Centre (IPC), Lanre Arogundade, described government’s patronage of the commission as a welcome development, “These measures are far better than arbitrary arrest. Public officials and state institutions should not be seen taking laws into their own hands when media organisations erred. I will expect that the Ombudsman could prevail on any erring media organisation and decisions of the Ombudsman should be respected because the commission is an initiative of the umbrella of media organisations, the National Press Organisation (NPO),” Mr Arogundade said.
He added that he expects the Ombudsman to examine the issues dispassionately and make recommendations that the concerned media should follow if they think they erred.
The Coalition for Whistle blowers Protection and Press Freedom (CWPPF) also commended the federal government’s decision to approach the commission, saying it is a new dawn in the country.
“The decision of the federal government signifies a step in entrenching the vision of the coalition of a freer and safer environment for journalists to operate,” the coalition of 28 organisations said.
It urged the private and public sector leaders to take advantage of the NMCC to report grievances against journalists and media organisations rather than resorting to using security agencies to attack the press.
“We equally urge the NMCC to adhere to its mandate of conducting thorough investigations into all complaints received and ensuring appropriate disciplinary measures for any journalist or media organisation that errs,” the statement read.
A senior lawyer based in Lagos, Barrister Aderogba Adekunle said President Bola Tinubu’s administration should be commended, saying were it to be previous administrations, some of the affected journalists would not be able to sleep with their eyes closed now.
“It is on record that since the commission was inaugurated one year ago, the Daily Trust case appears the most celebrated complaint that has ever come before it.
“Now that the government has accorded recognition to the commission, the way it handles the instant case will go a long way to determine whether government and members of the public will have trust and confidence in it to further patronize it. The matter, as much as I know is a test case for the commission. It is only hoped that the commission itself will discharge its responsibilities without fear or favour,” he said.
Vanguard
