.. Company’s shareholders demand for profits and assets declaration
.. Paper now engages in blackmailing state governments, government officials to stay afloat
In Nigeria, some journalists have taken the opportunity of practicing journalism as a means by which they must make money at all costs through blackmailing.
They have gone far away from the normal ethics of journalism, thrown caution into the winds and engages in all dubious means to make money.
One of such publishing firm is Northern based newspaper and online platform, Desert Herald.
Desert Herald publisher, Tukur Mamu according to a reliable source is currently in trouble. He’s been running from pillar to post to save his battered image as shareholders of the Kaduna based newspaper are threatening to take the publisher to court for refusing to declare the company’s assets and profits since 2008.
One of the shareholders, a very influential Northerner based in Kaduna hinted us that other shareholders were expecting the publisher, Tukur Mamu, to declare returns for the investment at Desert Heralds, but for a decade now, the publisher neither declared the assets, nor briefed the investors, despite the huge sums of money he collected and the agreement signed.
And to compound the troubles of Tukur Mamu, one of the shareholders we can confirm has concluded plans to sue the company and the Publisher at the Federal High Court, Abuja next week, for refusing to make public the company’s assets, investment returns and shareholder’s dividends since 2008 till date.
The complainant’s lead lawyer, Barrister Lawal Musa said; “Our client injected millions of Naira into the media company (Desert Herald) after retiring from the Federal Civil Service since 2008, but it was very unfortunate that the company and its publisher had decided not to declare any dividends or assets”.
In the same development, shareholders of Desert Herald have been complaining bitterly saying the newspaper has derailed from the ethics of professional journalism practice, management and reportage by always propagating fake stories without clarification, especially on security and politics which has really caused mischiefs and confusion and the newspaper been a subject of litigation several times.
They said the publisher is now into various partisan politics through his daily updates and actions and into all manners of dirty journalism practices by taking advantage of situations to blackmail.
