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SWITZERLAND, AUGUST 14 – Businessday newspaper has apologised to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo over the publication of a report wrongly alleging his involvement in an illegal N10bn withdrawal from the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
In a statement published on its online platform, Businessday said that the story failed to meet its editorial standards and acknowledged that it was baseless, unfounded and unsupported by any factual substance.
“We hereby convey our sincere, profound and unstinted apology for allowing our newspaper to be used as a platform by which the said news item was conveyed. The said publication is highly regretted by us and we urge our esteemed readers and the general public not to ascribe or attach our reputation for disseminating accurate information that we expect the public to trust to it,” the statement partly reads.
The report was also published by The Sun newspaper, which the vice president has threatened to sue to court if it does not retract the story and tender an apology within seven days.
Read the full statement below:
“On 9th August 2020, businessday.ng published a story titled “Ex APC spokesman asks Buhari to probe Osinbajo, AuGF over alleged N10bn withdrawal from TSA.”
“That story failed to meet the editorial standards of Business Day Newspaper, as we have since discovered that the story was baseless, unfounded and unsupported by any factual substance.
“We have already disabled the links to the story and hereby retract it completely and unreservedly.
“Business Day apologises to His Excellency, Professor Yemi Osinbajo SAN, the Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, his family, friends, colleagues and well-wishers for the unwarranted inconvenience and embarrassment the publication has occasioned.
“We hold the Vice President in very high esteem and appreciate his enormous worthy and enviable achievements in the private sector as a respected Professor of Law – of multiple decades standing and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, amongst others; and the worthy and enviable strides he has made in public service as the former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice Lagos and presently Vice President of Nigeria.
“We hereby convey our sincere, profound and unstinted apology for allowing our newspaper to be used as a platform by which the said news item was conveyed. The said publication is highly regretted by us and we urge our esteemed readers and the general public not to ascribe or attach our reputation for disseminating accurate information that we expect the public to trust to it.
“A letter conveying our unreserved apology has since been sent to the Vice President.”
