Stop defamatory publications, Sir Emeka Offor's family warns Sahara Reporters, others
Read the press statement below...
I, Hon. Onyebuchi Offor, a representative of the highly respected Offor family in Ekwusigo LGA and by the grace of God, Minority Leader, Anambra State House of Assembly, bring you salutations from the Offor family.
Our
attention has been drawn to recent publications by Sahara Reporters which are
evidently designed to defame Sir Emeka Offor, a most illustrious son of
Igboland.
Given
the patent falsehood running the gamut of the said publications, we consider
that Sahara Reporters has constituted itself the orchestrator and purveyor of a
targeted smear campaign against Sir Emeka Offor, possibly for economic gain and
at the behest of certain unscrupulous elements.
There
is no gainsaying the fact that Sir Emeka Offor is one of the most industrious
and accomplished Nigerians of his generation. He has attracted and enjoyed
God's entrepreneurial and pecuniary blessings for over three decades. He has in
turn consistently channeled those blessings toward the betterment of his fellow
man (and woman and child) by remarkable acts of philanthropy. Notable among the
plethora of honours and recognitions that he has received in that regard is the
award by the Rotary Club International for his immense contributions towards
humanity and the global war against polio.
We
wish to make clear that contrary to Sahara Reporters’ libelous assertions, the
following is the true and unimpeachable position with regard to Sir Emeka
Offor:
· Sir
Emeka Offor is hale and hearty.
· Sir
Emeka Offor is a happily married man with beautiful children whom he loves
abundantly and who love him very much in return. .
· Sir
Emeka Offor’s multinational businesses continue to thrive and prosper by the
grace of God. Similarly, his personal wealth continues to endure for the
benefit of the multitudes who have benefited from his legendary largesse,
munificence and altruism.
· Planning
by the family for the burial of our late father, Pa Offor, continues apace. We
find it disgusting that Sahara Reporters chose to disrespect the memory of Pa
Offor by bringing him into their odious publications.
· Sir
Emeka Offor’s contributions to the local community are innumerable; permit us
to enlighten Sahara Reporters on a few:
ü Sir
Emeka Offor contributed over 50% to the building of Oraifite Civic Centre which
stands as one of the best civic centres in the South-East of Nigeria.
ü Sir
Emeka Offor has run a remarkable university scholarship scheme for over twenty
years with the provision of a car and automatic employment for beneficiaries
graduating with first-class degrees. Thousands of Nigerians have been proud
beneficiaries of this scheme to date.
ü Sir
Emeka Offor runs a widows’ cooperative society with over 3,000 members as of
today. Under the auspices of this cooperative society, he sent a significant
number of the widows to India for training on managing a cooperative
society. They have subsequently been able to establish a microfinance
bank and other thriving microenterprises.
ü Sir
Emeka Offor built and fully equipped one of the best Anglican churches in the
South East of Nigeria, located in Oraifite.
ü Sir
Emeka Offor singlehandedly constructed a major community road (off
Onitsha/Owerri road to Oraifite /Nnewi border). This project was executed by
renowned civil engineering and contracting firm, MCC.
ü Sir
Emeka Offor built Ekwusigo LGA Central Police Station .
ü Sir
Emeka Offor provided a free water scheme for the four quarters of Oraifite
(Unodu, Ezumeri, Irefi and Ifite).
ü Do
we talk about the various skill acquisition programs undertaken by youths of
Ekwusigo LGA under Sir Emeka Offor's Youth Empowerment Scheme? Just last year,
Sir Emeka Offor not only trained over one hundred youths in various skill
acquisition programs but also empowered them financially to start their own
businesses on completion of their training .
ü Sir
Emeka Offor is a serial job creator with over 3,000 Nigerians under his
payroll, indirectly creating over 10,000 jobs in addition.
ü Apart
from within his conglomerate, Sir Emeka has helped innumerable people secure
jobs in Nigeria and abroad. The breadwinners of many families are gainfully
employed today through the efforts of this great member of the Offor family.
Sir
Emeka Offor’s star of charity shines far beyond his immediate
community. Again, we wish to mention but a few of his national and
international works of benevolence:
ü Partnering
with a U.S. based NGO, Sir Emeka Offor has through his eponymous Foundation
donated books, reading materials and computers worth over $22 million to
schools and communities in more than 18 countries in Africa including Nigeria.
ü Sir
Emeka Offor has established a glaucoma research centre at the Department of
Ophthalmology, University of Mainz, Germany and in conjunction, established a
Nigerian fellowship for cataract surgery and glaucoma management at the
university.
ü Sir
Emeka Offor donated $2 million, which was matched with a grant of an additional
$4 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to support the Global
Polio Eradication Initiative launched by the Rotary International, the World
Health Organization, UNICEF and the U.S. Center for Disease Control.
ü Sir
Emeka Offor, through his Foundation, entered into a long-term agreement with
The Carter Centre to eliminate river blindness (‘onchocerciasis’) in Nigeria.
Pursuant thereto, Sir Emeka Offor provided a $10 million grant to the Carter
Center, the largest grant ever received by the Center, to facilitate the
Center’s efforts in eliminating river blindness in Nigeria.
In
light of the above, we wish to ask Sahara Reporters some pertinent questions:
· What
do you intend to achieve by the malicious publications? To increase the traffic
to your website or to advertise your skills as character-assassination experts
available for hire?
· Why
have you never reached out to Sir Emeka Offor, in keeping with the ethics of journalism,
directly or through his conglomerate’s media relations’ representatives, to get
his own side of any of the stories you wished to peddle?
· How
much have you been paid to deliberately and recklessly foment a campaign of
calumny against Sir Emeka Offor, including but not limited to bringing
emotional and psychological distress to his family and loved ones by exposing
them to ridicule and odium?
Sahara
Reporters has published over seven sensationally libelous articles on Sir Emeka
in the last thirty days. The lack of objectivity in your intentions
is self-evident in your relentless and ungrounded focus on one
individual. We continue to wonder who might be the sponsors to whom
you have lent your connivance and instrumentality. We are aware that
like any successful businessman, Sir Emeka Offor has competitors who would
benefit from his being brought to disrepute.
We
want to assure Sahara Reporters however that we will not sit back and watch you
continue your attempts at discrediting our brother. We intend, as a family,
to take advantage of all legal and equitable
remedies available to us in domestic and international law against Sahara
Reporters IF WITHIN SEVEN (7) DAYS, you fail to tender an unreserved
apology to Sir Emeka Offor and his family for your defamatory publications and
character assassination. We also demand that Sahara Reporters cease
and desist henceforth from making any other or further defamatory publications
against Sir Emeka Offor or any member of the Offor family.
Thank you.
Hon.
Onyebuchi Offor
(Minority
Leader, Anambra State House of Assembly)
For
the Offor family of Oraifite, Ekwusigo Local Government Area of Anambra State
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