Stop defamatory publications, Sir Emeka Offor's family warns Sahara Reporters, others

Business mogul, Chief Emeka Offor, has ac­cused a section of the social media of deliberately embarking on a smear cam­paign against him and his family.
He said some recent pub­lications by online news me­dium, Sahara Reporters, were clearly designed to defame him.
Offor raised the issue in a statement issued yesterday on behalf of the family by his brother, Hon. Onyebuchi Of­for – a representative of the highly respected Offor fami­ly in Ekwusigo Local Govern­ment Area and the Minority Leader, Anambra State House of Assembly.
Offor said that the entire reports by the online medi­um contained nothing but outright falsehood.
The family said that it was convinced that the news me­dium was undertaking the dirty job for pecuniary gains.

He said that Sahara Re­porters has published over seven libellous articles on Emeka Offor in the last 30 days.
Offor gave Sahara Re­porters seven days to apol­ogise to him and his family over the misleading reports or face legal action within and outside Nigeria.
Hon. Offor said: “We consider that Sahara Report­ers has constituted itself into 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 channelled those blessings toward the better­ment of his fellow men (and women and children) 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”.
Contrary to Sahara Re­porters’ assertions, Offor said that he is hale and hearty and a happily married man with beautiful children whom he loves and who love him as well.
According to him, his multinational business­es have continued to thrive while his personal wealth continues to endure for the benefit of those who have “benefited from his legend­ary largesse, munificence and altruism.”
Offor also explained that planning by his family for the burial of his father, Pa Offor, is on course, noting that it was disgusting that Saha­ra Reporters chose to disre­spect the memory of Pa Offor by bringing him into its un­warranted publications.
The astute businessman affirmed that his organisa­tions have contributed over 50 percent to the building of the Oraifite Civic Centre which stands as one of the best civic centres in the South East zone.
Offor explained that con­trary to the reports, he has been running a unique uni­versity scholarship scheme for over 20 years with the provision of a car and auto­matic employment for ben­eficiaries who graduate with First Class degrees.
He further disclosed that he runs a widows’ coopera­tive society with over 3,000 members under which a sig­nificant number of the wid­ows have been sent to India for training on managing a cooperative society.
These widows, he said, have established a microfi­nance bank and other thriv­ing microenterprises.
The family said that Of­for had built a well- equipped Anglican Church in the South East in Oraifite; 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) as well as built the Ekwusigo LGA Central Police Station.
Others are the provision of a free water scheme for the four quarters of Oraifite (Un­odu, Ezumeri, Irefi and Ifite); skill acquisition programmes undertaken by youths of Ek­wusigo LGA under Sir Eme­ka Offor’s Youth Empower­ment Scheme.
Offor said that he trained over 100 youths in vari­ous skills acquisition pro­grammes and empowered them financially to start their own businesses.
The family described Sir Offor as a serial job creator with over 3,000 Nigerians under his payroll, indirect­ly creating over 10,000 jobs in addition.
His star of charity, ac­cording to the family, shines far beyond his immedi­ate community, such as his partnership with a Unit­ed States (US)-based NGO, through his Foundation to donate books, reading ma­terials and computers worth over $22 million to schools and communities in over 18 African countries.
Sir Offor has also 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.
Similalry, Offor has 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 Organisation, UNICEF and the US Centre for Disease Control.
Through his Founda­tion, Sir Offor entered into a long-term agreement with The Carter Centre to elimi­nate river blindness (‘Oncho­cerciasis’) in Nigeria and pro­vided a $10 million grant to the Carter Centre, the larg­est grant ever received by the organisation, to facilitate its efforts at eliminating river blindness in Nigeria.
He said: “In the light of the above, we wish to ask Sa­hara Reporters some perti­nent questions: What do you intend to achieve by the ma­licious publications?
“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?”
In his conclusion, Hon Offor said: “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 laws against Sahara Reporters if within seven 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.”