RE: A BACK PAGE STORY OF "THE SUN" SATURDAY 21ST AUGUST 2004, TITLED "HUMAN PARTS, BLOOD-STAINED COWRIES FOUND UNDER GRANDMA'S BED."
Monday 23 August 2004
The Editor
Sun Newspaper Lagos.
Our attention has been drawn to the above publication. The story carries a picture showing a banner with National Association of Seadogs inscribed on it and makes mention of a so-called Seadogs Confraternity as "one of the most notorious campus cults in the society." Purely out of concern because the article carries a description that may be seen to coincide with ours, and without prejudice to that position, we feel that it is necessary to offer the following comments.
We have NO CONNECTION with either the incident(s) described or the circumstance(s) alluded to. We wish to state emphatically that we have investigated the allegations contained in your publication and discovered that the materials allegedly recovered and purported to be the properties of NAS do not belong to us. We are not, neither are we called or known as "Seadogs confraternity". We are neither a campus cult nor a cult of any description. We have made this position abundantly and publicly clear on several occasions in the past. Additionally, possession of a certificate of discharge from the National Youth Service Scheme (NYSC) has been a condition precedent for membership for many years now. This would make the student population generally unsuitable.
As a progressive, intellectual, humanitarian and social advocacy organisation, we have no use for the barbaric and primitive materials reported by the story. For the avoidance of doubt, there is NO aspect of the philosophy of this organization that derives from; is associated with or connected to any religious persuasion whether orthodox, traditional or otherwise.
The National Association of Seadogs has no existence in schools or universities of any description, having withdrawn and ended its presence on such university campuses in 1984. Recently, we have been made aware of students in schools and those outside them who claim to be members of our distinguished association. That is a situation over which we have no control. It is illogical to expect that we can bear any responsibility for those who illegally put themselves forward as our members. That is a law enforcement responsibility. It is also incumbent on the institutions to take proactive steps to deal with those whose actions offend their rules and regulations. Those who break the law must, we have always insisted, be prosecuted to the full extent of the laws of the land, without exception.
We are grateful for your paper's story as it exposes those involved in this kind of action and encourage you to do so. However, we consider the reference to Professor Soyinka wholly inappropriate and deplorable. We are sure that you are fully aware of this organisation's distinguished antecedents, having yourself covered several of our activities in the past. We remind you of two recent situations. On 14 April 2004, your paper carried coverage of the visit of our organization on 13 March 2004 to the abandoned Leprosy Colony on the East/West Road in Bayelsa State. Second, on 14 July 2004, you published an extensive coverage of events relating to our lecture in honour of Professor Soyinka held in Lagos the day before. These activities, which you brought to the nation, are clearly inconsistent with the theme of the activities that your paper has recently covered. Professor Soyinka is a Nigerian of considerable distinction and one whose peerless integrity should not be impugned either lightly or at all without any justification. We are disappointed that our views were not sought to ensure that the kind of impression that may be conveyed by this article could have been avoided.
We have strong reasons to believe that the owner or owners of the materials fall within the category of the imitators that seek to undermine our integrity. We understand that the police authorities have clearly distanced the organisation from the activities that they are investigating and confirm that we are happy with this position. We have established and will maintain contact with the police and will continue to monitor the investigations. Our lawyers have been instructed to consider and pursue civil proceedings against those identified.
We hope that this response will be published with the same prominence that your earlier publication was made.
Signed:
ANDREW OBINNA ONYEARU
NAS Capone
National Association of Seadogs (NAS)
23rd August 2004
