African Independent Television (AIT) owners received N10
billion to produce and air negative documentaries on leaders of the All
Progressives Congress (APC), a SaharaReporters investigation shows.
SaharaReporters learnt that the Minister for Petroleum Affairs,
Diezani Allison-Madueke is bankrolling the documentary while the scripts and
voice overs are being prepared and cut with the help of the Nigeria Television
Authority and some Nollywood production companies and working for President
Jonathan's re-election.
As a result of the massive deal, AIT, which was in poor
financial shape that its principal owner, Raymond Dokpesi, had decided to sell
it to the banks to which the station owed several billions of Naira, is now
back in good standing. It has also become considerably bolder because of the
backing of Mrs. Allison-Madueke and other powerful government officials behind
the deal.
Our investigation reveals that AIT receives N5 million each
time an episode of any of the documentaries is aired on their channels in
different Nigerian markets.
Apart from the cost of producing and airing the
documentaries, SaharaReporters found that a team of high-priced lawyers has
also been mobilized with about N3 billion to handle any legal threats that may
arise from the documentaries. Just last week, APC chieftain Bola Tinubu sued
AIT over the documentary on him.
