OFFICIAL DISCLAIMER AND NOTICE OF FALSE PUBLICATION ATTRIBUTED TO GLOBAL RIGHTS

Our attention has been drawn to a publication by the Authority Newspaper, captioned “NGO slams IPI Nigeria President, Mojeed, alleges he ‘lacks integrity’, dated December 27, 2025, which was falsely attributed to Global Rights and our Executive Director, Abiodun Baiyewu.

We wish to state clearly and unequivocally that:

Global Rights never issued a statement accusing the President of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria), Mr. Musikilu Mojeed, of alleged unethical conduct as claimed in the publication.

Our executive director, Ms. Abiodun Baiyewu, did not at any time sign, authorise, approve, or endorse the statement in question.

The publication was fabricated, malicious, and entirely false.

At no point did Global Rights engage with the publisher of the said article, provide comments, or participate in any briefing on the issues referenced.

Global Rights maintains longstanding professional relationships across the media and civil society community, including with the leadership of the International Press Institute (IPI Nigeria). Any suggestion that we authored or support the content being circulated is untrue and deliberately misleading. We consider this an attempt to falsely implicate our organisation in an ongoing public controversy to which we are not a party.

As an organisation committed to human rights, integrity, and accountability, we publish all official statements exclusively through our verified channels. Any document not originating from these channels should be disregarded.

Global Rights is demanding an immediate retraction, a public apology, and the removal of all references to our organisation and Executive Director from the offending publication.

We have begun formally documenting this matter and are consulting our legal advisers. Those responsible for falsely using our name and that of our Executive Director will be held accountable under the law, as Section 375 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act provides that publishing defamatory matter knowing it to be false is a punishable offence…

Members of the public are advised to disregard the publication in its entirety. We also urge media organisations to:

• Verify information before sharing,
• refrain from amplifying falsehoods,
• Rely only on our official platforms for accurate communication.

Global Rights will not hesitate to defend its integrity, leadership and institutional reputation.

For verification or enquiries, please contact: contact@globalrights.org.

Signed:

Olubunmi Aweda

Country Manager, Global Rights