Parallex Bank, a microfinance bank which recently transformed into a commercial bank, has been accused of launching an assault on press freedom when its agent caused the takedown of THE WHISTLER website for about four hours on Monday, January 31, 2022.

The website had published a report of the launch of the bank titled “Christ Embassy Launches ‘Free’ Commercial Bank” using information provided on the bank’s own website on January 17.

The bank said it would provide some interest-free services including “5 Free Interbank Transfers Daily” and zero maintenance fees on all accounts.

The report immediately went viral.

“Apparently not expecting it would so quickly come into public scrutiny, the bank decided to hire a cyber-security firm – iZOOlogic – based in the United Kingdom, which wrote THE WHISTLER to step down the report,” the management of the Abuja-based newspaper said.

“When this did not yield the desired result, the firm went through our website’s hosting company to report a copyright infringement alleging that THE WHISTLER published a content it “did not authorize.”

“The host, acting on the wrong information provided by Parallex bank, took down the website for about four hours.

“After being notified about the false allegation, THE WHISTLER explained that there was no copyright violation since the information used in the report was publicly available on the bank’s own website.

“The clarification led to the restoration of the newspaper’s website,” THE WHISTLER said.

It berated the financial institution, saying: “Parallex bank’s action was no doubt an assault on media freedom and THE WHISTLER is prepared to seek redress in court for the damages caused.”

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