‘Your Actions Since Appointment Are Illegal’

The Media Adviser to the immediate past Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, Crusoe Osagie, has lampooned the Managing Director of the Edo State Broadcasting Service (EBS), Sulaiman Aledeh, over his recent publication about the previous administration.

In a statement made available to Naija News on Thursday (today), Osagie said Aledeh had either been misinformed or deceived concerning his (Osagie’s) candid assessment of Okpebholo’s rudimentary management of the EBS.

According to him, the broadcast journalist who should be well aware of the importance of factual accuracy and the integrity of truth made inaccurate and misleading assertions in his recent publications, telling partial truths.

Also, Osagie noted that Aledeh needs to recognize that the title of managing director conferred on him is not recognized by the legislation that establishes EBS as a corporate entity. Consequently, this implies that all actions he has undertaken since assuming the role of MD are unlawful, invalid, and without effect.

On the incumbent government in Edo State, Osagie expressed concern on Aledeh’s failure to grasp the essence of his critique regarding the rudimentary management practices under the leadership of Monday Okpebholo, which, according to him regrettably, are beginning to undermine the advancements achieved in modernizing the media station to align with global standards and to compete effectively with its international counterparts.

The statement reads: “Sulaiman Aledeh, either being misled or duped regarding my frank elucidation on Okpebholo’s primitive mgt of EBS.

“It is curious to see an article by Sulaiman Aledeh, the Managing Director of the Edo State Broadcasting Service (EBS), a renowned broadcast journalist who should understand the weight of facts and the sanctity of truth, riddled with inaccuracies, falsehoods, and half-truths.

“To begin with, Aledeh needs to know that the position of Managing Director is unknown to the law that makes EBS a corporate entity. This means, in essence, that every action he has taken since his appointment as MD is illegal, null, and void.

“So, in my opinion, this is the point where I believe your work must start, Mr Aledeh. You either work with the Ministry of Justice and the Edo State House of Assembly to change the law or change your designation to General Manager, which is what the law recognises as the chief executive of EBS.

“Equally disappointing, also, is that Aledeh completely missed the point of my frank take regarding the primitive management methods under the Monday Okpebholo-led administration, which regrettably, are beginning to erode the progress made in upgrading the media station to meet global standards and compete favorably with its counterparts worldwide.

“While I must restate that my comments were rooted in a sincere desire to see the station, as well as other sectors of the State, thrive, it is necessary to publicly clear the air and provide the truth so that Edo people and indeed Nigerians are not swayed into believing the false claims and distorted narrative being peddled by Aledeh.

“First, it is ridiculous to claim that the Edo Broadcasting Service was in a state of utter disrepair when you assumed office. The organization was undergoing a holistic transformation and upgrade under the immediate past government of His Excellency, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, which was in phases. For the records, the station has a newly built and properly furnished administrative section as well as a fully completed and equipped radio section which includes digital studios and a transmission room, with all in the radio section having backups.

“That was the portion of the transformation that had been completed in the first phase. The television section transformation was about to start, funds had not even been released for the project, before we left office. It is only right that the new administration continues with the ongoing transformation in the media station rather than resorting to false narratives and propaganda to discredit the excellent work that had been done by the immediate past government.”

The Claims That You Buy Diesel With Your Money To Run The Media Station Is Laughable

Osagie asserted that it was inaccurate to state that the station was devoid of operational vehicles, as there were indeed vehicles available for EBS, including at least one white Hilux prominently marked with ‘EBS’ on its exterior.

He added that the previous administration utilized a fleet management system known as ‘Move Monkey.’

He said, however, that due to the critical nature of the services provided by EBS, the white Hilux was permanently assigned to the station for news gathering and various operational tasks.

He advised the Edo State government to consult the Acting General Manager if no operational vehicle was present upon assumption of office, as the current Head of Service directly oversaw this individual.

The statement added: “Most laughable, however, was your claim that you had to open your wallets to buy diesel to run the operations of the media station. Well, again, I would advise that you ask the Acting GM because up until early October, EBS was regularly paying revenue into the state treasury and as at the time we were signing off from EBS, the station had millions of naira in various accounts. So, what happened to the money? Why did you have to dip your hands in your pocket to buy diesel? Or was it philanthropy? If it was your choice to do so, kindly state so and not make outlandish statements, making it seem there were no monies to run the organization.

“That there’s no single computer in the newsroom or the organization, again, is a blatant lie. The Edo State Government issued computers to its staff, including EBS employees, with computers specifically allocated to the GM and heads of various units. If you claim you can’t see any, then these officials should be asked what happened to the operational computers provided for them by the government. Were all these computers misplaced?

“While it may be true that not everyone at EBS had a personal computer, as the number of computers across the entire government system was limited, the sharing arrangement ensured that computers were distributed across key sections of the station, including Radio, TV, Commercial, Engineering, Programmes, and Accounts and IT Dept. In fact, the man you posed with in the photograph shared, along with your piece on social media heads the News Department at EBS and had a computer assigned to him. You may confirm this directly with him. It’s most unlikely that these computers were misplaced simply because Obaseki left office. Additionally, there was a desktop computer in the library and a multipurpose high-end Mac computer for staff who were not officially assigned a computer but required occasional access. This computer was housed in a dedicated kiosk within EBS.

“In addressing your claim regarding the EBS power supply issue, I’ll excuse you because you’re new and may not be fully aware of most things. However, as a journalist, I believe you should be asking critical and necessary questions, and putting in the required rigor to uncover the facts. So, again, I will advise you to ask the then Acting GM whether Ossiomo doesn’t terminate at EBS. Or the good old BEDC doesn’t have a terminal point at EBS? There are also two generators already stationed at the station to serve as backups, including one 500kVA generator and another 200kVA generator.

“So, instead of going to procure new generators, why not speak with the power companies to find out why power wasn’t flowing to EBS and rectify it, then use the already existing standby generators to backup power in the facility? Isn’t this the very primitive management method I referred to in my earlier piece?

“On EBS no longer being on terrestrial, this was because the digital switchover happened before we took over EBS, and we were not notified about it until we discovered the situation ourselves. We pursued the matter to a logical conclusion, to the point where NBC is now expected to pay compensation to EBS. That expected inflow is still pending, in case you haven’t been informed. You should schedule a meeting with NBC to process the release of those funds into the organization.

“To shed light on the ’60 talented individuals’ that you talked about, these persons were recruited in July 2024, following a meticulous recruitment process that began earlier in the year, including newspaper advertisements publications, computer-based tests, shortlisting, and transparent and thorough interviews conducted by a committee, set up by the Permanent Secretary of Human Resources. Anyone familiar with the state government service knows that the first three months serve as a probationary period, during which employees do not receive payment. At the end of the third month, they are paid their accumulated salaries.

“When our government was leaving office, the staff were due to collect their first backlog of salaries, but your government, led by Monday Okpebholo removed all their names from the payroll under the pretext of investigating the employments carried out by his predecessor since May. So, how is this Obaseki’s fault? Was it not Okpebholo who removed their names from the payroll?

“Sulaiman, again, I would ask, how would you term this: a witch hunt or the primitive management methods of the Okpebholo-led administration?

“While your call for a collaborative effort in advancing Edo’s progress is welcomed, I will forgive you, Sulaiman Aledeh, who, like me, is a technocrat. We essentially worked in the same industry in Lagos, and I have no issues whatsoever with him. He’s been appointed and has a job to do. However, he needs to make a greater effort to verify his claims about the current state of EBS, because it appears that he is either being misled or duped or intentionally falsifying facts to drive the devious agenda of his paymaster.”