Ondo state governor, Rotimi Akeredolu has cleared the air on the confusion that clouded the alleged withdrawal of accreditations of some syndicated Journalists in the Governor’s office, Alagbaka Akure.
The disengagement which constituted major headlines in some online news platforms on Monday was said to have involved AIT, Channels TV and Core TV correspondents assigned to cover the Governor’s activities.
In a press statement released on Tuesday by the state commissioner for information and orientation, Yemi Olowolabi, the idea behind the withdrawal of accreditations of the affected reporters was to rid the governor’s press crew of professional misconducts.
“My Office was inaundated with serial professional misconducts of some journalists who turned the newsroom in the Governor’s office to beer parlour, gambling station and blackmaiker hideout.
“Some of these complaints were investigated and were found out to be true. In fact, I have received complaints from some important guests who were made to pay for interviews and news stories that were never used on any channel.
“Also, most of the whimsical stories trending on the social media are anchored on the purported sack of AIT and Channels TV’s reporters from the Government House. Again, there is a procedure that guides the engagement and disengagement of reporters from all the broadcast stations that are working with us.
“Duly signed official letters are usually sent to the broadcast stations headquarters to convey our intentions to their managements. Our last official communication with the stations was in April 2017.
“Another twist to this fairy tale is the reckless innuendo that we sacked some reporters from the Government House because they were writing negative stories. This is a preposterous account bereft of logic and rationalisation.
“For instance, in the last one year, the Channels TV’s reporters here have not filed a single story on the activities of the Governor, either positive or negative. I challenge them to contradict this position.
“Yet the ‘journalists’ stay in the Governor’s office from morning to night every day. Doing what?
This was the simple question we asked. Their answer is the syndicated blackmail designed to frustrate the sanitisation of the Government House Press Crew which is in utter danger of vulgarisation.” Olowolabi affirmed.
Some of the affected reporters who spoke on the condition of anonymity were of the views that they can only file stories and send to their head offices but have no power to influence the usage of their reports.
They however maintained that the claim of the state government about their stories not being used should have been directed to their management rather than holding them responsible for the offence they know nothing of.
