The constant media downplay of Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu’s achievements and the embarrassing misrepresentations of facts he suffered especially during tribunal proceedings were the makings of his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Godwin Adindu.
We gathered that the CPS and majority of Abia State Govt. House correspondents are not the best of friends because of what one of them described as ‘his pomposity and divisive style of leadership which undermine even his principal.
One of the newsmen who reports for one of the State’s locally based newspapers said the first assignment Mr. Adindu backed upon immediately his appointment was to reduce the number of State House correspondents who he said worked tirelessly to ensure the victory of the governor at the poll.
According to him, “Majority of us were asked to leave the Government House by the CPS on a flimsy reason of downsizing as if he was the governor, even without consulting with his media team, because when we contacted some of the governor’s media aides, they seem to be at lost with the decision.”
He alleged that the motive behind the CPS action was to corner their stipends approved and released by the governor which incidentally has been the practice even by his predecessors
Another reporter who was apparently displeased with Mr. Adindu’s style of representation of the governor blamed him for the online media attack on the governor, especially during the tribunal proceedings where news were presented from the angle of the opposition.
He said that to the consternation of most of them, the CPS called four reporters behind and gave them N30, 000 each with the instruction that they should not report tribunal proceedings at all.
This he said gave the opposition the media advantage against the governor as negative and unbalanced stories against Okezie Ikpeazu and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) saturated the social and some traditional media.
He accused Mr. Adindu of pocketing journalists money saying that at the last press conference rather than hand over the N2m given to the newsmen by the governor, he kept it and thereafter selected just few and gave them N10, 000 each while he pocketed the over N1.9m balance.
He also said that the CPS pocketed the money meant for newsmen during the recent project tour of the governor adding that he pockets over N500, 000 monthly being money meant for the journalists he sent packing from the Government House.
He also blamed the CPS for the lack of cohesion in the governor’s media team, saying he hardly carry them along, citing the case of Enyimba Hotels and the recalled non-indigenous civil servants sacked by the immediate past administration.
“Adindu, without crosschecking announced that the Abia State government has given squatters a seven-day quit notice to vacate the gigantic building for construction, whereas the said hotel is owned by the Aba Chamber of Commerce.
“Again, after Ochendu announced severally that his administration has recalled the non-indigenous civil servants sacked, Adindu went on air to announce recently that Okezie Ikpeazu has ordered the recall of the same people the past administration reinstated.
“These are clear indication that he is not carrying his media team along, because the next day the governor received bashing in one of the local radio station programmed where Abians began to doubt the integrity of both the past and the present administration.
“What manner of misrepresentation of facts was that? His actions more often than not, ridiculed and embarrassed the governor,” he said
Another said last week they overheard him complaining about the governor not taken him along in his foreign trips and as such could not defend such trips like the much beleaguered USA/Turkey trips.
His grouse according to the reporter was that the governor instead of taken him along on the USA/Turkey trips went with ‘some aides who are not useful.
The biggest news right now according to the reporter is the allegation that the CPS sleeps with one Ngwa married female staff in his office; a case the reporter said they will expose very soon.
As for the Abia online media association, they have since drawn the battle line with Adindu who they described as arrogant and lacking respect for newsmen.
“He disregards reporters, even boasting before them that he deals with MDs and Editors who he always claims were his colleagues’. Adindu never rose to the position of editor in God knows the reputable medium he has worked for.
“The only thing we know about him was when he served as SSA Media to Ochendo where he ridiculed himself with praise singing on his unpopular column with Daily Independent,” one of them said.
“He called us for a meeting with the governor and later canceled it, directing us to Obed in a disdainful manner. We heard he even said the online newsmen are low qualities he has nothing in common with,” another
Source: CITY REPORTERS
