₦airaland Forum

Gusau is dancing to a drum that is been beat from a hidden corner.
In a country where insecurity looms large, police men on their way to arrest Ibori are beaten blue and black,foreigners and locals are still being kidnapped and all sorts, Iwonder if Gusau has so much free time on his hands to make illogical comments on banking reforms.

naijaking1:
If you wanted us to take you seriously, you could have at least started with a true statement. You're one of the biggest, loudest, and "blindest" supporters of Sanusi. You just forgot to read your own posts.

you never tell us which of your girlfriend's SLS thief?
you blind hatred for the man is baffling.
my posts show a balanced view of his actions.
i have severally stated that for a reserve bank governor, he is too loquacious.Reserve bank governors talk less, rarely appear in the media and when they do, they just state facts,markets respond and they retreat back to their reverred corners.They also try to be less emotional than SLS seemed to be.
Others and more importantly more significant persons might have held such views abd aired it to him as he seems to be retrieving from the limelight and talking less in general.

I support his actions and moves against the rascality and recklessness of Ibru et al.
If Soludo was alive to his responsibility and not busy posing around the place like a showbiz star,those CEOs should have long been gone or the operating environment made not condusive for their acts.
Not only did Soludo aid their recklessness,he enabled them to create a myth that these banks were strong and viable.
If your hatred is borne out of the fact that your shares crashed after the finacial gangsters were booted out, then you are as good as Madoff's clients.
SLS is in a hopeless situation.He is damned whether he does or not.
If these banks failed soon after, he would have been accused of not acting.
Now he has acted, he is accused of either high handedness or being selective and not catching all the culprits at the same time.
I ask you, how many culprits did Soludo catch during his time?
You want SLS to bail out the banks and leave Ibru still in charge of Oceanic and Akingbola in charge of Intercontinental?
There is nothing i have said here that has not been said before,without even going into the economic basis of his actions but your hatred for the man is almost blinding.
I am no fan of Sanusi as i have a disdain for most people in the public space (my posts prove that) and SLS couldn't care less whether i was a fan or not but that does not take anything away from the fact that he acted right under the circumstances.
If you are looking for who to blame for the losses in the market,go look for Ibru et al and even their fellow gangsters that are still in the industry.

Even for a guy with very rudimentary yoruba (that is even been optimistic), i liked the guy's work a whole lot.
i always knew yoruba is a romantic language (in terms of poetry and phonetics) but no one had been able to slam it that had in hip hop.
He did not die empty for sure but a whole load of potential was deposited here and in his music,he will continue to live.

Not a wasted live in any sense whatsoever.

Da Grin, thanks for the honour of enjoying your gift.
you do well.

davidylan:
My mother is a nigerian medical doctor so bear in mind that when you accuse me of "questioning the ability of Nigerian doctors" you also accuse me of questioning my mother's abilities too.

The FRANK TRUTH is that the typical Nigerian doctor is ILL-PREPARED for complex medical problems because they were not trained with the requisite facilities. You can hide under the banner of "sweeping generalizations" all you want. I was virtually raised around doctors all my life so i at least have a faint idea what goes on in those empty morgues you call hospitals.

My uncle didnt die by the way.

Thank God for your uncle.

I also have much more than a faint idea of the system.it is bad, i know but we do not have a clear picture of his case,

davidylan:
any doctor worth his salt here would have immediately requested for an MRI to check for bleeding in the brain when he was brought in with head injuries particular swelling of the head.
There is no faster silent killer than a swelling brain or a brain aneurysm. Now we know why Yar Adua trusts the Saudis.

so there are no doctors worth their salt in naija?
guy, i hope someone is not impersonating your ID,you are better than this.
Naija is bad but to doubt the ability of doctors to this level, where you a non doctor will be pointing the way for them is silly.
there are a least 2 MRIs in las gidi.
what makes you think they did not send him for one?
or had genuine reasons to pursue another line of diagnostics?
how you are drawing all these sweeping conclusions are bewildering.
were you part of the team treating him?
or you want to rely on all these confusing self serving tweets that have been flying all over the place?

sjeezy8:
naija hospitals are shiot!!!!!!!!

If it was yankee he would have been alive

davidylan:
Did the doctors check for swelling in brain or cranial bleeding? I'm sure they didnt . . . Naija for you.

An uncle of mine suffered a similar accident and was discharged from LUTH. Poor fellow collapsed a few days later of bleeding in the brain and had to be rushed to London for emergency brain surgery. Naija for you.

i get very worried when seemingly intelligent persons make silly,simplistic generalisations all in a bid to bash.
I have seen a medical systems in the developing world (Nigeria) and observed the developed world (two western countires) from very close quarters and i am unimpressed with the quoted posts.
Nigerian medical system is poor;yes.
but

to say he would not have died if it was in yankee or UK is extremely naive.
don't people die in yankee hospitals?
are patients not misdiagnosed in those places?
If you think the answer to those questions are NO, then you are in for a very rude shock and slightly delusional.

questioning the ability of Nigerian doctors simply shows that you have no clue in the ability of the average Nigerian doctor.They make mistakes, are ill equipped and all that but for a non medical doctor to come and point them in the seeming right direction is laughable at best.
That you uncle died does not give room for drawing sweeping generalizations with disregard to the basics of statistics.

^^^^^^^^^^^
and all the people say, AMEN!!!!!

okooyinbo:
Business development in Nigeria is not only or solely hampered by lack of adequate Infrastructure; the working morale of some of Nigerian workers if not most is nothing to write home about. The Nigeria system is very good at bringing someone's business down not building it. Imagine trying to get the Embassy of Nigeria here in Germany several weeks on phone and nobody simply picks it up. And if you are lucky and you get through, you would be treated like cancer. For someone that wants to invest in Nigeria, where does so a person go? And this scenario is been played all over the country in public as well as in the private sectors and especially Southern Nigeria. Nigerians always like little input but big pay which is found nowhere in the world. Our people are just so lazy if the business is not their personal one.

gbam!!
I had a similar experience in my dealings with another Nigerian high commission in the western world.
Despite how long the embassy staff had worked and lived in these countries, it seems the work ethic just does not rub off on them.
The man who managed to pick the call was talking to me like he was the P.A. to God himself.
Almost belching into my ears and sounding very saddistic on the phone.
After all his shakara, he could not solve my problem and i just did not even bother to get back to him.
Scolding me on the phone like i was an errant school boy.
Our work cultute is only worth it when it is a personal or family business.
we are very myopic when it comes to work.
Even with all the money some are paid,na so so complain.

i beg carry your Eko o ni baje wahala comot here.
We don't want another Tinubu/Fashola argument here.
we are focusing on the thieving tendencies of Azu and the inability of Steve to obey the law of omerta among the clan of hypocrites (journalists)

Why is Gusau making noise in public?
He should get SLS sacked and coopt the reserve bank governorship duties into his NSA duties.
silly,sick old men.
In his books, you only catch a thief when and if he is a pioneer and a monopolist thief.
since Ibru and Akingbola are not the only thieves,lets leave them until we can catch all of them at the same time?
All these simplistic silly comments of persons who think slaying SLS in public is a fun sport is mind baffling.

I am no fan of SLS but if anyone thinks that the removal of Ibru et al is a the reason for any percieved economic problem, the person needs the person must have built a house on sand cos this foundation ain't all that at all.

Gusau should remain in the background where he remains 'most effective' and if he wants to be seen as been relevant by the common man,he should use his security skills to address the criminality masqurading as militancy in the ND and the grwoing trend of terrorism in the country.
He should stop exposing his biased and unschooled mind on issues that do not border on seedy security matters.

why una wan kill this thread?
i beg keep it alive.

In line with my school of thought, i do not expect Steve to be a saint.
He probably just got outfoxed in the brown envelope business and decided to spill the bean while throwing away all his toys from the pram.

I don't like one sided stories, after all, me and Azu no dey drag woman nor are we dragging handout from politicians.
Here is his own response;

PUNCH's Azu resigns, replies Steve AyorindeShare
Today at 7:16am
An era ends, a story begins…

[b]By Azubuike Ishiekwene
In my column in The Punch on Tuesday, March 9, 2010, I left an unusual footnote, titled, “The bile this time.” It was a subdued response to the wild allegations against me in the 7,000-word plus petition by the former Editor of the Punch, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, who was forced to resign by the Management of the company for conduct unbecoming of his office. My restraint was not because I could not defend myself or because I was guilty. However, I had to endure the wicked lies and fabrications against me because it was the fit and proper thing to do while the committee, set up by the Board and the company where I had worked for 21 years was trying to establish the truth.

The committee’s work is done. Its report, and that of the Management committee, done after six weeks of exhaustive investigation, which I could not have influenced in any way, did not indict me of any fraud.

The wicked lies have been out now for almost six weeks, recycled in various forms and in various media by informed, half-informed and grossly ill-informed commentators all masquerading as the guardian angels of a benighted profession. I am not writing this for the benefit of those who already think they know all and who will not let the facts get in the way of their next malicious post or article. I’m writing for the benefit of those – and thankfully there are still a number left out there – for whom fairness, balance and pursuit of truth mean a thing.

The Board Committee had the following specific terms of reference:

To probe advert surcharges for premium pages from 2006 to date
To consider any other issue in the petition in respect of which any person submits documentary evidence to the committee.
After three weeks of sitting, minus one previous of investigations by the Management of the petition, Mr. Steve Ayorinde could not produce a shred of evidence in support of his claim that I used my office to enrich myself. Or that I was on the payroll of politicians, banks and some public officials. He had two clear opportunities to do this in five weeks – first on March 8 when the company wrote him to supply evidence, and later when he appeared before the Board committee on April 3. On both occasions, he failed to substantiate his allegations. In fact, it is written that even the witnesses he cited “rebuffed” the committee; the chronicler could not muster the confidence of his own witnesses.

I voluntarily submitted my statement of account; IBTC Share Tender Form and UBA cheque number 80473333 dated September 27, 2007 in favour of Nigerian Motor Industries Limited for the sum of N1.95million with which I purchased the car that Mr. Ayorinde falsely alleged was given to me as a gift; and three-year visa pages from my international passport for the committee’s inspection. I also submitted the original copy of my passport for citing.

And the surcharge pages? In his petition, Mr. Ayorinde gave the impression that Arik Air was the only company that published adverts on the early pages without paying a surcharge. This, of course, is incorrect. I must say that the charge that I had overstretched my authorised discretion in favour of the advertiser and that I did not fully disclose my relationship with the company, is regrettable. Yet, it is important to stress that neither the report of the Management committee nor the Board committee, nor yet the Board indicted me of any fraud either about the adverts or any other allegations by Mr. Steve Ayorinde. However, there were at least 23 other adverts in 2009, including full page colour adverts by Etisalat, First Bank, Zain, Globacom and the Lagos State Government for which surcharges were not paid but which also appeared on the early pages.

In his bid to throw the kitchen sink at me, Mr. Ayorinde was obviously not concerned about who else might have been in breach. The same Steve Ayorinde who told O’Femi Kolawole, in his book, titled, The gatekeepers, published in October 2009 but released in December 2009, that, “he (Ayorinde) opted to work in the daily edition (of Punch) with the man he had come to admire as one of the best in Nigeria’s contemporary journalism, Mr. Azubuike Ishiekwene,” is now singing a different tune three months later.

Not a word about the misconduct that led to his suspension from office for three weeks in September 2009.
Not a word about how he had lied to the management and sneaked off to London on a sponsored, image-laundering trip and then returned to lie again to his staff that he took the punishment to save two of his line editors.
Not a word about how falling sales almost cost him his job in December 2009.
Not a word about how he had brought his own career in Punch to grief by shopping for by-line among his junior staff on February 16, the event which led the Management to demand his resignation.
Not a word about the fact that he was not a first-time offender.
Not a word.

The cocktail of lies…
a) Musikilu Mojeed’s exit from Punch:
After Mr. Ayorinde’s false allegations were published on the Internet, there was a sustained effort to keep the flames of falsehood burning. And no firewood, however, wet, was spared. Mr. Mojeed left Punch in December 2008 over a dispute he had with his editor, Mr. Steve Ayorinde, at the time. He had filed a number of stories that were not used and had taken offence that he had not been given sufficient explanation for why his stories were not published. He wrote a petition against Mr. Ayorinde and only copied me. I investigated the matter and wrote a memo to the MD/Editor-in- Chief on December 30, 2008. In the memo I agreed with Mr. Ayorinde in some areas but also suggested how the matter should be handled in future. To my utmost shock and surprise, this issue was stood on its head, lapped up by a few commentators and presented as proof that my only job in Punch was to “kill” stories. Conveniently, those behind it only published Musikilu’s memo, leaving out the subsequent memo and the report of my investigations (copy attached) which would have shown clearly that Musikilu’s grouse was against Mr. Ayorinde and not me.

b) The imaginary “suspensions” from work
On Tuesday, March 9 and Wednesday, March 10, I was in the office when I received phone calls from concerned friends who said they had read on the Internet that I had been suspended. I also read it on the Internet. But I did so right at my office desk at Punch! And on March 22 when I commenced my vacation, the word was out again! Azu has been suspended! I applied for my leave and it was approved by the Management. My leave certificate, with reference number PN/PS/2005/451/ 134 is dated March 22, 2010. I was not on suspension and never have been in my 21 years at Punch

c) “Refund” of N17million surcharge
It is a wicked lie that Punch has asked me to refund any money. How can I refund what I have not taken? Punch has said it is interested in asking advertisers whose adverts appeared on the early pages without authorisation to pay the surcharge for such adverts. I did not receive any payments for early pages and as far as I know the request for such payments – not refund – has not yet been made to the advertisers concerned.

d) The CNN/Multichoice judging panel
I have read in some publications that I was “removed” from the CNN/Multichoice African Journalist of the Year 2010 judging panel. That is untrue. After Mr. Ayorinde’s slanderous petition appeared on the Internet on March 5, I informed the Management of Punch of my intention to discuss stepping down from the panel with the organisers. I had a telephone conversation with CNN’s Vice President for Europe, Asia and Africa , Maggie Eales on Monday, March 8. On Tuesday, March 9, I wrote a letter to CNN/Multichoice (a copy is attached) announcing my intention to step down until I have been cleared of the allegations against me. I worked with organisers to select Ikechukwu Amaechi, the Editor of the Daily Independent, as the Nigerian stand-in.

e) Azu as the axe man of Punch
This is a very convenient label, especially since 2007 when the editors started reporting directly to me. I have been in Punch for 21 years and people conveniently forget that I did not always spend that time in positions where I could influence the retention or removal of senior editorial persons. Before I became executive director three years ago, at least 12 senior editorial positions had changed for various reasons and under different circumstances all of which I had absolutely no control over. The resignations of Mr. Yusuf Alli and Mr. Yomi Odunuga, both mentioned in Mr. Ayorinde’s petition, had nothing to do with me personally, whatever they may have privately been led to believe. The decisions taken were a collective one.

f) An era ends…
More lies are spreading already, and I wish to remind the purveyors that I am not unmindful of my rights under the law. They are saying I was asked to choose between sack and resignation. I laugh. I voluntarily retired my appointment with Punch on April 15, with the support and understanding of my family and friends who have stood steadfastly with me through this trying period. I know that a few out there wished for a humiliating ending – but this gracious exit is the Lord’s doing. For weeks, I watched Punch, the company where I have worked for 21 years take a needless bashing and the names of its key officers dragged in the mud. I do not wish to do anything that would extend this grief by one day.

At 45 years of age and after a combined 10 years of editing two of Punch’s leading titles, including Saturday Punch, which remains the flagship since I had the honour to edit it, I have decided to explore other opportunities and challenges that beckon. I have read that I “resigned,” or was “dismissed” from the services of Punch. I also laugh. My exit from Punch – and the records of my letter of retirement and the company’s letter of acknowledgement show this – couldn’t have been more dignified even if I had worked in Punch for another 21 years.

An era has ended; another begins…

* Mr. Ishiekwene was until Thursday when he retired the Executive Director, Publications, Punch[/b]

Oga,
does this source pass the critical tests necessary for accreditation?

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=118541298160132&id=100000891847077&ref=mf

AjanleKoko:
Well, I only read BusinessDay, and no other newspaper. I think it's the best business paper out there. Stopped reading all those political newspapers a long time ago.
Although BD 'falls' my hand occasionally with some silly stories like 'And The Ministers Laughed', front page material o! about how all the ministers were laughing when they should be working. That kind of nonsense belongs only in City People!

Anyway my best columnists in BD are Ogho Okiti, Prof. Ok. Jemie, and JK Randle. I like the 'old money' quality of Randle. Those men don't pour out the usual Nigerian vituperations, they write good prose, and entertain you with their experience and humour.
There's also an old interview series running, of Chinweizu. As you may have guessed. I am strongly anti-imperialist, and pro-Black.
Then of course I read the FT syndications.

Is there no contradiction in the two sentences above?
As it concerns the first sentence, i am neither of both.
I am strongly pro-human, irrespective of skin colour.

[quote author=~Bluetooth link=topic=431576.msg5903067#msg5903067 date=1271428174]i guess you are referring to edwin clark.lol[/quote]Oh God!!!
I can't stand that shameless old man.

MyJoe:
Azu? I'm speechless.

as long as you do not go dumb.

aisha2:
I use to Love Simon Kolawole, would always stop on my way from church to buy thisday sunday even though i could read it online, felt i owed him that much. But Since this YarAdua Saga, He is neither here no there, his indept analysis is missing, he gives some shallow and Apologistic arguements. I have writeen to him to air my views
One columnist I am growing to respect is Funke Ebga-------, cant get the full and correct spelling, she writes for Sun, saturdays and sundays, sunday politics, saturday family, she strikes the right cord and she a smart

she comes across as a street wise lady.
very smart and can be witty.
she used to edit Independent and i think before that she was at Punch (Jarus, correct me if i am wrong on that last bit).

aisha2:
To call press conference just arrange N5k in brown envelopes, N10k for the electronic Media because usually they are two one reporter one camera man, carry go, with that they will carry and sell any news. Yet they will come out and criticise police. put side by side with the Media, beleive me Nigerian Police will come out as saints

i will appreciate your opinion on this discourse; https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-411434.0.html
it is a related point.

Jarus:
This is the exact place we differ, even as I agree that given the rate at which many of them fall on integrity ladder these days, it is safer to go the way of pessisim and work back to optimism.
Could be subjective, but for my purpose, I have an inexplicable way of discerning the level of reliability I place on something, by merely reading between the lines.
By combination of past experience, tone of the message, history of the messenger or message medium and some other factors, I determine the degree of reliability.

bros, that is too mysterious a definition, subjective or not.
Next thing you will tell me you use super natural powers in deducing reliability of the sources.

Jarus:
I personally do not believe in criticizing just for the sake of it. Neither do I believe in commenting only on the bad side. This is where I differ with many Nigerian writers and contributors to issues. The idea of public commentary to many Nigerians is criticizing everything. If you have a word of praise for something or someone in this part of the world, people see you as an backside-kisser. T[b]o many Nigerians, and as reflective on this NL, you must criticize everything[/b]. This is where I have problem with a number of contributors. Of course, one needs to watch it, lest one becomes a maniacal praise singer a la Dele Momodu. Even at that, the fact that a comment comes from Dele Momodu or whoever doesn't mean it should be thrown away. It should be looked into and examined on its merit. At times, separating the message from the messenger may be reasonable, even as I don't deny the fact that the history of the messenger, most times, says much about how serious the message should be taken.

This is my own philosophy, and I know it differs from yours. I remain unconvinced that everybody is a crook or no public figure or public commentator is worthy of commendation. As far as I have not seen or heard from reliable sources anything condemnable in a figure, I will continue to hold everybody in deserved measure of esteem. In our past interactions on this forum, you have called my attention to my seemingly 'excessive trust' of people, most notably Sanusi, Dele Momodu, Oguntimehin and other professionals-turned-politicians, and now, Azu and other journalists.

On Sanusi, I'm his fan, because even before he became CBN boss, he used to be a fearless progressive who I admired a lot. I like his writing skills and he came across as a brilliant guy that is versed in almost every subject. I have read over 30 articles of his from 1998-2007 and I know the type of person he is, just as you know the type of person I am through my posts on NL. But even at that, I have not hesitated to criticize him anytime I disagree with him.

On Dele Momodu, I have never been his fan. I disagree with 90% of his takes on issues and see him more as a celebrity journalist than a seriuos public affairs commentator, but that doesn't mean I should not say it out whenever I find his commentary commendable.

The other time you called my attention to my over trusting of public personalities, when I was expressing my disappointment over Prof Oguntimehin's reported unprofessional attitude by lobbying Danjuma and co for retension in the cabinet, I said I had no course to doubt his credibility before that time. I still trust every body in asmuch as I have not seen anything disappointing in him/her.

And on Azu and co, until I read Steve's outbursts, I had no course to doubt his personality and integrity.

My opinion about or reckoning on any other journalist remains as it is based on my knowledge of each of them, and until their own yansh are also exposed, I have no course to doubt their integrity. By this I do not, of course, mean that all Nigerian journalists and media houses are people of integrity. I have formed my opinion on their ranking in objectivity scale based on my knwoldeg of each. For example, I know Sun newspaper does the bidding of Kalu, The Nation of Tinubu, Daily Trust bent towards Hausa/Fulani - Muslim interest, Tribune of Yoruba interest etc, but that doesn't mean every news from them is pro-Kalu or pro-Tinubu or pro-North. I take every news item on its merit.


I'm also highly worried about this. The silence is too hypocritical. Except Olumhese of Guardian, no columnist has mentioned it, the so-called investigative magazines liek Tell and co have remained silence.

No wonder none of them published my article on this issue, except Nigeria Village Square and two other news sites.
http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=15166&Itemid=154

Jarus,
you are my man o. Anyday,any time.
Don't forget that.
Having settled that point, i need to point out a few facts from your post.
Unlike you, i am a persimist in these matters.
It is not a good thing, i must acknowledge but it is the truth and every passing day, i am giving ample reason to believe that it is a more intelligent position to hold in our society.
I actually do not criticize everything like you alluded to in your post,i just seem too unwilling to trust and believe these people due to the recent past and evidences of the present.
in addition, i really do not have the time to analyse every sentence of Dele Momodu (using him as an example).
until he addresses his past,i am unwilling to listen to any sermon of his,no matter how edifying.
I have no problem with you celebrating Sanusi (apart from a flaw of his i pointed out in a related post few days back.The thread on Okonjo Iweala and Sanusi that disappeared from this site).Same way i will celebrate Atedo Peterside.

While you treat all men to be good until they prove otherwise, i treat all men in the Nigerian public space to be evil until they prove otherwise.
When it comes to men away from the Nigerian public space, it is a different matter.

what constitutes a reliable source within the context of this discourse?

^^^^^^^^^
i feel you.
i feel Nduka acts like a mafia boss.if you fall out of line, they have enough evidence to nail you.
I wonder what men like KK (kayode komolafe) who keep spewing socialist crap all over the place are doing in such a place with such a man?
The day i saw KK attending Thisday concert in USA, i just bow.
One day, the story of Nduka Obiagbena would be told.
And optimists like Jarus will open their mouths ajar in surprise.
me i no go dey surprised at all.
na naija men!!!

^^^
the two countries you are talking about have over 1 billion people each in terms of population.
if you just transfer 45 million of them (from each country) to naija, they will become the dominant tribe and start asking for their own turn in rotational presidency.
north/south/Indian/Chinese rotational presidency.
PDP will tell you it is a gentleman agreement.

AjanleKoko:
^^
Thanks for your correct observations re MTN.
Vodacom basically duplicated the MTN structure (Levels 1-6) in Econet, but the huge disparity in salaries distorted everything for Vmobile.

As per the call center issue, you also have a point; the human factor is to blame there to a large extent. However, I am not one to blame the tools when the job goes wrong, there are no jobs in Nigeria and these graduates have to eat. But there is a role the company has to play as well. All operators, including MTN have failed to create some sort of graduate development cadre after 9 years of operation; they cannot all say they didn't know the call center was largely populated by fresh grads.  MNCs in other sectors have routinely established a pool for talent acquisition and management. Look at energy, banking, and FMCG, and you wonder why telecoms is not doing that.

As per training and secondment, I am aware Celtel did do a lot of secondment and recruitment of local Nigerian talent to their Amsterdam HQ and other African ops; this was truncated by the Zain acquisition and rebranding.

At the end of the day, the operators still have lots of work to do, I'm sure you agree.

They have a whole lot to do.On that i agree wholly with you.
The graduate program is a problem and because the status quo serves their interest,it remains.

jarus, Jarus!!
You and this your list.i suprise say you no put Segun Adeniyi

1. Ijeoma Nwaogugu - was my number one until she refused to apologise for her arrogance that was evident in a write up during the recent bank saga.
In spite of her refusal to apologise and my public stance not to read her again, i still hide my tails behind my legs and peep at her article.She is that good.


The list don finish.

Jarus:
My comment stems from this epistle: http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/punch-editors-bombshell-on-corruption-in-the-nigerian-media-2.html

If all the allegations levelled against top columnist and ED-Publications of The Punch, Mr Azubuike Ishiekwene(popularly known as Azu) by Mr Steve Ayorinde, immediate past editor of the newspaper were true, then there is serious integrity issue in Nigerian media.

Some of the allegations:

Azu using Punch to defend debtor Rockson Engineering
"Beyond his(Azu's) partisan interest in how Rockson Engineering is reported in The PUNCH, Mr. Ishiekwene would later in October (when we had relocated to Magboro) again demonstrated his unprofessional interest in Rockson Engineering when he requested that I should remove Chief Johnson’s name and that of Prof. Pat Utomi (who was the Chairman at his book launch) from the cover of the paper among those prominent debtors whose names were released by the CBN. I had explained to him after calling me repeatedly that it would be unethical to do so, because not only were the two names mentioned but also because the debt being owed by Rockson ranked among the biggest and should naturally put him among those whose photographs would appear on cover. The ED Publications insisted that both men were friends of the house whose interests should be protected."

Azu using Punch against Bi-Courtney
"For yet a fuller account of the infractions committed by Mr. Ishiekwene while using Punch to fight Arik’s battles, I will also urge you to speak with the Chairman of Bi-Courtney Limited, who is an old boy of the Government College, Ibadan (GCI) like your good self. Dr. Babalakin, I am aware, has a “dossier” on how Mr. Ishiekwene has used the PUNCH titles to fight Arik’s war with Bi-Courtney over the concessioning of the old domestic terminal. There were many instances when the ED Publications came to me to push Arik’s position and agenda on the tussle. There were several other times when he bypassed me and directly called the aviation reporter and the Business Editor, often harassing and threatening them and goading them to be sympathetic to Arik in their reporting."


Taking bribe from Fayose
Mr. Ishiekwene’s romance with politicians of doubtful characters is as legendary as his false moral crusade on anti-corruption. But his short romance with former governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti state had a twist of drama akin to that of Tafa Balogun. Fayose had never hid the fact that he gave Mr. Ishiekwene a cash gift of N1million in February 2005 when he celebrated his 40th birthday at his former residence in Omole estate and that Mr. Ishiekwene was a beneficiary of several contracts from his administration. However, their relationship went sour immediately Fayose was impeached and Mr. Ishiekwene lambasted him in one of his columns. Being loquacious, Fayose has said it to the hearing of many people that Mr. Ishiekwene was an ingrate and a false defender of the ethics of journalism.

. . . . . and many more as contained in that letter to the chairman of Punch.


For someone highly regarded as Azu, especially with his weekly preachings through his Punch backpage column, I am highly disappointed.

I hereby formally delist him from my list of 'Nigeria's top Columnists' for failing in the morality and honesty question: https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-325477.0.html

I'm beginning to think twice before trusting these columnists again. They come up with fine analyses every week, criticizing government and the so-called corrupt people, whereas they do worse within their authorities. He even wrote a book he titled 'The Trial of Nuhu Ribadu', but if the allegations by the sacked editor are true, then he might not be better than the men behind Ribadu's trial.

Azu may not be better than Dele Momodu, after all.
From Abati to Azu, should we just be taking the messages and ignoring the messengers, or ignore their message with them?

Jarus,
the problem is that you do not listen to adivse,else you would have listened to me in the past.
I have warned you in the past that these men and women are no worse than those they criticise.
There is a school of thought that Steve was only spilling the beans because the in house politics no longer favoured him, not because he was worried about the filth that Azu was clothed in.
No one in the media(apart from one or two fleeting mentions) wants to address this issue or do an in depth investigation.
If it was Ibori or Fayose, the likes of TELL and the NEWS would have gone to town with titles like "the face of a crook" and "the anatomy of a crooked jornalist".Now it is one of them and a falsely esteemed one at that, they all keep insisting it is improper to do a report on it since the Punch management is still investigating the matter.They forget the African proverb that says "nine mad men walked pass with a sane man.On lookers were asked who passed by?They replied that ten mad men just waked pass". The minority whose integrity are intact are letting the sins of the majority rub off on them.

Those who are insinuating that Steve's accusations are not true, i wonder how all these detailed accusations can be the product of a productive imagination and he has the guts to spill it in public?

The entire Nigerian media is compromised. That truth has long been known. The problem is that we never knew the depth of compromise,now we are knowing.
I am wary of making heroes out of public figures, there is so much you never get to see or know.I am a sceptic when it comes to celebrities.
When i read a Nigerian media report, i ask myself whose paid view is being represented here?
It is rarely the masses they all claim to be speaking for.

After Olusegun Adeniyi,even optimists like you ought to have learnt your lesson.
I doubt it.

AjanleKoko:
During Econet Wireless days, there was a flat structure, no serious disparity in earnings, and people were reasonably okay.
The Vodacom men showed up with their bloated MTN-type structure (a la hayo's 2.5-7.5m naira moves), and everyone promptly forgot all about working, and focused on jostling for positions. I heard that a KPI even existed in HR for number of staff hired per month!

Sad that all these telcos, with all the jobs they created, can only boast of training only a small fraction of the people they hired. Most of the call center agents, for example, who were graduates of accounting, engineering, law, banking, etc, who joined the call center, found that after six years they were still doing the same thing - answering phones. With the temporary boom in the banking sector, a lot started to leave for banks. Some left for further studies etc. The point is they all realised they were on a long road to nowhere.

Oga, on the highlighted parts;
i disagree with the MTN accusation.Those guys were, are and always will be conservative in pay.there was a bit of disparity in pay in MTN but there was never a huge pay structure there.infact according to sources,it has been harmonised and boys like Etisalat and Glo are way ahead.The issue was that pay was generaly poor in the small telco industry that existed before GSM and seeing the huge revenue flowing in, boys and girls could ask for a little bit of that huge flow.

on the issue of the call center,what were those professionals expecting?
call center jobs are rudimentary everywhere in the world.
infact in most developed countries (whose call centers are in east asian countries), the call center operators have a list of specific sentences they respond with,irrespective of the variety of questions the callers ask.
The professionals in question have no excuse for taking such jobs apart from the pay on offer.

in my view, every telco should outsource call center operations.

on the third highlighted issue; MTN has done a whole lot in refuting that accusation. They have trained their people well enough.a good number have been seconded to other MTN operations and other telcos in Nigeria have benefitted from the MTN alumni.
I doubt the same can be said of Zain, Glo and MTEL

Ikengawo:
the nigerian government just passed the same silly law in the oil sector

stay current before speaking on current affairs.

guy you are not making sense.
instead of insulting people why not just point out what part of his comment the government passed a law on?
since you are current,why not enlighten others?