Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Pirates invade The Guardian Newspapers in Lagos



 
Mr Debo Adeshina,Editor  in chief,The Guardian Newspapers is the leader of pirates in the global media
By Abdulmumini Adeku.
 Whenever a printing production takes place the normal thing is for  the bad copies in the press hall will be separated from the good copies and then the former is destroyed to maintain a good stream in terms of quality control but this is not the same at Guardain Press Limited owners of The Guardian Newspapers,Lagos.
In an exclusive investigation by Paedia Express Multimedia in Lagos,Nigeria it was discovered that sometimes in 2012 a mole had discovered that questions were raised by the management of News Ark Communications  Limited over a marketing mix campaign which did not go according to script due to the bad quality control systems of The Guardian tissue paper.
It was scooped by Paedia Express Multimedia that pirate normally hide behind the fence of the company in connivance with there cronies within the company to collect the bad copies before the day breaks and what should have been destroyed as bad copies will now be pushed to the unsuspecting market as good product.
The source explained that  the management of News Ark Communications were so displeased about a bad edition that the company produced for one of its clients that they had to do a thorough investigation and this was what led to the startling discovery.
The source affirmed that the bad copies will normally have flooded the market before the good copies and the profit made usually goes into personal pocket rather than the company’s purse.
The source pointed out that if a successful organization  does not treat its workers well then ultimately they will short change the company they work for.
As far back as 2004 The immediate professional future of the Editor of The Guardian Newspapers, Mr Debo  Adeshina  has been  shrouded in a lot of uncertainty.
As at press time, he has been confirmed as the Editor-in-chief of the brand by the  board of the company
Informed moles inside The Guardian Newspapers said exclusively that there were moves to show him the door by the management which is now headed by a Chief Operating officer  which represents the interests of the deceased publisher ,Mr Alex Ibru.
A mole explained that there   have been barrage of petitions leveled against Mr Adeshina even from within the organization due to several years of accumulated gross professional misconduct.
He recalled that one of the weekend editors was placed in an acting capacity for eight years due to Mr Adeshina ‘ s evil machinations.
He went down memory lane to recall how Mr Adeshina at the height of his glory slapped Mr Moses Jolayemi , now the Chief Executive officer of Newswatch magazine over an editorial matter but quickly added that the latter replied him instantly.
According to the mole , there was an air of mistrust among the senior editors of the newspaper as they jostled for who to take over from Mr Adeshina .
He pointed out that the new management had redeployed Mr Adeshina to Head the Abuja Bureau of the newspaper ,once affectionately dubbed “The flagship of the Nigerian print media industry”
He revealed that the bureau Head of the newspaper in Abuja,Mr Martins Oloja was posted to the head office as Acting Editor preparatory to full installation as substantive editor.
In his opinion, though a soft landing seems to have been given by the company’s management to save Mr Adeshina’s face,he however doubts whether he will want to bite the dust so easily without a fight.
He lamented that the one month long 2008 labor crisis which led to well over 2,000 workers been booted out of the company prompting a case being filed at the Industrial Court  was reducing productivity.
His words:”an employer can sack his staff ,there is really nothing the government or anybody can do to compel him to behave otherwise”
Once upon a time ,on January,22nd ,Mr Debo Adeshina under a demonic  influence conspired in The Guardian Newspaper newsroom to forge a reporters report which was meant to be published on the moneyline pages of the business pages of The Guardian Newspapers.
He had sacked Mr Dipo Okubanjo and Mr Peter Demeyin on the same day all in an attempt to deal with his object of hate on the business desk whom he also  fired.
Every noble effort put forward by the duo of the then Editorial Consultant  ,Dr Jide Oluwajuyitan and the Editorial Board Chairman,Dr Reuben Abati to sort out the crisis was rebuffed by Mr Adeshina for reasons best known to him despite evidence to show that he was witch haunting the hapless reporter.
Due to the forgery scam , some bankers lost their jobs in the Northern part of the country as they reacted to the report  written about them on impulse  despite not reading the entire body of the reportage.
 checks revealed that the body of the report  was different from the actual headline which is believed was the handiwork of Mr Adeshina.
The reporter was also subjected to the same bad treatment by Mr Gbenga Omotosho and Prince Femi Kusa in conjunction with others like Bayo Oguntimehin,Eleumeuno Emeka Izeze,Val Amanze as the raping spree continued unabated
It would be recalled  between 2007 and 2008,Economic News Media enterprises now defunct ,through its publications like First Voice Newspapers and Business and Economy Newspapers had written at least seven reports about the forgery scam.
The resultant effect of the reports and the burning of The Guardian Newspapers effigy in a protest by the victim led to The Guardian Newspapers  which had not promoted any of its staff for eight years  then to suddenly select some lucky few and promoting them.
Forensic checks   also showed that this was why the entire work force decided to down tools in November,2008  for a whole month in an attempt to get a share of the cake the owners of the company were distributing as at then.
Further sporadic campaigns by the victim on several locations on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter which went viral over two years ago and is still on –going has not made life easy for the company as the noose tightened around the crooks.
It would appear that the highly controversial Nigerian Press and Practice Bill which was promoted by Honourable Abike Dabiri-Erewa  about two to three years ago  before it was thrown out by the National Assembly after a public hearing was actually hatched inside Rutam House as words went round during numerous conclaves that The Guardian Newspaper had bitten more than it could chew.
It is not known how Mr Gbenga Omotosho ,Editor of The Nation Newspapers ,Prince Femi Kusa will react to the latest development but it is believed that Mr Omotosho had suddenly taken a career in writing news columns rather than lazying around in the newsroom so as to launder his battered public image due to his involvement in a similar scandal ,all proven with documented facts and figures.
Analysts  believe that the continued presence of Mr Omotosho in the saddle as editor is due to his camaraderie with the publisher  of the newspaper, Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu rather than for ability or ethical reasons.
Checks also showed that erstwhile Associate Editor of the business Desk,Mr Jide Ogundele of the now rested   Comet Newspapers had to seek refuge as Personal Assistant to the Chief Executive officer of First Bank Plc from his position as Media Manager when the heat became too much for him to bear over the scam.
To the ordinary eye and the uninitiated this will have been a routine promotion exercise but it was learned that as a Special Aide to the Chief Executive officer of First Bank Plc, he has the opportunity by the dictates of his office to check letters, phone calls, emails and other messages intended for his principal.
it was gathered that what Mr Jide Ogundele does is to simply remove and destroy any form of documentation which can make him lose his job and this is how he has survived the blitz over the newsroom fraud which he equally participated in.
Insiders agree that the need to quell a possible riot at The Guardian Newspapers over attempts by editors to cover-up the forgery scam led to the management of the company to plead with the management of the Nigerian Police to grant them the need of armed police officers and armored tanks so that they can crush any form of internal or external rebellion.
It would be recalled that in the days immediately after the  death of The publisher of The Guardian Newspapers, Mr Alex Ibru, Prince Femi Kusa ,the Former Deputy Managing Director and the now rested The Comet Newspapers was attacking the deceased on an internet forum in order to give the impression to those he had offended in the past  the believe that he was innocent when in fact he allowed himself to be used to cementing a culture of fraud at The Guardian Newspapers.
It is not known as at press time,the immediate fate of other principal characters of  the scam like Mr Eluemuno Emeka Izeze ,Managing Director of The Guardian Newspapers ,Deputy Editor in Charge of Business and Economy ,Mr Ade Ogidan who were both involved in the fraud.
However,it is expected that developments at Rutam House along Oshodi-Apapa Expressway in Lagos will jolt Mr Val Amanze ,Regional Editor ,Daily Independent Newspapers and Mr Tunji Oketunbi ,the then Nigerian Union of Journalists Chapel Chairman who literarily handed Mr Adeshina the opportunity to go scot free from his dubious acts.
Mr Oketunbi is now the image maker at the Accident Investigations Bureau in Lagos,Nigeria.
The Guardian Newspapers was so great at the peak of its success  that sales and advertising in  a day according to insiders was not less than N10million.
Signs that the brand was deeply in trouble showed about two years ago when its marketing unit goofed publicly as it started begging consumers to pick up The Guardian Newspapers for free and then pay later ,not even Coca-Cola will make this mistake.
In between 2004 when one of the greatest reported newsroom hatchet operations in the newspaper world took place inside Rutam House, a lot has happened globally.
In the United Kingdom for instance ,tabloid brand News –of-the-world  newspapers had to quit business amidst paying three hundred million pounds to victims of phone hacking.


No comments:

Post a Comment