Former Governor Fayose kicks as Ekiti government seals off radio station

A new private radio station, ‘Our People’s FM’, allegedly owned by former Governor Ayo Fayose has been sealed off by the Ekiti State government.

The radio, which operates on frequency 104.1FM, has been listed as one of the property being investigated by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) in Ekiti.

About twelve other property believed to have been acquired by Fayose in the last four years as governor of the state are being probed.

But the latest sanction by the government was as a result of an alleged non-compliance with building erection regulation in the state.

Reacting, General Manager of the station, Layi Oyawa, said he was assaulted by government officials in the course of enforcing the order.
He also claimed ignorance of any correspondence from government officials prior to the closure.

The staff of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, alongside policemen from the Counter Terrorism Unit, besieged the one-storey twin building about 9:38a.m to poste the notice of closure on the wall.

The enforcement staff and the CTU operatives entered the building and ordered the workers, led by Oyawa, out of the premises, and this led to a confrontation between the station’s General Manager and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Ademiloye Fasiku.
As the argument raged on, policemen ascended the staircase and ordered the staff to switch off the transmitter, saying the property had been shut down for contravening building development order.

Speaking with newsmen, Fasiku said four letters had allegedly been written to the station on the need to comply with some laid down regulations, but the advice was allegedly rebuffed.
Fasiku said: “We are here basically to enforce compliance with the urban development plan of government.

“We have given them notices but they never responded. We asked them to submit their approved plan for clearance, but nothing was done.
“Application was submitted to the Ministry on 7th September, 2018 by Mr. Olusola Micheal Adeyinka with the title, ‘Application for Mast Construction’, without indication to use the property for radio station.

“The second application by Finger Print Consult Associate also failed to mention radio station as part of its proposals.
“The ministry was able to deduce out the use which the applications were meant for through the working drawings, further observations from the filed documents obtained from the ministry are in tandem with the ministry’s recommendation as listed below.

“Following these discrepancies, a penalty charge of N985, 000 was recommended but was not paid.
“We then recommended that since the developer of the People’s FM Radio station has decisively failed to mention in any of the submitted applications, the original intention to use the development for radio station and not for mast only, failed to comply with the ministry’s directive to stop further activities on the site but went further with broadcasting operations, it is expedient for Ekiti State government to give a directive to the appropriate MDA to effect the closure of the People’s FM Radio station as deterrent for order defiance who may want to undermine the laws of the state.”

However, Oyawa said, “The police assaulted me and tore my suit; this is uncalled for. They said they wrote notices to us, who did they address it to? From whom did the letter emanate?
“The only letter I got was from the Signage and Advertisement Agency. Why is this coming at this time? However, we are going to address it the legal way.”
Also responding, Fayose, in a statement by his Media Aide, Lere Olayinka, said the action was carried out as a prelude to the alleged rigging the APC intended to perpetrate in the Saturday and March 2 elections, and advised Fayemi to stop acting like a tyrant.

“That the same Fayemi who operated an illegal radio during the Abacha days could get to this level of tyranny is another sad reminder of the hypocrisy of his claim to have fought for democracy.

Obviously, he fought for his pocket and personal survival. “From information made available to the public by the radio station, the government requested for payment of N175 million as signage fee which, for all intents and purposes, was ridiculous.

“It is sad that Fayemi chose to take laws into his hands by ordering policemen attached to him to invade a private business premises and close it down without the order of any court,” Fayose said.