Secret Reporters No place to hide
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Former Ogun State governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel has blamed journalists for the woes that befell the compass newspapers which he floated. The governor made this revelation in Sagamu, Ogun State during an interactive session with Journalists who were in the state to attend a workshop put together by ‘Political Academy’.
“You will all recall that when we started then, newspapers like The Nation, The Sun and even ThisDay were put on their toes then, with the welfare packages we put in place. We bought 36 cars for all our correspondents across the country and they were all adequately taken care of, even, those at the head office were so happy with the welfare packages they enjoyed until you people finished everything”.
Contrary to various reports that he floated Compass Newspaper to fight his political enemies; he stated that his purpose of having the media outfit was due to his love for the media profession. He promised to resurrect the newspaper and make it better than it used to be.
“I sit down and think of what to do and I concluded within me that I should establish one and make it a place where the pen men would be well taken care of and free to perform effectively and efficiently, but, alas!, what did I see, it is the same journalists that I was fighting for that ruined the company. They destroyed the company and nearly made it go bankrupt, but, I can promise you here today, that, the company is coming back soon, back and better”, he stated.
He decried the situation where journalists whom he employed turned round to run the paper underground, forgetting that it was a business enterprise that was meant to yield profit
“You have to understand that someone that established a newspaper house does so to make profit, it is a business enterprise and all hands must be on deck by all and sundry for its survival. A situation whereby some people among the stakeholders is not performing as expected, that would be a beginning of downfall to such company, which was part of what contributed to the problems faced by Compass. It is you people, I mean, the journalists that killed the newspaper”, he moaned.
