Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
In what came as a bomb to many keen observers in the Delta State Government House on Monday but as jubilation to most allegedly corrupt aides of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, news of banning the Editor In Chief of Secret Reporters, Mr Fejiro Oliver from coming close to the residence spread like wild fire.
According to authentic information at our disposal, Okowa was livid following revelations of how his Chief Security Officer (CSO), one Mr Lawrence diverted security funds meant for Police Divisions into his private pocket as well as the building of Asaba Airport tower with hollow blocks instead of concrete.
Rather than summon his CSO as well as contractors of the airport for their corrupt practices and shoddy job, he keyed into reports of Mr Lawrence who alongside his Executive Assistant on Communication, Mr Fred Latimore, Commissioner for Information, Mr Patrick Ukah, Commissioner for Economic Planning, Mr Kingsley Emu and his Director of Protocol, Mr Ifeanyi Eboigbe all termed the journalist and Secret Reporters as security threat to the government.
We gathered that Okowa who has been nursing grievances over some false information given to him by the aforementioned persons as well as other aides directed the CSO and the DOP to send a memo to the three gates leading into the government house to ban and arrest Fejiro whenever he is seen near the gates.
A credible source affirmed to us that Okowa has also mandated the security agencies within the State to pick up the journalist whenever he is seen in Delta to explain how he gets the exclusive information the medium reports.
The memo which has the headline of ‘Security Alert’ was signed by the DOP and CSO.
The CSO according to many of our high powered government house sources went to the Chief Press Secretary’s (CPS), Charles Aniagwu Ehiedu’s office to request for the journalist picture to enable him paste alongside the memo but was told that they had none. He told the CPS aides never to allow Secret Reporters staff access again to any information about the government.
Speaking to this newspaper, a senior official in the cabinet wondered “why is Okowa going so petty? How can he be a governor and be listening to rumors from all sides? Is it not the same medium he used in laundering his image during the election and after?”
Reacting to the memo, Fejiro Oliver stated that “Government House is not my father’s house and I have never gone there to pick money, so kini big deal. When Okowa finishes, another person which may be me will enter there. Whatever Okowa like, let him keep doing but his time to leave the place after 2019 has started counting”.
