Details are beginning to emerge on some of the sweetheart deals that<\/p>\n
cemented the relationships of the old guard of the All Peoples Congress
\n(APC) and Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.<\/p>\n
As the dust from the tremors of the political landscape settled back in
\n2013 with the defection of the five Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
\ngovernors to the APC, what followed were weeks of getting-to-know-deals in
\nthe APC.<\/p>\n
\u201cFinding their feet in the new environment had huge financial implications
\nfor the newcomers. Behind the photo opportunities that the country was
\ntreated to, the sharks among them moved in quickly,\u201d a source involved in
\nthe exchanges told the Nigerian Times.<\/p>\n
To the delight of the APC top brass, Amaechi who appeared in a hurry to
\nacclimatize started picking the tabs of many party programmes. Nigerian
\nTimes learnt that even the publicity arm of the party had a new lease of
\nlife on account of Amaechi\u2019s generosity. Lai Mohammed, the APC\u2019s publicity
\nczar, became a frequent flyer on the Lagos\/Port Harcourt, Abuja\/Port
\nHarcourt routes.<\/p>\n
That was when Bola Tinubu, the ultimate power broker in APC, moved in. No
\ngovernor in the Class of \u201999 comes close to Bola Tinubu in privatising
\npublic resources. Lagos has been such a boon that almost a decade since he
\nleft office, he has been a central figure in all the political intrigues.<\/p>\n
Those abreast of the early days of the relationship characterize it thus:
\n\u201cAmaechi was the political orphan on the prowl with plenty of cash buying
\nup affection and influence in the new political family. Too many doors
\nopened up to him because the party, in many respects, was poorly funded
\nand too often, depended on Tinubu\u2019s mood swings. Tinubu on his part was
\nseeing beyond Amaechi\u2019s new convert\u2019s zeal; he had his eyes fixed on the
\nhoney pot that was Rivers State. They hit it off\u201d.<\/p>\n
Tinubu owns both TV Continental (TVC) and Radio Continental (RC);
\ncompanies that have always been run by a few journalist friends of his.
\nBut a few years ago, he brought in a former top shot of Qatar based
\nAljazeera to rejig the place. Part of the reforms was the launch of a pay
\nTV arm called Consat TV (Continental Satellite Television). Since he had
\nhis fingers burnt in the defunct HiTV, Tinubu had always dreamt of a
\nbusiness to rival South African owned DSTV. Consat was his answer and the
\nservice launched in June.<\/p>\n
His next move was to tie up Consat and the Rivers State Government. Consat
\nTV and the Rivers State Government entered a deal for the purchase of
\nfifty thousand decoders at the premium rate of fifteen thousand Naira per
\ndecoder. The deal set the Rivers State treasury back by seven hundred and
\nfifty million Naira. Nigerian Times can report that since the signing of
\nthe deal and full payment was effected, less than ten percent of the
\ndecoders have been supplied.<\/p>\n
Why a government would want to buy decoders for its citizens remains
\nunclear, but watchers of the Rivers State treasury say it is one of the
\n\u201ctransfer of wealth\u201d cases they have been witnessing since the governor
\ndecamped to APC.\u201d<\/p>\n
The relationship had recorded its first victim almost immediately. In a
\nclassic case of journalism misreading the dark art of a proprietor\u2019s
\ninterest , Bola Tinubu\u2019s TVC, or more precisely, Oluchi, who was TVC\u2019s
\ncorrespondent in Port Harcourt ,when the Rivers State House of Assembly
\ncrisis began, was to pay a steep price. Her crime was that bit of the
\ntrade every journalist lives for, a scoop.<\/p>\n
On the day Chidi Llyod, the governor\u2019s supporter went wild, bludgeoning
\nanother member on the head with the mace, it was Oluchi and her crew that
\nbrought the scenes across homes in the country. But because of the limited
\ncoverage of TVC not many people saw the video that night. Indeed the
\ngovernment and many media houses had eggshells on their faces in the
\nintervening twenty four hours.<\/p>\n
The governor\u2019s propaganda machine got all the newspapers to report the
\nevent as one more instance of Wike\u2019s supporters\u2019 belligerence. Unknown to
\nthem, Oluchi had reported the event as it unfolded, correctly identifying
\nChidi Llyod as the villain and properly situating him between the warring
\ncamps. It took twenty four hours for other media houses, especially the
\nnewspapers to realise that they have been badly used.<\/p>\n
TVC, itself, was forced to stop running the story the following day. By
\nthen the video had gone viral. Miss Oluchi was declared persona non grata
\nin Port Harcourt. Her company could not protect her and fearing for her
\nsafety she escaped to Owerri. Her cameraman returned home late one night
\nto find his house ransacked. He fled Port Harcourt too. After many months
\nof idling away in Owerri, and the company ignoring her, she resigned.<\/p>\n
In her reaction, the Information Commissioner in Rivers State, Ibim
\nSemenitari, admitted that though such a deal exists between Consat TV and
\nthe state government, the agreement was never about Governor Rotimi
\nAmaechi, but about the good of the people of the state.<\/p>\n
She told the Nigerian Times that it was wrong to say that just 10 percent
\nof the decoders had been supplied, adding that 50 percent of the product
\n(the quantity which the state government paid for) had been delivered.<\/p>\n
While defending the agreement for the supply of the product, the
\nCommissioner noted that the deal was important given that the Federal
\nGovernment\u2019s digitization policy would soon take off and the state
\ngovernment needed to comply.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst, your figures are wrong, but to your question, 50 percent has been
\nsupplied and that is all we have paid for. What we are doing is not about
\nthe purchase of the decoders, but about the digitization policy which will
\ncommence soon\u2019\u2019, she explained.<\/p>\n
Semenitari added, \u201cWe are getting the decoders because we need to migrate
\nto the new platform and we are also grooming installers for the project
\nwhich will in turn empower our youths by way of providing job
\nopportunities\u2019\u2019.<\/p>\n
According to her, since the state owned television station and radio
\nstation were in the process of joining the rest of the world in migrating
\nto the new platform, it was important that the purchase was made to
\nenhance the penetration of information to the remotest parts of the state.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe penetration into the villages will not exist since we want to reach
\nthe largest mass of the people if we do not do this migration,\u2019\u2019 she
\nexplained.<\/p>\n
Consat TV which launched in June this year is one of three pay TV firms
\napart from the popular but expensive DSTV.<\/p>\n
GOtv is a cheaper offering from Multichoice and StarTimes which is a joint
\nventure between the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) and Chinese
\ninvestors.<\/p>\n
The NTA StarTimes, the biggest player in the direct to home television
\nservice sector is offering free decoders ahead of the 2015 digital
\nmigration.<\/p>\n
Until the Christmas promotion started, the decoders went for N3, 900 with
\none month free subscription and offering 35 to 70 channels at 1,000 Naira
\nmonthly or up to 3,000 Naira monthly.<\/p>\n
NTA Startimes is currently available in Lagos, Abuja, Kano, Aba, Benin,
\nEnugu, Ilorin, Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Markurdi, Onitsha, Port Harcourt,
\nSokoto, Uyo, Yola, and Ibadan.<\/p>\n
GOtv owned by Multichoice Africa with some channels from the DSTV bouquet
\noffers a similar service to StarTimes and is a direct competitor. For N2,
\n900 subscribers get a GOtv decoder including one month subscription to
\nGOtv Plus \u2013 which gives them access to over 41 local and international
\nchannels.<\/p>\n
But until the recent promotion, Gotv access cost was 6,900 Naira for
\ndecoder, outdoor antenna, remote, and 1 month free Gotv plus package.<\/p>\n
However, consat TV is one of the new Nigeria pay TV which offers
\nsubscribers only 24 channels at a cost of N15, 000 for dish and
\naccessories and subscription price of N4000 per month.<\/p>\n
And very crucially, both Startimes and Gotv are plug and play. No
\ninstallation fees.<\/p>\n
So, far from Mrs Semenitari\u2019s pro-poor fibbing, this is a deal done at the
\nbehest of the mafia don.<\/p>\n
The Nigerian Times<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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