By Ibanga Isine
Despite, the station owner’s claim, insiders said the
station got a sudden instruction from officials of the Akwa Ibom state
government urging it to block Senator Etok from speaking on the station
Senator Aloysius Etok |
A senator representing Akwa Ibom North West in the
Senate, Aloysius Etok, said Planet FM, a private radio station in Uyo, barred
him from featuring on the station.
Mr. Etok told PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday that he
was invited for a live interview on the station on January 1, but just as
he made to enter the studio, the programme was aborted.
Investigation shows that the national lawmaker was
invited to feature on a programme, “Score Card,” a live radio show by an
independent producer, Pat Rueben.
But Mr. Etok said he arrived the station and met Kufre
Etuk, a member of the state assembly from Uruan, shortly before the
commencement of the show.
Being a gentleman, he said, he allowed the state
lawmaker, Mr. Etuk, to be interviewed during the first interval which ended
with a commercial break.
Before the commercial break, Mr. Etok said the presenter
told listeners he was already at the station and would come on air after the
break.
“I was about going into the studio when the programme
manager came in and told us that there was a technical fault and begged that
the programme be discontinued to allow for repairs to be carried out on the
faulty equipment.
“I don’t know whether there were some other issues but
that was what the technical manager told me,” Mr. Etok said.
Ibom Forum is a popular discussion forum for Akwa Ibom
indigenes at home and in the Diaspora.
When Mr. Etok’s attention was drawn to a post on the
forum, where the Managing Director of the station, Tony Afia, stated that the
show had lapsed when he (Etok) entered the studio, the lawmaker fumed.
“Well, Tony has the right to say whatever he wants to
say,” Mr. Etok said. “It was announced while I was there that they were going
to have an interview with me after a member of the state House of Assembly from
Uruan was interviewed.
“If he went on to say that the time had lapsed then it
was his own. Clearly, one could see the contradiction. When he called me for
discussion, he apologised and said he will explain what happened to me. He
never told me I arrived late for the programme because I arrived at the station
before the commencement of the programme.
“I met the member of the state house of assembly
representing Uruan at the station and as a gentleman; I agreed with the
producer that he should go in first because he was there before me,” Mr. Etok
narrated.
Asked whether he felt he was ill-treated because of his
frosty relationship with the Governor, Godswill Akpabio, Mr. Etok said he had
no issues with the governor.
He, however, insisted that since Planet FM is a private
station, his relationship or otherwise with the governor should not interfere
with the operations of the station.
Mr. Etok continued, “I cannot see any reason why he would
play funny. Since he is running a private station, he should be
willing to provide alternative to the government broadcasting stations.
“One would have at least understood if it were a
government broadcasting station. But for a private station to do what happened,
it means Afia is not ready to provide the alternative platform for the people.”
When contacted, the producer of the programme, Mr Reuben,
said he had put whatever happened during the ill-fated programme behind him.
In a despondent tone, Mr. Rueben said, “I don’t want to
dwell on what happened that day. I have decided to go on with my life.”
But in a telephone interview, Mr. Afia insisted that the
time for “Scorecard” had lapsed at the time Mr. Etok was invited to the studio.
He noted that the radio station would not do anything to
hurt any of its clients including Mr. Etok, who he said was well-known to him
(Afia).
“The show, ‘Scorecard’ is not our in-house programme,” he
said. ”The producer paid for 30 minutes and had brought in the two
lawmakers.”
“The show started at 2.30pm and I was listening
when Mr Kufre Bassey Etuk was interviewed. At 3.03pm, it was announced
that the senator would feature after a commercial break.
“At that time, the producer had exhausted the 30 minutes
he paid for and we had to stop the show in order not to interfere with other
scheduled shows on the station.”
Mr. Afia said he called the federal lawmaker and
explained that the station was not responsible for what happened
on January 1.
He noted that the problem that led to Mr. Etok not
featuring at the station was caused by the producer of “Scorecard.”
“The producer paid for 30 minutes but on that day, he had
exhausted his time but still wanted the senator to come on air. If he had
wanted the time to be extended, he should have contacted us a day earlier.
“For instance on Tuesday, he came and paid for
additional one hour and yesterday (Wednesday) he brought two commissioners to
feature on the programme and we didn’t stop him.
“If he had paid for the programme to be extended, nobody
would have stopped him from going ahead to interview the senator. We
want the senator to come to our station,” Mr. Afia said.
According to him, Planet FM is a private radio station
and would continue to open its doors to all those who require its services.
But despite, Mr. Afia’s claim, insiders in the station
told PREMIUM TIMES its officials got a sudden instruction from officials of the
Akwa Ibom state government urging it to block Senator Etok from speaking on the
station.
The cordial relationship between the senator and the
state Governor, Godswill Akpabio, became frosty last year after Mr. Akpabio
suggested Mr. Etok will have to vacate his seat for him in the next elections.
Both politicians are from the same senatorial zone and
the governor, whose governorship tenure expires next year, wants to proceed to
the Senate and is battling to wrest the seat from Mr. Etok.
The senator is putting up a fierce resistance.
When contacted, the state commissioner for information
and communications, Aniekan Umana, absolved Governor Akpabio or the state
government from blame in the matter.
He said the state government does not control private
media organisations.
He insisted that whatever happened at the station had
nothing to do with the government of Akwa Ibom State.
“Planet FM is a private radio station and we do not
control what they are doing,” Mr. Umana said. “So there is no question that the
government was involved in whatever took place at the station.”
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