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| Tony Iredia |
By Joe Iniodu
Dr. Tony Iredia is easily presumed an
honourable man. At least his age, educational attainment, offices occupied and
profession he belongs to bestow the attributes of honour on him. But “tonnie
Iredia” as he fancies to be addressed in his column in Vanguard has over the
years developed character flaws that put this deserving honour in dispute. He
has consistently put his reputation at risk in a manner that suggests that he
has scant regard for it and even self honour. This is the tragedy of the Edo
born broadcaster who lost his job with Radio Nigeria but was to emerge as
Director-General of NTA.
His capacity for atrocious conduct
became even more brazen when NTA embarked on the establishment of zonal
stations. Iredia having successfully wooed the then minister of information,
Frank Nweke Jnr. re-assigned the EDS, Zonal Directors and General Managers. The
Zonal Directors are said to have been mostly women who shared amorous pacts
with him. He did not only give these women the latitude for profligate use of
funds, he also assisted them to access mouth-watering sums from banks in the
name of loans. For instance, the MD, TV Enterprise was given a take off grant
of N500m borrowed from the banks while he at the same time denied the EDS their
N12m subvention approved by the Board but which he slashed to N3m arbitrarily.
Dr. Tony Iredia is also alleged to have borrowed N500 million from properties
department with over N100m converted to his personal use.
His penchant for abuse of office was
also made manifest when during a promotion by Peugeot Assembly of Nigeria, the
then Director-General in the person of Tony Iredia purchased 150 brands of
Peugeot under the condition of one free out of every ten purchased. Iredia
failed to account for the freebies which summed up to about 15 in addition to
12 others he forfeited from the fleet. It was alleged that he opened a car shop
in his home town of Benin. In a barter arrangement that was also struck with
major corporate organizations, Honda CRVS, BMW X5, Camry Vehicles also accrued.
The CRVS were given to the EDS, Iredia took the X5, Grace Egbagbe touted to be
the mistress the Camry while the remaining Honda CRVS are said to have been absolved
by Iredia’s car shop.
Tony Iredia’s sins in public office
are legion and not easily exhaustible. It is obviously from this mindset of
lucre that our morally deficient Iredia attempts to evaluate government and
public officers. This mindset also seems to combine with inducement to bear
falsified comments, deliberate distortions and outright untruths. As one
commentator said, “Tony Iredia is becoming difficult to ignore with his
penchant for falsehood and illogic”. I can not agree any less with this remark.
Having murdered his character as a public officer, Iredia seems ready to
sacrifice the journalism profession on the altar of falsehood all in search of
pecuniary recompense.
Recently, his mercantilist
searchlight was beamed on Akwa Ibom. As usual, lies, blackmail, falsehood and
unverified claims took centre stage. The results constitute a further flag of
what was left of him as honour and a question mark on a profession that has a
moral avowal to uphold the sanctity of truth at all times. So the society is
witnessing with rude shock one of the foremost practitioners of the profession
egregiously desecrating truth in a shambolic manner with scant regard to
integrity. How does one explain this shame, the damnation of a profession by
its very custodian? This is proof that this society has for long been breeding
wolves in Sheep’s clothing. For years this sheep has used grandstanding to lull
the unsuspecting members of the public into deceit with his Point Blank that
gave the impression of altruism.
Tonnie Iredia’s piece in Sunday Vanguard
of January 3, 2016 sarcastically entitled, Uncommon governance: The
Bane of Akwa Ibom State, typifies an intent towards deliberate mischief.
The piece which sadly contains a myriad of illogic, falsehood and innuendoes also
exposes the mercantile proclivity of the author. The narrative is not only at
variance with reality, it is also a public relations disaster having brazenly
betrayed his purported friendship with a certain Etim. Iredia’s claim of 5000
decampees from PDP to APC in Obot Akara is not only overly exaggerated; it is
part of the grand propaganda to undermine PDP in the State while promoting APC.
Iredia seems to be an anointed member of this cowardly scripted plot to take
Akwa Ibom at all cost with attendant danger to the Nation’s democracy.
As part of that widening plot,
Iredia appears to have been co-opted to use the media platform to discredit the
PDP led administration in the State and that way prepare the stage for what many
view as forceful take over. Many believe that the article of Sunday was in
service to that disingenuous quest. In that piece, Iredia took a swipe at all
efforts at governance in the State. Even the innocent Christmas Carol Festival
that is hailed the world over was condemned with unbridled gusto by Iredia
using uninformed premises like funding, government empowering the people to own
television sets and access to electricity as issues that stood on the way of
that event. He scoffed at the annual event which started in 2008 and has
remained one of the most viable marketing tools for the State. In Iredia’s
warped view, the Christian programme does not reveal itself as having a
pro-people policy and so should be scrapped.
On the night of that Christmas Carol,
the Uyo Township stadium was filled to capacity with overflow thronging the
environs and yet somebody is alleging that the event is not pro-people. These
were people who attended the event willingly with joy in their hearts and
smiles on their faces. One could see the palpable enthusiasm as they sang and
danced at the venue. The accusation of how many people government has empowered
to own television sets is not only absurd but also very laughable coming from a
man of Iredia’s pedigree. It depicts his desperation to inflict maximum damage
on the administration of Udom Emmanuel and indeed the people of Akwa Ibom
State. The insinuation that even people with television sets could not have had
light to watch the event shows his shortage of knowledge of the State. The
State today enjoys about 18 hours of electricity and its people had since
liberated themselves from the shackles of servitude Iredia knew and which may
have led him to think that they must need government to own television sets.
Tony Iredia must be told “point
blank” that Akwa Ibom people have a right to celebrate their God because He has
been faithful to them. They do not need his permission or that of his sponsors
to honour and worship Him. His allegation that the event was sponsored with billions
of Naira by the State Government is proof that he failed to seek appropriate
information that would have afforded him facts on notable corporate giants like
GLo, UBA, ZENITH and others that were on hand to sponsor the event. He also
failed to acknowledge the fact that Governor Udom Emmanuel is an accomplished
corporate player who is bringing over 25 years of finance management experience
to bear on the affairs of the State and that with such asset, he can not easily
yield to profligate behaviour.
His abandon repudiation of a project
of faith that would reinvent our moral health stirs great curiosity in many
people. Would Iredia have preferred obscene celebrations like carnivals where
women walk around literally naked? How many times has Iredia condemned the
Lagos carnival that is sponsored by the Lagos State Government or the Boat
Regatta that some State Governments sponsor? But a programme that has a
potential to cultivate values that would improve our collective wellbeing is at
the butt of attack perhaps because it is undertaken by Akwa Ibom State. The
criticism is a gambit aimed at the politics of taking over. It is just an
aspect of an organized coup against the State by the APC led central
government.
One of the most incorrigible lies
told in that piece and which betrays its sponsorship is one assertion cast in a
satirical remark, “in the midst of all these uncommon things, the government is
unable to accomplish the most common issues of governance”, insinuating that
doctors are being owed 15 months salaries. Haba, Oga Iredia, what has the State
done to you? This report is not only misleading, it is an egregious falsehood.
Doctors are not owed any salary in Akwa Ibom State. Even the allowances of
House Doctors which was the only knotty issue had since been cleared. Akwa Ibom
State Government is one of the few States that has continued to honour salary
obligations to workers despite the downturn in financial fortunes that has
affected the entire Nation. But Dr. Tony Iredia will never know that.
Well it is sad that the former
Director-General has allowed anger to take the better of him. He seems to be on
a vengeful mission. We understand he had approached the State Government and
sought for a media consultancy job. Unfortunately the job could not coast home.
The miffed Tonnie Iredia has decided to become a nightmare to the State since
it can not meet his dream. This, they say is the collision path. But Oga should
know that in our father’s house, they are many mansions and that if you no
chop today, you go chop tomorrow. Let him not take up roles that are
beneath him for a man’s worth is not in material opulence but the content of
his character.
Iniodu is a public affairs analyst
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