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Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye And Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
After several months of graft allegation, the Director-General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, has been sacked by the federal government.
Kawu was said to have been removed from office through a memo from the office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation on Thursday, directing him to handover to the most senior person in the Commission. Saturday Sun gathered that the letter of suspension from the SGF office was sent to the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed who passed same to Kawu through the Permanent Secretary in the ministry.
A source at the NBC who confirmed the development, however said he was yet to get the full details of Kawu’s disengagement from the headship of the Commission. However, a top official in the presidency stated that Prof Amstrong Idashaba has been asked to take charge at the NBC, adding that the new helmsman would get a letter to that effect before the close of work on Friday.
Kawu’s removal, it was gathered, followed a recommendation by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), which asked the federal government to suspend from office any government official facing corruption charges.
Recall that Kawu was last year arraigned before Justice Folashade Ogunbanjo-Giwa of the Federal High Court, Abuja by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) alongside the Chairman of Pinnacle Communications Limited, Mr. Lucky Omoluwa and the Chief Operating Officer of the company, Mr. Dipo Onifade.
The trio of Kawu, Omoluwa and Onifade were charged over alleged complicity in the misapplication of the N2.5 billion seed grant for the Digital Switch-Over (DSO) programme.
A source at the NBC said: “The letter was brought yesterday (Thursday), handed over to him and he left the office immediately. We have not seen him since yesterday and we are waiting for him to come and handover.”
However, efforts to reach Kawu for comment did not yield result as he did not respond to a phone call and an SMS sent to his mobile line. Also, when contacted, the Director of Information, Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr Willie Bassey, said he could not confirm the veracity of the information. “Can’t confirm, please,” the Director of Information said.
