Following the purported publication of De Voice Newspaper with the caption, “Lagos APC Deputy State Chairman Sunny Ajose Lambasts Badagry Council Boss Teliat Onilude”, the Chief Press Secretary to the Badagry Local Government Chairman, Mr. Sewedo Samuel has claimed that the publication is an indirect attack on his person and not absolutely the objective position of the APC Deputy Chairman.
Mr. Sewedo said this while responding to questions from newsmen recently stating that he has contacted the APC Deputy State Chairman, Chief Sunny Ajose who distanced himself from the views expressed in De Voice Newspaper.
He therefore noted that the Deputy State Chairman has promised to issue a press release to debunk the rumours of rancor and disagreement between himself and the Chairman who he sees as his son.
“I have seen the cover page of De Voice Newspaper and it is very unfortunate that such a respected community paper is misleading the good people of Badagry with such caption in the name of trying to come back to the news stands.
“It will interest you to know that the Publisher of De Voice Newspaper, Mr. Ovi Kuponu tried to cash-out on an event where the Lagos State Deputy Chairman of our party, Chief Sunny Ajose was quoted out of context.
“Mr. Ovi had proposed to the Chairman, Hon. Onilude to help do damage control on the matter but the Chairman declined because there was no damage in the first instance.
As the Chairman didn’t consent to his (Ovi) proposal, he headed to the press with concocted news with the intention to make it look like the Chairman’s media team are terrible at their work which I consider as a cheap blackmail” he said.
The Press Secretary further claimed that he sees the publication as an attack on his person by Mr. Ovi with an intention to prove to the Chairman that he (Mr. Sewedo) is not the best fit to handle his (Chairman) media and publicity.
“Mr. Ovi had been consulting for the Chairman before I came on board and had earlier positioned himself to handle the Chairman’s publicity but either by fate or luck, I was called upon to work with the Chairman as his Media and Publicity Adviser.
“You would recall that immediately the news of my appointment as the chief press secretary to the Chairman broke, a faceless Facebook Account ‘Badagry News Desk’, that has been linked with Mr. Ovi on several occasions, launched an attack on my person, calling me all sort of names, but that only made me stronger.
“Mr. Ovi had also told the Chairman that I have been responsible for the bad press he gets from some grassroots media platforms because I do not enjoy their goodwill. To me, it is simply jealousy” he said.
Mr. Sewedo further stressed that the fact that Chief Sunny Ajose allegedly said that ‘this construction that is going on is being done by Developers who are Tafa Dada and Yahaya Lateef’ shows that the common man acknowledged that constructions are going on as the purported interview claimed that Chief Ajose spoke the mind of the people.
“If Mr. Ovi is not being biased, he should know that work is seriously ongoing in Badagry Local Government, but his media house will not report the transformation ongoing at the Badagry Roundabout.
They will not see the new block of Classrooms at L.A. Primary School, Yafin. He will not see the new school building at L. A. Primary School Keta-West.
He will not report about the reconstruction of Ajido Townhall, he will not talk about the construction of Sunny Ajose Road and many empowerment programmes.
As a journalist and Editor in Chief of De Voice Newspaper, Mr. Ovi should have made efforts to dig for facts to balance his story to know that Selovian Construction Company that handled the Sunny Ajose Road is owned by an indigene of Topo.
He should know that a notable prince of the Akran family is the lead face of the Semacomtecture that is handling the Kiki Whenu Plaza at Roundabout.
Ovi was quick to echo that Badagry LG does not engage local suppliers but we can list over fifty suppliers that get work from BLG and are based in Badagry.
It is understandable that he would echo that Oshoco’s government that he served under as media adviser is more transparent than Onilude’s administration” Mr. Sewedo said.
Mr. Sewedo therefore stated that the public should ignore De Voice Newspaper publication as the Publisher is only trying to heat up the polity and cash out on the integrity of two men that have a smooth relationship.
He said that there is no crack in the Badagry APC house as the Chairman of Badagry Local Government respects the role of Chief Ajose as the Apex Leader of the APC in Badagry and the Apex Leader frequently commend the Chairman anytime he takes giant stride.
