International television station, Channels TV has taken a swipe at the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike over the allocation of a parcel of land housing its headquarters in Abuja.
News360 Info reports that during a media chat on Wednesday, Wike had questioned the allocation of the plot to the television station in Guzape, arguing that the media organisation was profiting from public property allocated by government.
Wike also defended payments made for the live broadcast of the media chat, saying media organisations do not offer such coverage for free.
“The land that you built Channels on is public land,” the minister said.
“You are making money out of the public property. Did you buy it? No. It was allocated to you.
“Am I not going to pay for a live interview? It is not free.”
In an official rebuttal read on Thursday, Kayode Okikiolu, a Channels TV anchor, rejected claims by the Minister that the television station makes money from lands allocated to it in Abuja.
According to the anchor, the lands were allocated to Channels TV in 2007 by the then FCT Minister for commercial purposes and every fee that was needed to be paid has been paid.
He said: “It is not correct. The property which houses our national headquarters in the Guzape area of Abuja was allocated to CTV on March 6, 2007, for commercial purposes by the then FCT minister.
“We can confirm that all required fees and charges were fully paid.”
Okikiolu also addressed claims by the Minister that the station makes money from its monthly interview of Wike. The TV Host stated that Outside Broadcasting Vans (OBV) and other equipment are usually deployed for the interview that takes over one or two hours of airtime. He stated that such airtime had to be paid for.
Channels TV added that it would continue to ask “the right questions” and maintain the credibility and trust it has built in three decades.
Channels TV further challenged Wike to publicly release the full list of journalists who received lands in FCT as he claimed.
“Our fees are out there. We are a news and broadcast media organisation. So, if you are going to lock down one, two, or three hours of airtime, of course you will pay,” the statement added.
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