THE BENUE State Government on Thursday allegedly sealed off Joy FM, 96.5, Otukpo, a radio station belonging to the former President of the Senate, David Mark.
The radio station, established in 2006, is believed to be the first private radio station in North-Central Nigeria, with a broadcasting range to about seven states in Nigeria.
Although the broadcast station was reportedly ‘invaded around 1 pm on Thursday by armed security men who arrived in two trucks’, it has since been reopened and back on air.
Thursday’s temporary closure, was said to be led by the Benue State Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, along with the Board of Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), due to alleged noncompliance with tax payments, non-registration and renewal of business premises, a source familiar with the operation confided in National Record.
A staff of the Joy FM, who pleaded anonymity, corroborated the temporary closure of the station, noting that issues were swiftly resolved and the station returned to air shortly after. “The station was reopened immediately. We are on air and working, please,” the staff said.
Earlier report of the closure by a local media outfit disclosed that the government team of armed men was led by the chairman of the Benue Internal Revenue Service (BIRS), Sunday Odagba, and Ikwue Ikwue of the State Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
According to the report, employees of Joy FM on duty on Thursday were roughly manhandled in the process, with a newscaster on air casting the station’s 1pm news, ‘forced at gunpoint to abruptly terminate the news bulletin.’
The report further disclosed that the Managing Director of Joy FM, Christabel Iyanya, confirmed the ‘invasion’, stating: “They came and laid siege on the station, causing pandemonium, as nobody was aware of their coming or the reason they had to invade a running station with two trucks of armed policemen.
“They roughly handled my staff on duty, right from the receptionist, Juliana Ameh, to one of our old staff, Mallam Jibrin, to my head of news, Cletus Ogbaje, and even went to the studio with heavily armed policemen and forced Oloche Adeyi, who was reading the 1 pm news, to stop the bulletin at gunpoint.
“They entered all the offices and drove everybody out at gunpoint. Unfortunately, I was away in Igumale, Ado Local Government Headquarters, to attend to business. All our entrance doors were destroyed.”
