Why Tinubu reinstated sacked DG NTA – Presidency

Facts have emerged on why President Bola Tinubu on Tuesday, September 2, reversed the leadership changes he earlier approved in August at the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, the government-owned national broadcaster.

On Tuesday, the president cancelled the appointment of Rotimi Pedro as the new Director-General of the NTA and reinstated Salihu Dembos, who had been removed only weeks earlier.

The appointments of Pedro and three other senior officials had sparked confusion within the organisation and its supervisory ministry. Notably, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, under whose purview the NTA falls, was said to have first learned of the reshuffle through media reports.

The development, it was gathered, embarrassed the minister, as Dembos and members of his management team were part of the federal government’s three-day citizens’ engagement tour of Enugu and Ebonyi States in the South-east, which Idris himself was leading at the time.

Sources disclosed that a presidential aide with a broadcasting background influenced the appointments, bypassing the information minister. The aide, it was gathered, told the president that the NTA’s leadership was ineffective, that the broadcaster was losing its audience, and that it was failing in its responsibility to adequately showcase government policies and programmes.

Upon returning from the South-east tour, Idris was said to have sought an audience with the president to express his concerns over the process leading to the appointments.

“The minister also requested the permission of President Tinubu to investigate the situation at the NTA, especially the allegations upon which the leadership changes were made,” a top presidential insider said.

According to the insider, Idris’ findings revealed that the allegations were spurious and had been fabricated by interest groups to facilitate the capture of the agency.

After reviewing the report, President Tinubu promptly ordered the reversal of Pedro’s appointment and those of the other new executives, instructing that the previously displaced officials be returned to their positions.

Presidential spokesman Bayo Onanuga later issued a statement confirming the president’s directive.

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has directed the recall of Mr Salihu Abdullahi Dembos, the Director-General of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), who briefly vacated the post following some management changes in the agency,” Onanuga said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Dembos was appointed DG of the TV network by President Tinubu in October 2023. He will now return to complete his three-year tenure.

“The President similarly directed the recall of Mr Ayo Adewuyi, the Executive Director of News, to complete his three-year tenure, which ends in 2027. Adewuyi was appointed by President Tinubu in 2024.

“The new directive effectively reversed the previously announced appointments of a director-general, executive director of news, executive director of marketing, and managing director of NTA Enterprises.”

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