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Channels
Television, Monday, debunked the
rumour making the rounds that the Lagos State Commandant of the Nigeria
Security and Civil Defence Corps, Mr. Obafaiye Shem, has been demoted or
suspended in the aftermath of a now famous phrase (“My Oga at the Top”) as
false.
The
TV station also discredited reports that the wife of the commandant stormed the
station’s HQ to protest the upload of the interview.
The
station, however, did not allude to any source as regards the “false rumour.”
In
a related development, the producer of Sunrise Daily, Sulaimon Aladeh, has hit
back at critics who claim the interviewers were unprofessional by shoving off
the criticism on his Twitter handle, @aledeh, on Sunday.
He
stated, “As the producer I take full responsibility. It’s on employment
racketeering, so we must have a genuine website to stop further
exploitation. Now some claim to be professional broadcasters. They lie that
it’s a rule that if your interviewee does not have the answer you must move on.
“Nothing
like that. Only discretionary. Some say the anchors are not trained or
professionals. Check their resumes and see. They all have their training here
and also in Europe and America. They may be young but are well trained. That
does not mean they are infallible but on this matter, they did well, very
well.”
Meanwhile,
On Saturday, the social media circles were awash with the information that
Shem’s wife forced her way into Channels TV studio to protest
bitterly to the chairman of the station on the damage the incident had caused
his family.
Aledeh,
reacting to this on his Twitter handle, said, “No woman or wife came
to Channels TV as reported by blogs in respect of the trending
‘Oga at the top’ debacle.”
Meanwhile,
the rumour that Shem had been placed on suspension could also not be
substantiated. He was invited to speak on “Cash for job racketeering” and
employment irregularities rocking ministries, departments and agencies.
Believed
to be dodging the question, he had said, “Yes, I cannot
categorically tell you one now because the one (website) we are going to
use (website), I won’t be the one to create it.
“The
one we are going to make use of is going to be made known by my oga at
the top. Yes, I cannot announce one now and my oga at the top says
it is another one.”
After
the interview, Shem became a celebrity of some sort as the social media
networks feasted on the clip of the interview, and various hilarious pictures
of him.
Apart
from hashtag, “MyOgaAtTheTop, bearing various coinages, that
has gone viral on Twitter, there is a music video of ‘My Oga At The Top’
by DJ Ziggy on YouTube. In fact, some creative Nigerians have begun the sales
of customised “My oga at the top” T-shirts.
The
hullabaloo about “My oga at the top” joke has, no doubt, highlighted the power
of the social media in driving public debate around issues in the country.
Since the hashtag #MyOgaAtTheTop broke into trending topics on Tuesday, the
phrase had literally crept into the vocabulary of Nigerians both at home and in
the Diaspora. The question now is: When will ‘my oga at the top’ stop trending?
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