NCC DG, AFAM EZEKUDE REMAINS ON THE RUN AS STAFF INSIST ON HIS ARREST, PROSECUTION.

The Director General of the Nigerian Copyright Commission, Mr. AfamEzekude has not been seen anywhere near his Federal Secretariat Abuja office in about two weeks. Mr. Ezekude appears to be in hiding as his senior staffs insist on the arrest and prosecution of Ezekude for alleged unbridled corruption and several other infractions. The staff contends that they have completely lost confidence in their DG and cannot work with him anymore.

The unending battle between Ezekude and the staff of the commission under the umbrella of Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), has lasted several months with many petitions against the DG at the EFCC, ICPC, DSS and the Presidency.

A senior member of staff of the NCC who spoke to www.beatsonit.com says that each of the petitions has been accompanied by “incontrovertible facts and documents” showing the brazen corruption and “squandermania” that Ezekude has perpetrated at the NCC.There have also been repeated demonstrations against the DG which have brought operations in all the branch offices of the commission across the country to a standstill.

It is reported that during a recent stand-off between the DG and his staff at the commission’s Abuja Headquarters, during which the staff were singing “Afam must go”, dancing and blowing horns and vuvuzelas, Mr. Ezekude invited a large team of policemen to arrest the picketing staff. Some members of the NCC staff were injured as a result of the scuffle that ensued. Rather than solve the problem, the DG’s action has further infuriated and emboldened the staff who insist that except Mr. Ezekude is arrested and made to cough out the millions of Naira belonging to the commission that he is alleged to have pilfered, there will be no peace at the NCC.

A concerted effort made by the Minister of Labour, Dr Chis Ngige who met with the parties a few months ago, in an attempt to sooth frayed nerves, does not seem to have achieved much. The NCC staff are adamant that they do not just want AfamEzekude to be sacked as their DG, they want him prosecuted and sent to jail as a lesson to all criminals in the various departments of the government. They have called on President Buhari to immediately remove and prosecute Ezekude who has been in office for about eight years, a period in which all the working facilities at the NCC have broken down while the morale of the staff has sunk to the lowest ebb.

Speaking to www.beatsonit.com, another senior member of the NCC staff, said, “AfamEzekude is a dead man walking. No one can save him”.

When www.beatsonit.com.ng reached Mr. Afam Ezekude on the phone to get his reaction, he said that the staffers were agitating over a recent promotional exercise conducted in NCC for which he had sought the approval of the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Mr. Abubakar Malami (SAN).

According to Mr. Ezekude, he had severally pleaded with the Minister for the approval to no avail, pointing out that the authority to approve the promotions resides with the Minister. He further claimed that the association has barred him from entering his office, adding that he would do everything to fix the matter before the end of his tenure in December.

However, the NCC staff is insisting that Mr. Ezekude should not just be relieved of his post but be jailed for misappropriation of funds belonging to the Commission.

It will be recalled that thousands of members of Copyright Society of Nigeria (COSON), by far, Nigeria’s biggest copyright organization, who thronged Lagos Sheraton Hotel Ikeja in May 2018 for the COSON Annual General Meeting also asked President Muhammadu Buhari to remove from office Mr. Afam Ezekude. The conclusion of the COSON AGM was that the creative industry has totally lost confidence in Mr. Ezekude’s leadership.

Beats-onit