Why I Flogged 4 Of My Staff – GM of Bayelsa Radio Station

The General Manager of Glory FM, Bayelsa State
who flogged four of his duty staffers has opened
up on the real reasons why he embarked on
such punishment.
Mr. John Idumange stated that he flogged four
union leaders of the station in self-defence.
He told NAN on Friday in Yenagoa that the
incident happened on Monday after the union
leaders shut down the FM station operated by
the state government.
The Radio Bayelsa Chapel of Nigeria Union of
Journalists (NUJ) and Radio Television and
Theatre Arts Workers Union (RATTAWU) had
alleged that Idumange was running the station
outside public service rules.
Idumange, who explained the details of the
incident to NAN, alleged that the unions in the
station were working against his reforms aimed
at re-positioning the broadcast outfit.
“At about 7.20pm on Monday, the day RATTAWU
and NUJ embarked on strike, I heard voices near
my window. So I went out to see what was
happening. I saw four persons, one of them a
lady.
“I could recognise Tonye Yemoleigha, one of the
union leaders, who was in white shirt. I asked
why they were there after chasing away all the
workers,” he said.
According to him, “Tonye stood up and asked if
the compound belonged to me. At that point I
discovered he was ready for a fight but I did not
bulge.
“He brought his hands near my eyes so I
blocked it. I had learnt Karate years back. One
of them threw a chair at me and they all rushed
to fight me. I had to fight back in self-defence.
They could have beaten me up but my Karate
skills rescued me,” he said.
Idumange, who was appointed on Dec. 6, 2016,
claimed that he recently uncovered a N5.7million
fraud and redeployed some staff.
“The transferred workers have been meeting with
them at NUJ Centre, they benefitted from the
corruption and are fighting back,” Idumange
said.