Former President Olusegun Obasanjo approved six radio and television licences for himself and the former Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party�s Board of Trustees, Chief Tony Anenih, a day before his tenure ended on May 29, Daily Trust investigations revealed.
The broadcast licences were among 38 others approved on May 28 by Obasanjo who acquired four licences through his company, Africa Telecoms & Technology Limited. Two licences were approved for Chief Anenih in the name of Kings Broadcasting Limited.
A search at the Corporate Affairs Commission in Abuja revealed that African Telecommunications and Technology Limited was registered on November 10, 2003. Its headquarters at No. 56, Quarry Road, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
The shareholders of the company include Aharab Properties Limited, with seven million naira share, and Ibad Limited, with three million naira share. The addresses of these companies are the same as that of African Telecommunications and Technology Limited in Abeokuta. The directors of the two parent companies are Anthony Awoisibor, Lucky Onyeamegede and Stephen Oyodele Isib who are believed to be Obasanjo�s proteges.
Daily Trust checks in Abeokuta revealed that house No.56 Quarry Road, Abeokuta, called Agbeloba House actually belongs to Obasanjo, and it also serves as the corporate office of Obasanjo Holdings Limited.
When Daily Trust visited the place on Wednesday, it was observed that Aharab Properties Limited, Ibad Limited and African Telecommunications and Technology Limited had no sign boards on the building.
The organisations in the three-storey building include Bluemark Hairdressing, which belonged to the late Stella Obasanjo, and Broven Insight, a book-binding and media consultancy organisation.
On the other hand, Daily Trust gathered further that Kings Broadcasting Limited, which was registered by the CAC on January 16, 2007 has its address as No.10, Murtala Mohammed Way, Benin. Its directors include Anthony E. Anenih (Jnr), who holds N500,000 shares. The second director is one Eugene Anenih, with N300,000 shares and one Agbonmembele Augustin Giwa with N200,000 shares. The total share hold-ing of this company is one million naira. The share-holders gave the same Abuja address as the residence of the PDP chieftain in Abuja.
Daily Trust reliably gathered that Obasanjo intends to establish two radio stations – one each in Port Harcourt and Lagos, and two television stations � one in Lagos and Abuja. It is not clear yet where the cable station for which he also got alicence will be based.
Chief Anenih, their broadcast licences would be used to establish two cable stations, to be based in Benin.
When Daily Trust contac-ted the Acting Head, Public Affairs of the National Broad-casting Commission (NBC), Ahmed Abdulkadir, to ascer-tain the identities of those behind the two companies, he said the commission was not under obligation to provide such information.
He said, “The NBC issued braodcast licences to African Telecommunication Technology Ltd to be based in Lagos, and to Kings Telecommu-nications, which is to be based in Benin. Former President Obasanjo appro-ved these licences on May 28, 2007. But if you are inte-rested in knowing those behind them, you direct your inquiries to the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) in Abuja. They are in a better position to clarify that aspect. All the NBC does is to ensure that licensees are properly registered with the CAC before broadcast licences are issued to them.”