Secrets Reporters
As the state government continues to maintain silence on the circumstances surrounding the appointment of Mrs. Rosemary Nwaebuni as General Manager of the Delta Printing and Publishing Corporation (DPPC), publishers of The POINTER, some staff have called for an independent panel of inquiry to restore order, fairness, and transparency at the Corporation.
This is even as fresh allegations have continued to trail the controversial appointment, as some claim manipulation, cronyism, and executive overreach as factors that led to the General Manager last February.
The call they say is justified by the growing divisions, enemity, clear incompetence, and inexperience so far exhibited since her appointment five months ago, and is
gaining momentum, amid fears that Delta State’s oldest print media corporation may be sliding into irrelevance under a politically protected but professionally unqualified leadership.
Added to earlier findings, our investigation reveals how the appointment, reportedly influenced by the former board chairman, Dr. Ebenezer Okorodudu did not only flouted the civil service rules but has inevitably created division among staff and poor administration arising from the alleged inexperience of the General Manager.
While staff accuse the GM of sidelining senior management members during decision-making, selectively disbursing allowances, and undermining editorial standards under the guise of vague reforms, the situation has been further compounded by the inaction of the DPPC Board of Directors.
Although the newly appointed Board Chairman, Mr. Austine Igbine, is widely regarded as a credible figure, staff say he remains isolated in his efforts, as other board members, including the representative of the Ministry of Information, Mr. Harold Ojji, (who recently assumed the position of Acting Permanent Secretary based on seniority and merit), have allegedly been compromised and now serve more as rubber stamps than institutional gatekeepers.
The growing disquiet among workers underscores what many describe as the erosion of professionalism and a deliberate hijack of public service structures by entrenched personal interests.
This appointment of Mrs. Rosemary Nwaebuni as General Manager (GM) of The Pointer Newspapers has continued to stir intense controversy and discontent within the Delta Printing and Publishing Corporation (DPPC), with staff accusing the Delta State Government of undermining public service rules to favour political loyalty over competence and merit.
While the Commissioner for Information, Mr. Charles Aniagwu insists the appointment was political, staff argue it was purely the result of a carefully orchestrated manipulation by the former Board Chairman, Dr. Ebenezer Okorodudu and former General Manager, Godfrey Ubaka to maintain a stranglehold on the Corporation’s operations and revenue even after the expiration of their tenure.
Insiders trace the genesis of this alleged manipulation to the Corporation’s 30th Anniversary celebration on October 28, 2024, during which Okorodudu controversially handpicked Mrs. Nwaebuni to play a lead role in the organizing committee, despite the presence of more qualified and experienced officers. The two were subsequently seen “hawking” anniversary awards for patronage, a move many staff viewed as unbecoming of public officeholders.
Shortly after, Okorodudu reportedly began boasting that he had secured the GM appointment for Mrs. Nwaebuni, claiming he had the ear of Governor Sheriff Oborevwori. This came after his unsuccessful attempt to get Patrick Nwanze, an HND holder who was promoted beyond the Salary Grade Level 14 bar, appointed to the position. Nwanze had been erroneously elevated to Grade Level 15 without the required PGD or Master’s degree as specified in the Public Service rules.
Sources say Okorodudu’s plan mirrored that of a former GM, Monday Uwagwu, who was appointed GM on Grade Level 15 without the required academic qualifications, save for the HND, under the directive of then-Commissioner for Information, now Director-General of Delta State Capital Territory Development Agency, Mr. Patrick Ukah. This precedent, staff say, opened the floodgates for politically motivated appointments that defy the civil service rules.
Mrs. Nwaebuni’s appointment, while on Level 15, despite the presence of more qualified senior officers on Levels 16 and 17, has been widely viewed as a reenactment of the same troubling pattern.
Although Commissioner Aniagwu defended the appointment as political, citing Nwaebuni’s role in organizing the anniversary, staff have continued to challenge his position, asking why political considerations should override civil service principles, merit, and career progression.
A senior civil servant in the state who spoke to our correspondent condemned the action, stating, “If appointments are now rewards for organizing ceremonies, what then is the relevance of career progression in the Delta State civil service?”
“Despite claiming that she did not lobby, what then is his justification for appointing a mediocre woman who is neither known as a reporter nor a known writer in her twenty-two years of service at The Pointer. This is a woman who openly claims that there’s nothing wrong with staff reporters writing feature articles with Artificial Intelligence, which she describes as a search engine”, another staff member queried.
Since assuming office, a staff member alleged that Mrs. Nwaebuni has been running the Corporation as a personal estate, thereby creating division and suppressing professional input. At management meetings, she reportedly shuts out key managers from deliberations, bluntly refusing to allow some to speak on items on the agenda or make any contribution on any other business.
“She decides who talks and who stays silent. It’s like a dictatorship,” said one aggrieved staff member. “If you’re not in her good books, you’re invisible, even if your department is directly concerned. Of course, the Commissioner Aniagwu had during his last visit to the newspaper house openly asked her to run the organization the way she sees fit and even told management staff to toe the line of her policies, even if such policies are not in the interest of the newspaper organisation,” he added.
The sense of alienation is so deepened that staff allege that she selectively pays allowances to a select few who belong to her “settled clique,” while deliberately withholding benefits from others. This patronage system, many say, has created a toxic work environment where loyalty—not merit—is the currency for survival.
Perhaps most alarming is the situation in the Editorial Department, where staff say Mrs. Nwaebuni has introduced unethical practices under the guise of modernization. She reportedly dismissed long-standing editorial traditions as “outdated” and filled critical roles with unqualified loyalists without competence and experience.
“She can’t write a news story, let alone edit one. Her Children’s Page ran the same stories and photos for years,” said one staff member. “Now, with her allies in place, the paper is riddled with simple grammatical errors due to her ineptitude.”
In May this year, the distribution of subsidized rice to civil servants exposed further rot in her management style. DPPC staff allege they were asked to pay additional non-refundable fees of N500 and N750, purportedly to “facilitate” the rice distribution, despite the corporation having two Hilux vehicles and a bus to convey the rice to the office. Besides, two printers, photocopiers, and a stapler for the process as required were curiously “hired” from a business center owned by the spouse of a staff member, despite the possession of those working tools by the Corporation.
Worse, rice was distributed unevenly: some junior and unconfirmed staff got full bags, while senior staff were forced to share, all under unclear and unverified criteria.
The current administration at DPPC is reportedly rife with fear and intimidation. Queries are issued arbitrarily, particularly to those who question her abuse of the rules. In one case, the Staff Welfare Chairman received a query simply for re-adding a colleague Nwaebuni had earlier removed from the staff welfare WhatsApp group. Another staff member received over seven queries in two months for minor disagreements with colleagues, while the other parties were spared and were also demoted from ... of a technician to a cleaner as a punitive measure without a definite timeline.
One female staff member was suspended indefinitely without appearing before any disciplinary committee, despite responding to multiple queries, an act described by senior civil servants as punitive and a breach of the rules.
“These are not civil service procedures. These are the actions of a person running a private empire,” one of them said.
Even after the appointment of a new board chairman, Mr. Austine Igbine, staff say the GM is still answerable to Okorodudu. Without management approval, she allegedly engaged him to refurbish official vehicles at exorbitant costs.
“She bypasses everyone else and does whatever he tells her. She’s more loyal to him than to the Corporation,” one departmental head alleged.
With mounting allegations, calls are growing louder for Governor Oborevwori to intervene. Staff insist that a full, independent panel of inquiry, comprising neutral civil servants, should be set up to investigate the process that led to her appointment and the ongoing administrative rot.
“In a state where the governor has repeatedly emphasized that ‘juniors should wait for their turn,’ this is a total contradiction. It sends the wrong message to hardworking civil servants and threatens to destroy corporations like DPPC,” said another senior civil servant.
They further criticised Mr. Aniagwu’s defence of the GM’s appointment by referencing the case of other agencies and corporations of the state government. They wondered why the DPPC should be singled out for such political manipulations and whether longstanding service and merit have any meaning left in today’s Delta public service, if that is the case.
So far, neither the GM nor the Ministry of Information has responded to the growing storm.
For the dedicated professionals within DPPC, the fight is not just about leadership, it’s about protecting the soul of The Pointer, and the principle that civil service appointments should be based on merit, seniority, and not manipulation or favouritism.
As of press time, repeated attempts to reach Mrs. Nwaebuni and Dr. Okorodudu for their response were unsuccessful. The Ministry of Information also declined to comment on the development at the Corporation.