Posted by By MOLLY KILETE, Abuja. on
Protocol was thrown to the wind of the weekend when the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) asked his boss, Minister of Culture and Tourism, Prince Adetokumbo Kayode to keep his mouth shut because he was speaking from an uninformed position on the matter of tourism.
Protocol was thrown to the wind of the weekend when the Director-General of the Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) asked his boss, Minister of Culture and Tourism, Prince Adetokumbo Kayode to keep his mouth shut because he was speaking from an uninformed position on the matter of tourism.
It was at the first meeting of the minister with heads of parastatals and agencies under the ministry.
All efforts to calm the NTDC boss failed as he rose on his feet challenging the minister who had asked him to make his contribution on the implementation of the NTDC master plan.
Other chief executives were held spellbound as the minister and the flamboyant Otunba Runsewe engaged each other in abusive words.
At a point, the angry minister ordered Runsewe to excuse them and leave the meeting, but the NTDC boss raised his voice the more, promising to deal with the minister, if he is eventually sacked.
The minister, Prince Kayode, has therefore ordered the Director-General of the NTDC to proceed on a forced leave, following what he described as 'gross misconduct" of Runsewe, during his first meeting with chief executives of parastatals under his ministry.
A four-paragraph report on the conduct of Runsewe, issued at the end of the stormy meeting and signed by one Abubakar Zaki, an assistant director, who also acted as secretary of the meeting accused Runsewe of 'distracting the orderly conduct of the meeting, interrupting the minister several times, shouted and pointed at the minister and other members who intervened to restore order and threatened to deal with the minister if he is eventually sacked."
The minutes of the meeting, further accused Runsewe to have 'held the meeting spell-bound with his provocative and unguided language, his refusal to respect the minister's order to leave the meeting and that his continuous interjection and interruptions made the atmosphere tense thus forcing an abrupt adjournment of the meeting."
The minister said a yet to be named acting DG of NTDC is to be appointed 'to ensure the safety of all government property in the corporation, especially finacial records. He has directed that an appropriate official be made to take over as acting DG, pending the final report of both the NTDC and the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism(NIHOTOUR)," the statement said.
However in another statement issued and signed by the Special Assistant to the minister on media, Taiwo Oladokun and made available to Daily Sun, Kayode accused Runsewe of constituting himself as a stumbling block to the commencement of the successful implementation of the masterplan of the NTDC.
According to the statement, two out of the six parastatals under the ministry have been slated for restructuring for a better and enhanced performance, but that the NTDC Director-General have refused to comply, despite several ministerial memoranda to him on the matter.
It further stated that while the DG of NIHOTOUR, fully complied with the directives of the implementation policy, Runsewe orchestrated and paid for sustained media attacks on the policies of the ministry, particularly on the Abuja Carnival 2007, following his removal as chairman of the carnival management committee.
Meanwhile, the minister has said that he would not take kindly to threats to his life by Runsewe, who publicly declared to deal with him. He said that he has concluded arrangements to report the matter to the police and other security agencies as well as make a formal report to the federal government on the issue.