Newspaper Staff Hold MD Hostage Over Unpaid Salaries

MD of New Nigerian newspapers, Tukur Abdurrahman

A source close to Governor Aliyu Magatakarda Wamakko of Sokoto State has confirmed to SaharaReporters that angry workers of “New Nigerian” newspapers are holding their Managing Director, Tukur Abdurrahman, and other management hostage to protest salaries that have not been paid for more than 15 months.  The source disclosed that the management staff was being held at the company’s headquarters in Kaduna, capital of Kaduna State.

The newspaper is collectively owned by the states in northern Nigeria.

“Yes, Alhaji Wamakko has been tipped off about what the workers did. And His Excellency is also aware of why the workers did what they did, that they are being owed more than fifteen months salaries,” said our source. He added that Mr. Wamakko was disturbed by the developments.   

A source who is a staff of the paper told SaharaReporters that they felt betrayed and abandoned by the northern governors. “Imagine, this newspaper is a historical institution and yet the governors have watched nonchalantly as it died slowly,” he said. He said the angry workers were insisting that they would not release their hostages until the 19 Northern Governors paid their salary arrears.

Our source stated that Governor Wamakko was chairing a Northern Governors committee on resuscitating the collapsed company.

The 47-year old company was closed down by the staff early this year over the same issue of the non-payment of their salaries and other benefits. The paper’s political editor, Ibrahim Adamu, recently died while waiting for the unpaid salaries. Mr. Adamu had earlier lost his wife, a staff of the troubled newspaper told SaharaReporters.

“Governor Wamakko is consulting with other Northern governors to see how to resolve this matter,” said our source.