Punch/Ndan war:Missing links in Ayankunb’s claims- Agbeniga

By Joshua Agbeniga

I have  read Mr. Abiola Ayankumbi’s rejoinder to mine, which was published by your medium on January 8, 2020.

Three respected personalities advised me to ignore him for some reasons. However, I found a few grey areas in his rejoinder, which put a moral burden on him to clarify notwithstanding the fact that he quoted copiously dates to buttress A point that I wasn’t at the helm of affairs in the circulation department during the unsold crisis between PUNCH vs NDAN ( Newspapers Distributors Association of Nigeria (NDAN).

ALSO READ: I once sold Punch N/papers at Lagos/Ibadan tollgate, Ayankunbi, the man whose book on newspaper marketing is making waves

And like I said in my first rejoinder to his interview, I wanted to refrain from joining issues with him (to avoid being misunderstood) if not for his weighty, unfair and damaging comment with regard to my contribution to winning the NDAN vs PUNCH battle despite the verifiable evidence that I volunteered to lead the sales team to Ibadan after the Lagos area had been won.

This is what he said:”Mr. J.O. Agbeniga, former Senior Circulation Manager and later Corporate Affairs Manager was sent to Ibadan but nothing so much was achieved until Ganiyu Kayode Balogun, then Deputy Advert Manager who is presently Osi Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yorubaland was sent there and made a tremendous progress”. I wouldn’t have allowed him to tarnish my record unchallenged in view of the achievement of the company during my tenure as the head of circulation department. For three years running, PUNCH won the best circulated newspapers in the country. Mr. Ayankunbi worked under me for many years in  the department and he knew the stuff I was made off.

Also Read;Re: Punch vs NDAN “war” The Falsehood in Abiola Ayankunbi’s account

To the main issue under discussion, the PUNCH vs NDAN crisis broke out in 2001 and the management at one of its meetings delegated me to lead the operations when NDAN executives gave us deadline to meet their demands otherwise we shouldn’t bring our newspapers product to their depots for sale. The management resolved that we should first ” fight” and win Lagos State, which was the financial hub to PUNCH in terms of sales. The state constituted more than fifty percent (50%) of the national sales figure, hence the importance attached to the area.

Also Read: Punch vs NDAN “war”: The falsehood in Abiola Ayankunbi’s account

At the various management meetings held in 2001 on the issue, Mr. Tomiwa Olorunsola, was the Circulation manager while I was attending in my capacity as the Senior manager Corporate Affairs & Marketing.

Mr. Ayankunbi admitted in his rejoinder that the crisis broke out in 2001 and further said:“There are records to show that I (Mr. Ayankunbi) sat in meetings called by Chief Ajibola Ogunshola. The days involved were January 24, 2002, February 3, 10 & 21, 2002, May 16 & 17, 2002, June 28 & 29, 2002, August 8 & 9, 2002 and June 27, 2003.”  Imagine somebody who wasn’t privileged to be at any of the meetings in 2001 prior to the face-off contesting my account of how I was delegated as the ”Commander -In – Chief (GOC) of the PUNCH army”.

It is noted that in  2002 when he had the opportunity to attend meeting with the chairman on problems confronting his department, I have concluded my assignment on Lagos and Ibadan and returned to my department (Corporate Affairs & Marketing) to face my own job. Therefore, I won’t be able to comment on what he did and how he performed his duties in his department.

Mr. Ayankunbi requested me to provide a letter re-deploying me as head of circulation department during the crisis. I think the details given above is enough. There was no letter issued for deployment but I expect the directive would be in the minutes of the meeting and even if it wasn’t there all members of management wouldn’t have forgotten.  I remember that a day before MD was recalled from his annual leave to handle the affairs of the company preparatory to the scheduled day to embark on direct sale of our product, Mr. Olorunsola and I had a meeting with the chairman, Chief Ajibola Ogunsola in his office. The chairman said:” They  cannot stop us from selling our newspapers. How much will it cost you to break their ranks, five hundred thousand  or one million (Naira)? He allowed us to go and deliberate on the cost.

It is on record that I was responsible for raising a memo requesting a certain amount, which I wouldn’t want to disclose here. I have no objection to your editors seeking further information from PUNCH MD,  any of the editors  or all the three editors of the company then. The chairman, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola may be contacted should you have any reason to do so. I have no doubt that you would get enough facts. It is  on record that the chairman told me during a discussion after we won Lagos war that we (PUNCH) would have lost the battle if the onslaught continued for the next two months then. The crisis had a toll on the finance of the company.

With regard to my designation at the time of the crisis I admit that I made an honest mistake claiming to be the Senior Circulation Manager whereas I was the Senior Manager Corporate Affairs & Marketing. I take responsibility for the unintended mistake, which happened due to unavailability of my old yearly diaries with me at my present location abroad.The mix-up in designation is, however, incapable of destroying or nullifying the authenticity of my claim that I headed the task force that prosecuted the ”war” in Lagos and Ibadan.  I believe  that the  company couldn’t have made a better decision to complement the effort of Mr. Olorunsola in view of my track record while I handled the affairs of the department.

Mr. Ayankunbi asked: ”Why did he (Mr. Agbeniga) abandon Lagos, the “centre of action” for Ibadan?

The simple answer since he didn’t know or he forgot or pretend not to know, was that I went to Ibadan with a sales team having won the battle in Lagos. One of the circulation executives who incidentally was a member of the the sales team I took to Oshodi axis confirmed on Mr. Ayankunbi’s Facebook account of my involvement. The man was commenting on to the rejoinder Mr. Ayankunbi posted recently.

Also, I reiterate that Mr. Azubuike Ishekwuene who was one of the three editors at the time was delegated to write the then Lagos State Commissioner of Police to provide us security during the planned field operations. The leader of the police team ”aka” Sango requested to see me when they arrived the premises. The modality for the deployment of the policemen was a joint decision of Mr. Olorunsola ( circulation manager) and I. While the circulation manager who covered Lagos Island was attacked but escaped death there was an incident in Oshodi when Sango drew blood from an NDAN member who wanted to attack me. I had to take the injured person to hospital and we paid the bill for treatment. I decided to go this far to convince my accuser that I was solidly on ground to executive the assignment.

On the issue he allegedly had with Mrs Florence Adenaike on fax machine which he said I reported to the administration department, I couldn’t remember. But I expected Mr. Ayakunbi to know the implication of denying even a messenger from my office the use of the company’s equipment for official purposes. That would have been gross insubordination to a superior officer. Even if he had a personal axe to grind with Florence, he wouldn’t have allowed it to affect his official conduct. Mrs. Florence Adenaike he described as my Secretary was deployed to my office by the administration department as Assistant Manager before she was eventually promoted Deputy manager. To the best of my knowledge Mrs Adenaike never served as Secretary to any other person in PUNCH except the chairman of the Board of Directors before her redeployment. My secretaries were Alhaja Kemi Abdulazeez and Eunice Egboro at different times.

With regard to his involvement in selling Punch at Lagos end of Ibadan expressway during the crisis, I declare on my honour that I didn’t see Mr. Ayankunbi while I addressed various sales groups before departing to their beats and neither did he set his eyes on me otherwise he wouldn’t have contested my involvement  in the exercise in Lagos state despite the fact that I led the task force team. But considering his submission that he traveled to various outstations between 2002 and  2003 to resolve unsold/sales problems, I wouldn’t raise any objection to his assertion afterall the circulation problems in 2002 was not to my knowledge. My assignment to coordinate the crisis began in 2001 and ended the same year after Lagos and Ibadan battles were won.

He knows that I am a fair minded person who will not falsify information to suit my purpose. I accorded him recognition in my first rejoinder as one of the outstanding outstation circulation executives who always meet deadline in submission of his sales report to enable us prepare the following day’s production figure with a view to  controlling unsold figures.  I have been instrumental to his promotion (on merit) from circulation executive to  Assistant Circulation manager while I was the Senior circulation manager.

 To corroborate my assertion that I have been fair to him please  read what Mr. Ayankunbi wrote:”On October 5, 1998, Manager, Administration, sent a transfer letter to me in Port Harcourt and asked me to resume at the head office on October 26, 1998. Sequel to this, I handed over circulation functions to Daniel Ifetola on December 2, 1998. Mr. Akpandem James, the then Assistant News Editor witnessed it. I couldn’t resume in Lagos on October 26, 1998 because Daniel didn’t come early enough and Mr. J. O Agbeniga, the then Snr. Circulation Manager asked me to tarry for a while. I resumed in Lagos on December 7, 1998. I was promoted to the post of Assistant Circulation Manager with effect from January 1, 1999”.

I wonder what motivated him to unjustifiably attack me in his interview with your medium. It is unacceptable. Why did Mr. Ayankunbi pretend as if he didn’t know that the management assigned me the responsibility of coordinating the operations during the crisis?

It is Mr. Ayankunbi’s inalienable right to package himself in whatever way possible to meet the expectation of his targeted client but it is ungodly to deliberately tarnish the reputation of a fellow human being without justification.

From my end, I am treating the NDAN vs PUNCH issue with Mr. Ayankunbi closed. I am leaving everything to posterity.

For 25 years I spent in PUNCH, I successfully traversed four important departments namely: editorial as a journalist who rose to the position of state Editor in Oyo and Ogun states respectively, Circulation department as a manager,  Purchasing department as a senior manager and lastly Corporate Affairs & Marketing department as a senior manager. The company won the coveted award as the most circulated newspaper for three successive years the during my tenure to the glory of God almighty.