I have been abandoned, laments Ityoher, former NTA DG

Patrick Ityoher, former director-general of the Nigeria Television Authority (NTA), says his former colleagues at NTA have abandoned him.

Speaking with journalists in Makurdi, Benue state capital, Ityoher, an ace broadcaster, said in other climes, he would have been remembered for the quality programme he introduced during his tenure as the helmsman of the station.

“The NTA family has neglected me, nobody comes to see me; they are scared to visit me; instead, I hear people speculating my death every now and then, they said I died in London,” he said.

Ityoher, who was appointed by Sani Abacha, former military head of state, regretted that the NTA had forgotten about him too soon.

The 76-year-old regretted the alleged decline in the quality of programmes at the NTA, and said he was missing the ‘Sunny Side of Life’, which was shown every Sunday on NTA during his time.

He said he accepted that his retirement by President Olusegun Obasanjo “with gratitude to God after spending 40 years of my life in the organisation”.

Ityoher appealed to Nigerians to be patient with the incumbent administration, saying “the good old times will soon be back”.