Fire outbreak not sabotage – ESBS MD

The early morning fire outbreak, which razed six offices in the Enugu State Broadcasting Service building complex was not caused by “external sabotage,” rather it was due to “electrical fault,” the Managing Director, Mr. Chukwuma Ogbonna has said. 

The MD, who spoke when our correspondent visited the broadcasting house at the Independence Layout, Enugu said the fire, which started at about 5.30am on Tuesday, burnt the producer’s office, Circuit Unit office, presenter’s office and others. 

He noted that the archival library, newsroom and some other offices on the ground floor were spared. 

South East Trust gathered that since the station was commissioned in 1982 during the administration of former Governor Jim Nwobodo of the old Anambra State, fire incidents had not been recorded there. 

However, it was learnt that the latest fire disaster was the second in 2021. 

An inside source disclosed to South East Trust that on May 4, a mechanical workshop said to have been converted to a store, housing  outdated radio transmitters, unused furniture and other valuables were burnt by fire without even a pin being recovered. The source revealed that outsiders never knew about it because the management concealed it, adding that this latest incident took everybody by surprise. 

Our reporter also gathered that during the administration of former Governor Sullivan Chime, the broadcast house also experienced a minor fire incident  when a pro-Biafra group, Biafra Zionist Movement (BZM) said to be led by one Barrister Benjamin Onwuka, allegedly used petrol bomb to attack the station in their bid to invade it and declare “Republic of Biafra” but the security operatives took control of the situation.