ionigeria.com Nigerian Newspaper
On Wednesday, the chairman of Honeywell Group, Oba Otudeko, engaged the staff of Channels Television in a hide-and-seek game at the premises of the Federal High Court in Lagos.
Otudeko was in court where he had been summoned to testify in a N5.5 billion debt suit involving Honeywell Flour Mills Plc and its sister companies – Anchorage Leisures Ltd and Siloam Global Ltd – against Ecobank Nigeria Ltd.
But after leaving the witness box, Mr. Otudeko was confronted with the challenge of how to evade television cameras waiting outside the court.
As his aides marched alongside him out of the court room, the sight of a TV camera sent them scurrying back to the rear of the building to exit through the back gate but the photojournalist had raced just in time to meet them there.
The Honeywell boss and his group beat a quick retreat and stood at a safe distance from the camera.
The 45 minute-drama saw journalists station themselves at both exit points of the court premises, a move which left Mr. Otudeko and his aides scratching their heads behind the administrative building as they frantically plotted a safe passage.
At some points during the drama, some of the business mogul’s aides confronted the cameraman with questions of “Why are you doing this?” while simultaneously erecting a wall between the camera and their principal.
A mild scuffle was averted after one of the aides lunged at the camera in a bid to force the cameraman to stop recording the scene.
Otudeko eventually made his exit at about 11.40 am, after his aides erected a human shield around him as he walked to his waiting car outside the court’s premises.
