27th March, 2020
The General Manager, Rivers State Newspaper Corporation, Mr Vincent Ake has been relieved of his appointment with immediate effect by Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State.
The sack was contained in a terse Government statement signed by, Paulinus Nsirim,Commissioner for Information and Communications,which directed Mr Ake to hand over to the most senior officer at the corporation.
Although no reason was given for the sack of, Vincent Ake, but one of the Editors of the state-owned media organization said the GM was sacked for publishing report on the first case of COVID-19 in Rivers State without first getting approval from the Taskforce on Coronavirus set by the state government.
It was learnt that Wike was miffed that the state owned newspaper, The Tide,was one of the first to break the news of the first case of an infected person of Covid 19.
Ake is a seasoned Journalist who has held various leadership positions at the state and national levels.
He retired as a Director in Ministry of Information and Communications before he was appointed as General Manager of State owned newspaper Corporation.