BY CHIDI NKWOPARA, Owerri
The management of Owerri Capital Development Authority, OCDA, has issued an Owerri based private radio station, HOT 99.5 FM, seven days to quit its present premises.

The Imo State Government agency read the riot act in a letter it addressed to the management of the radio station, dated September 17, 2013, and signed by one Chief Amadi.

Part of the letter read: “You are hereby required to remove/pull down the illegal/ defective structure located at the address indicated above within seven days from the date of issuance of this Violation Form; to reinstate the piece of land to the state in which it was prior to the commencement of illegal/defective structure”.

The radio station, which is currently located along Musa Yar’Adua Drive, New Owerri, is owned by Spectrum Broadcasting Limited, is also believed to be promoted by Senator Chris Anyanwu.

Ardent listeners of the radio station and careful political watchers in the state have described the current travail of the broadcast outfit as”sheer vendetta and a ploy to force the station to either close down or relocate to another state”.

Others recalled that this particular radio station played a major role during the 2011 electioneering campaign that eventually saw Governor Rochas Okorocha securing victory against Chief Ikedi Ohakim.

A staff of OCDA, who did not want his name in print, claimed that Okorocha does no have hand in the current travails of HOT-FM.