Zainab Fakunle, a broadcast journalist, has accused Yes FM, a radio station in Ibadan, Oyo State, of dismissing her for having a speech defect known as rhotacism.

Fakunle told FIJ she was employed by the radio station, after successfully passing series of tests, auditions and trainings in December 2021. She eventually resumed work at the station on February 4 but was dismissed on April 28.

“The first day I presented a show called ‘Gbesimileti’ at the station, Folaranmi Folayan, the station’s General Manager (GM), told me that Yemi Sonde, the General Managing Director (GMD) and some other veterans at the station were not happy with my speech defect,” Fakunle said.

“I was in shock because they auditioned me and knew that I had this speech defect. I have worked at other radio stations and this has never been a problem.

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“The GM told me that although she enjoyed my show, the GMD and some other persons were not okay with the defect I had, so they would take me off the news segment.”

Fakunle also said the executives at the station were planning on removing ‘Gbesimileti’ because ‘it was obvious that the presenter was too young to handle the programme’.

“At a meeting in the office, a colleague told the GM that I should be allowed to cast the Saturday news. The GM pleaded with me to manage the speech defect and I was allowed to cast the Saturday news, called odomode. After the programme, I asked her how my performance was and she said I tried to manage it well. She also said she ‘was scared for me at the station,'” the broadcaster said.

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Fakunle told FIJ that she was sacked in a surprising and unfair fashion on April 28.

“Chinaza Egelemba, the Human Resource Manager, handed me my termination letter. It was stated in the letter that I was dismissed because of an ongoing restructuring at the station. I did not get any prior notice on this,” she said.

A statement on the station’s Twitter page read that the four employees it recently laid off were initially on probation.

In an Instagram post, Folayan wrote that Fakunle was hired on probation and did not improve on her speech impediment.

FIJ made several phone calls to Folayan on the issue but they were not answered. A text message sent to her line was also not responded to at press time.