A few nights ago, in the thick of defining events like the D’banj rape saga, recent Black Americans vs Africans face-off and Black Lives Matter movement; another pertinent story erupted indicting the now-former CEO of Africa’s most influential media outlet in the diaspora–OkayAfrica.
7 women came out via Twitter to give accounts of their experiences while working at OkayAfrica and sister company OkayPlayer. They also published an open letter calling for Abiola Oke, an ex financial analyst-cum-publisher to step down or be removed as CEO. These stories can be found on the following pages: @AntoinetteIsama, @ivieani, @ABisi123, @thatgirlxanan, @seenahgee, @kokothenut, and @winniekassa.
“From 2015 to 2020, several Black Women working across Okayplayer and OkayAfrica were subject to a lack of support and resources, below market salaries, inadequate leadership, targeting and sabotage, slander, verbal abuse, inappropriate behavior, gaslighting, lack of empathy, manipulation, rationalizing poor or unethical conduct and wrongful termination,” the letter reads.
Another employee who wished to be kept anonymous came out after to accuse Abiola of violating her personal space and sexually harassing her.
On June 24, 2020, Okayplayer and OkayAfrica announced the resignation of CEO and Publisher Abiola Oke citing these recent allegations as the reason. “We take the allegations that have surfaced very seriously, and we stand with the brave women who came forward.” The company’s statement claims that an outside advisor will “review and investigate our current and past policies and practices” and that “further action will be announced.”
Okayplayer founder, Questlove, shared the company’s statement on Instagram referring to Abiola Oke’s resignation as long overdue. Further action is yet to be announced regarding the future leadership of both newsrooms.
UPDATE: Abiola Oke has now responded with a thread via his twitter account in the early hours Ogboso today (26/June/2020).