Frank Edoho reveals why Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ended after 13 years on Nigerian TV and addresses reports that he was sacked.
Frank Edoho says Who Wants To Be A Millionaire ended after its longtime sponsor pulled out following a major Federal Government fine.
He said reports that he was sacked from the show were false.
Edoho hosted the popular Nigerian quiz show for 13 years before resigning in 2017.
Media personality Frank Edoho has broken his silence on one of Nigerian television’s most enduring rumours, saying reports that he was dropped from Who Wants To Be A Millionaire were false and revealing that the show’s end had nothing to do with his performance or conduct.
Edoho made the clarification during an appearance on The KK Show, where he spoke about his career, his years on the programme and the circumstances that led to its suspension.
He said the show came to an end after its sponsor of a decade withdrew following a significant financial penalty imposed by the Federal Government over a corporate matter.
”Our sponsor stayed with us for a decade sponsoring the show. I think the Federal Government fined them based on some industry…I think it was just like a punitive measure for one corporate thing that happened,” he said.
He explained that the fine was substantial enough to force the company to end its involvement with the show entirely.
”They said, ‘Hey guys, we can’t do this anymore based on the fact that we have to pay an incredible sum of money back to the Federal Government,'” he said, declining to name the sponsor or go into further detail about the nature of the penalty.
When the show eventually returned under a new sponsor, Edoho was not part of the relaunch, prompting a newspaper to report that he had been sacked. He said that conclusion was drawn without any basis.
”I felt I was thrown under the bus after all the years I put in,” he said.
Edoho hosted Who Wants To Be A Millionaire for 13 years, from 2004 until his resignation in September 2017. Before that, he had spent four years working at Radio Nigeria, the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria, where he said fame was harder to come by than on television.
”Once you can work on radio for four years but not get as much popularity or fame as you would if you worked on TV for one month,” he said.
He returned to the programme in 2022 when it resumed after a five-year hiatus with a revamped cash prize and new sponsors, putting to rest speculation that his relationship with the show had ended permanently.
Frank Edoho reveals why ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ ended after 13 years on TV
