Okowa Deserves National Apology, A Focused Leader – Oghenesivbe

…Says AIT, TVC To Scroll Apology For Sixteen Hours on Tuesday

Former Executive Assistant to Delta State Governor on Communications, Dr Fred Latimore Oghenesivbe has said that his boss, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, deserves a national apology and nothing less.

The former EAC and Justice of the Peace, JP, in an interview with a popular radio station in Lagos on Monday, 3rd January, admitted that he goofed for not controlling his emotions over official matters that were before the governor, and that a little time longer would have enabled his boss to adequately address his official requests.

He noted that in governance there are multifaceted demands, adding that as a man with good conscience there was no need to be strong headed over a glaring case of gross official misconduct.

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And on the Christmas rice saga, he said his outburst was based on the fact that his office had over thirty volunteer media partners and social media influencers, as well as members of the Coalition for Media Politics and Governance, CMPG, who are not on monthly stipends which cut across new media, radio, television and newspapers in the state.

Oghenesivbe, a political communication strategist and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Information and Strategy Management, Fcism, pointed out that these individuals: CMPG members and other volunteer media partners working directly with his office to project government activities and achievements ought to be appreciated at Yuletide season, pointing out that there was no way the two 25kg bags of rice and N100,000 allocated to him or his office could have met that Public Relations need.

“Of a truth, my actions and inactions were inappropriate, to say the least. Governor Okowa is a focused leader, meticulous and a prudent manager of resources. He painstakingly thinks through requests, demands and proposals before acting subject to availability of funds, and this could take more than a reasonable time in some cases.

“My requests were genuine but the approach to accomplish them of late was absolutely faulty and reckless. And as a Christian I do not see the need to shy away from my mistakes and official insubordination in respect of the subject matter. Conscience is an open wound, only the truth can heal it.

“My boss, the Governor of Delta State, Senator Dr Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa, truly deserves a national apology for the embarrassment and inconveniences that my inappropriate official conduct caused him and the state government in reference to the subject matter.

“Consequently, I paid TVC and AIT national television stations to scroll my national apology to His Excellency, Governor Okowa and the state government, on Tuesday, 4th January, 2022, for sixteen hours, and news slots on national radio stations as well as in some national newspapers.

“I am doing this as a man with good conscience and for my deep recognition and respect for the OKOWA BRAND in leadership and democratic politics. Okowa’s good governance and Political Philosophy, OPF, shall soon be felt at the national level, God willing, in the next dispensation, 2023.

“Even if Governor Okowa decides not to restore my official status, I will be a happy and fulfilled man knowing that I sincerely apologized, and as a Deltan who once had the privilege to serve as the pioneer EAC to an astute politician, champion governor and a quintessential leader with high integrity,” Oghenesivbe said.