OPEN LETTER TO MS. MARILYN OGAR ON THE CHANNELS TELEVISION INTERVIEW WITH HER ON OSUN STATE GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION by Isaac Oluyi

Dear Ms. Ogar,

I started this letter with ‘dear’, but you are not in any way dear to me. I have never heard you speak, until yesterday on Channels Television.  Your face was not familiar, as I doubt whether I had seen your face anywhere before. But I decided to listen to the interview because it bordered on the recently conducted election in Osun State and because I saw ‘DSS Spokesperson’ under your name. Why these two reasons? Osun State election because I am from the state and have been itching to know why the hooded DSS personnel were brought into the state, as their looks were not only scary but the hoods made them look like armed robbers. The second reason was that I was hoping to hear well-articulated views, logical thoughts and superbly crafted expressions from you because of the appellation ‘DSS Spokesperson’. Did I get what I bargained for? No! Rather, madam, you grossly disappointed me!

So by now, you should know why you are not dear to me. But for formality sake, I will still give the word ‘dear’ to you. Your conduct on Channels Television yesterday reminded me of ‘Oga at the top’ saga on the same channel a couple of months ago. You were so unprofessional and unethical with some of your reckless utterances that I wondered how on earth you attained such an enviable position! Could it be that you got to the position through the back door? Or the rot in the Public Service that has relegated merit to the background helped you to the position? Whatever factor was responsible for your elevation to the post, I make bold to say that you have brought the name of your organisation into a serious disrepute.

Madam, I need you to tell Nigerians what you found amusing in the way Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the National Publicity Secretary of All Progressive Congress (APC) party, reacted to his arrest by the men in hoods. Your illustration that an average Nigerian runs his or her mouth in a free environment, but becomes lily-livered when the environment is tensed leaves much to be desired. Are you saying that Lai Mohammed should have been dancing before your men? Does a sane man argue with guns? Who will see those terror-personified men of yours and will not shiver? I saw them a day after the election in front of my church and screamed that armed robbers were on rampage! I am still in sixes and sevens over your position as regards the conduct of your men in Osun state, particularly the arrest of APC’s National Publicity Secretary. What precisely is your point? You took your comedy too far by standing logic on its head when you opined that APC may have been responsible for all the bomb blasts in the North-East! Haba, madam! To substantiate your claim you gave this dumb argument: APGA won in Anambra; there was bomb blast. PDP won in Ekiti; there was bomb blast. Labour party won in Ondo; there was bomb blast. Now APC won in Osun, but there was no bomb blast. Therefore, APC has been responsible for all the bomb blasts in the country! What a warped and illogical argument! Madam, you need to quickly enrol for a course in Logic. You are such a disappointment to the body you represent. You have mixed politics with professionalism. This is not acceptable and needs to be roundly condemned.

To assuage my nerves and convince me you still have some shame left in you, I will personally want you to do the following as a matter of urgency and necessity:

1.      Relinquish your position as the Spokesperson of DSS.

2.      Apologise to Nigerians for occupying a post you are not fit for.

3.      Pay back whatever you had collected as allowances for occupying this post.

4.      And go back to school to sharpen your knowledge in the art of public speaking.

Madam, I am sure you may find the first three difficult to do, but try to do the fourth one. Otherwise, your mouth will keep putting you in trouble. Whether you do the first three or not, posterity will never forget how you ran your mouth on a national television without thinking about the gravity and implications of your utterances. The choice is yours, madam.

Yours,

Isaac Oluyi

Note: Isaac Oluyi is a Change Agent, Entrepreneur and Entrepreneurship Educator.