• Saya Dapo Abiodun has odious history, questionable identity

Steve Oliyide is a Communication Consultant to former Governor of Ogun State and the Senator-Elect of Ogun East Senatorial District of Ogun State, Otunba Gbenga Daniel. Oliyide also served as the Special Assistant, Information, to the former Governor. He pens his second opinion on the re-election bid of Governor Dapo Abiodun of the State.

 

Since yesterday when I posted my personal views about the desire of Prince Dapo Abiodun to seek a re-election from the people of Ogun State, a people that he had clearly abandoned for close to four years now, I have been inundated with several calls. My opinion remains unchanged and I pray that the good people of Ogun State should not suffer a second misfortune and calamity of rewarding nonperformance and abandonment. And I repeat, should he by any means be rigged back into the office, good luck to him. It probably could be that we have sinned and God is punishing the people of the state.

I was less bothered about most of the calls, some of which came as conciliatory as they could be, and I am not God, I have only just a vote, which in good conscience I could not invest in Dapo Abiodun again. People are at liberty of the choice(s) they make.

My attention however was drawn to a lazy response by someone who is so scared to append his own name just like I did in my own post. That clearly is cowardice. Yourbas have a name for those who are unwilling to answer their father's name and often use the left finger to point the direction of their homes. On further enquiry I was told that the piece was written by a former head waiter in a backstreet pepper soup and beer parlor joint in Apapa who is struggling to justify his undeserved pay when I was practicing as a journalist in Lagos and all over Nigeria.

I like to speak to issues and not the mundane. The faceless writer said I am not a "trained journalist". Of course, he was right because that is truly what I am not, rather I was trained in Mass Communication, which is about talking to a large number of people of diverse origin and most of whom I don't even know.  They are heterogeneous and usually anonymous. Journalism is just a subset of my entire and composite training. I could not be reduced to a part when I have liberty to function in diverse areas of my profession; which includes Perception Management, Public Relations, Advertising and even Marketing. If this knowledge is lost on the writer of the piece, I can't help his ignorance and a little bit of education might suffice.

I have school and course mates, many of whom are doing very well in their areas of calling. I have professional colleagues who have identities and are well known. And that clearly distinguishes me from Prince Dapo Abiodun with odious history and questionable identity. I do not have records of fraud and identity theft like Shawn Michael-Davis. I never claimed certificates that are not mine; I finally collected my first graduate certificate in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, clear 27 years after I graduated and it was there sitting in the school's archive. I am a certified professional of different organisations and my academic records never sat in the courts and I can well speak about them. I hope Prince Dapo Abiodun can openly reel out his own short CV as I have done.

My names (both given and Baptismal) have never changed since I was born. I have records of political activism, an unpaid but conscientious vocation that I willingly and voluntarily subscribed to. If I could choose a path of unpaid services, even spending my hard earned resources, it speaks to the idea of my contentment. The mischievous reference to desperation for appointment is unrelated to my persona.

By my training, I was taught that Bad Products can't sell twice, unless repackaged like some are trying to sell Governor Dapo Abiodun to Ogun State people again. The content and rottenness remain the same, it is only the package they are struggling to change, that will be a great disservice to the good people of Ogun State. I will find it difficult to sell DA a second time, so looking for an appointment under someone with such questionable character is like deliberately applying for a difficult task which leads to no good end.

I have borne all responsibilities to my family, before, in and outside government from my consultancy firm which I incorporated since September 26, 1996. The writer should approach the Corporate Affairs Commission and relate to my company's Tax Identification Number (TIN) for my corporate, social and economic existence.

 

Steve Oliyide is my name