Leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Southern Senatorial district, Ondo State, have kicked against the alleged imposition of a candidate for the position of the party’s National Publicity Secretary.
Recall that the National Secretariat of the party had micro-zone the position to Ondo State.
But party chieftains across the state have alleged that the governorship candidate of the party in the last election, Eyitayo Jegede was rooting for Debo Ologunagba, against the wishes of the members of the party.
They include the former governorship aspirant and former vice chairman, south of the party Dr Eddy Olafeso, former information commissioner in the state, Kayode Akinmade, former Publicity Secretary in the south-west, Hon Ayo Fadaka, former states Director of Publicity, Hon Zadok Akintoye and a former member of the National Assembly, Barrister Debo Ologunagba.
Speaking on behalf of the party leaders from the south, a Media Practitioner, Pastor Akinrinlola Olumide kicked against an alleged plot by some party chieftains to push for Ologunagba as the spokesman for the party in the forthcoming national congress of the party.
Akinrinlola said that ” Hon Ologunagba worked as Company Secretary/Legal Adviser in many banks before venturing into politics and got elected to the House of Representatives.
He noted that Hon Ologunagba made giant strides as a lawmaker, in the banking, legal and public sectors but would fail the party as its spokesman.
According to the Publisher of Star news Nigeria Online Newspaper, “the PDP needs an experienced journalist or a professional in the relevant field to be able to tackle the ruling APC ahead of 2023.
“He has no training in journalism and lacks requisite experience, competence and expertise to be the spokesman of a party going into a serious election next year.
“PDP may lose the next election if they fail to produce a qualified spokesman. This is because if they can’t produce an experienced and qualified spokesman to tell their story, no one will reckon with the party.
“The guy also lacks the passion and enthusiasm for the job being an introvert and a man who has no presence on social media.
“He lacks the potential of crisis media management incidents being a layman in the field.
“What is the correlation of legal experience and banking experience with the office of the National Publicity Secretary of a party? What business do Media and Publicity have with legal and banking matters?
“Media related work is a professional thing. What does a banker or a lawyer who has no training or experience in the media industry know about media and publicity?
“A good spokesperson need to have a good understanding of the profession.
” They need to have strong knowledge of the media training techniques that will help them to avoid pitfalls and promote the image of their principal or organisation. PDP needs serious image rebranding and a layman in PR/Media and Journalism can’t help the party now.”
But reacting to the party’s state Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Peretei told vanguard that all candidates interested in the position would be allowed to contest.
Peretei assured them that there would be no imposition of any candidate for the position from anybody.
