Ohanaeze Ndigbo blasts Dokpesi for supporting zoning of 2023 presidency to north  

The pan-Igbo cultural group, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, on Tuesday blasted the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Daar communications Plc, High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, for supporting the zoning of the 2023 presidential ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the north. The Igbo cultural group decried   the media interview of Dokpesi on Saturday, October 9, 2021, where he cautioned the PDP about the consequence of zoning the 2023 presidential ticket to the south.

Ohanaeze Ndigbo had lamented that Dokpesi in the interview said: “The Southeast cannot win the election for the PDP.  That is just the truth of the matter.

“I don’t beat around the bush; I treat issues as they are and as I understand them.

“There is no candidate from the Southeast, even I dare say, there is no candidate from the South that you put in the North today that will be able to win.

“It is going to be a humongous challenge.”
Ohanaeze noted that “in the lottery of life, Dokpesi has been so favoured by providence.

“One would think that he has everything going for him. For instance, in 1994, Dokpesi launched the first Nigerian private FM radio station, the Ray Power; two years later, he launched Africa Independent Television (AIT) to run a 24-hour broadcasting service in Nigeria with signals in the United States and Europe; and established the first indigenous shipping line in Nigeria.

“Above all, Dokpesi is self-actualized with a doctorate degree, PhD in engineering.

“By all standards, Dokpesi is a wealthy man. “Interestingly, records show that Dokpesi is one of the leaders of the South-South People Assembly (SSPA), an organization that seeks to promote south-south people of Nigeria. So, Dokpesi is no less a leader.”
Ohanaeze emphasized that “those who lament on the bleak future of Nigeria often cite the unpredictable character of our leaders.”

Ohanaeze declared:  “the Greek political philosopher, Plato, was so dissatisfied with leaders who lacked the moral strength to act according to the common good;” adding, “in other words, rulers motivated by self-interest were not good leaders.

The group asserted that most do not realize that the forces of morality and justice constitute the transcendental cord that holds humanity in shape. “In other words, there can never be peace in the absence of justice.

“Put differently, Nigeria will remain in crises until the leaders embrace justice, equity and fairness as a guiding philosophy.”

The group further cite:  In Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s wise saying:  “Those of us placed in a position of leadership must be prepared to grasp the nettle, and if we unite in doing so, and if, in addition, we set a worthy example in probity, unselfishness, and self-sacrifice, the people will follow, all too readily, in our footsteps.”
Ohanaeze in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia, therefore, declared: “I sympathize with our southern son, Chief Dokpesi, because he started as the personal assistant to Alhaji Bamaga Tukur at the Nigerian Ports Authority. “Dokpesi also served under Alhaji Umaru Dikko and General Garba Wushishi.

“Records reveal that Alh. Bamanga Tukur paid his fees from secondary school to the post graduate level.

“To that extent, he owes allegiance to his benefactors and feels no compunction to profile the entire south as electoral liability.
“One can easily understand the psychological ambivalence in the Dokpesi persona. “On the other hand, there is no reason for the condescension and disdain he handed over to the entire South.”

The Ohanaeze Ndigbo also noted that Dokpesi recalled his friendship with Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his support for Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
The group stated: “for the avoidance of doubt, several educated refined patriotic northerners are allergic to the supremacist born-to-rule entrepreneurs which has created the current Nigerian dilemma.”
Ohanaeze Ndigbo recalled that all the 17 Southern Governors had at their meetings resolved on the need for a power shift to the South. The group indicated that the Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi committee on zoning had declared that the PDP national chairman should go to the North, while the Presidency should go to the South.

“I want to use this opportunity to commend Rt. Hon. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi; a man with a clear leadership prospectus, a moral edifice and democracy archetype.  He has, by the PDP zoning exercise, written his name in gold,” Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia declared.
The national publicity secretary of the Ohanaeze Ndigbo decried that “it is, therefore, curious the kind of appraisal parameters or the kind of epitaph that the business mogul, Dr. Raymond Dokpesi, wishes to be remembered.

“In one sentence, Dokpesi proclaimed that “If we are the Nigerians, I want us to be, if we believe in the unity of Nigeria and we also believe in equity, justice, and fairness, there is no reason we should not give it to the Southeast if the slot is given to the South.”

And “in another breath, Dokpesi averred that “whoever emerges as the president of Nigeria would have to compensate the people of the Southeast if truly, we want the emergence of the new Nigeria.”
Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, therefore, declared that the group is dismayed that Dokpesi could demonstrate this type of duplicity in a matter that is so clearly defined.

“Dokpesi’s assumptions are unreflective, weird and unworthy. Any person who loves Nigeria should be an advocate of power rotation, especially, between the north and the South; and those our sons and daughters who lay claim to leadership should not, under any guise, give the impression that the south is a lame-duck, an electoral liability; and, therefore, must depend on the north to define the political trajectory of Nigeria,” Ogbonnia stated.
The Ohanaeze scribe also stated that Dr. Dokpesi is reminded that in a few days’ time, he will join the pantheon of elders at 70. “He is, therefore, persuaded at 70 to appreciate the enormous powers of the human spirit. “The human spirit breaks the physical boundaries which the mundane circumstances usually impose in order to limit the human imaginations and possibilities.

“In order words, as water finds its level and objects obey the law of gravity, so are the constant and predictable characteristics of spirituality.

“The human spirit does not oscillate like a pendulum; East, West, North and South.
“I congratulate the 17 Southern governors in their resolve for a power shift. That is the ideal and surely, a class of Northerners with conscience will join the moving train.

“The rotation of the presidency between the North and the South is the truth. Two options are before the advocates of justice and progress in Nigeria; we either choose light or darkness,” Chiedozie Alex Ogbonnia declared.