NOW THAT OKOWA HAS USED AND DUMPED FEJIRO OLIVER; WHAT NEXT?
When during the twilight of the Delta State Governorship election, one of the frontrunner for the race and now Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) guber candidate in Delta State, Senator Ifeanyi Okowa began to get bad publicity and pitching him against Deltans all over the media; the handwriting was clear that it all came from the corner of the young Journalist, Fejiro Oliver and his media team.
He took on the Senator and attached the title of a murderer to him, only excepting one of the culprit of the murder case, Hillary who happened to be the Personal Assistant to the Senator. As a friend, I had asked him why he chose to always exonerate the Personal Assistant but never got a favorable answer.
While the campaign progressed, he naturally became the bride to be wooed by every governorship aspirant team, with those of us from the Great Ogboru team convincing him on why he must join hands with us to support the great Urhobo son to enable the governor get to central again. But like a dog that is never ready to listen to the whistle of the master, he refused to play ball with anybody, preferring to stay in the attack team as he has always done. Privy to how he was wooed by Okowa media team, he convinced most of us that he will not join any aspirant and we believed him.
But then, when he wrote one of his oratory masterpieces titled “What Governor Uduaghan personally told me about 2015” where he finally endorsed Okowa, I knew the game was up, as he has bowed to the pressure to join them. And then he got kidnapped and found himself in prison, which rumors still carry that Okowa's influence brought him out so easily, an assertion he has always refused, preferring to give the credit to the international community.
And then he came out and like wild fire, he spearheaded the media team of the Senator, how he cleaned the reputation of a man he once reported negatively enough will be the secret he will be forced to share to the world some day. Without looking back, he took on the State Governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan for daring to impose a revered man, Anthony Chuks Obuh on Deltans. In one of our chats, he had told me that “Ejoke, I will rather quit this Journalism job than see Uduaghan impose a candidate on Deltans. If not Okowa, then nobody will govern Delta and all the dirty secrets to see to such I will expose them” and soon after that, he began to reveal documents on Uduaghan, which is believed in government circle to be sponsored by the Senator who has promised him a political appointment. Suddenly every negative report on Okowa, even on Sahara Reporters and Elombah.com stopped and it wasn't hard to know that he was the brain behind them.
Fejiro that the world knows is maverick and a Machiavellian journalist who has mastered the arts of getting documents with ease and it was no surprise when such exclusive details came from his stable of Secrets Reporters Medium which he syndicated to his colleagues in the media. While he gradually turned Okowa into a Saint and convinced Deltans on why the Ika born Delta should be governors, those of us from Urhobos still prevailed on him to come back home as he will be used by Okowa and dumped; an act synonymous with the lawmaker according to those close to him.
The maverick Oliver would take no one advice and like a man paid in billions; he became the nightmare of the Obuh media team. And then the sudden change came. For a man who could get documents as far as Niger State Government, it was no surprise that he alone knew about the secret plan of the Governor with the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) to produce an Urhobo governor in David Edevbie, he broke the story which soon went like wild fire and railed on vowing to see that his benefactor Okowa became governor while he used the media to pull down Edevbie and may I say this; he succeeded. First he took on Obuh and got him hated and on Edevbie and got him hated and finally the UPU and got the Urhobos to begin to question their elders for the first time. Fejiro did all this, but unknown to him, he was working for the man called the deceiver.
It is no longer news that the list of the campaign team has come out. While searching through the names, it was generally and naturally expected that he will be heading the media campaign team or at least the Social Media. I placed a call across to him wondering why his name was conspicuously missing and as usual, he laughed. This is one shame that Fejiro Oliver who many believed will be the next Chief Press Secretary, S.A on Social Media or probably the Commissioner for Information cannot bear and even though he may pretend about it; he will forever nurse the pains.
This is not to mock the erudite journalist who has proven that he can stand by a candidate and deliver him, neither is this an article to tell him how foolish to ever work for a man who does not appreciate him, but a wakeup call to him that it is never too late to join hands with truly progressive in the UPU, either Otega Emerhor of the APC or Ogboru of the Labor Party. He may have made the UPU a laughing stock but with open arms, they are waiting for him to come back and join them.
The Okowa Deltans know may have been made a Saint by the same man who staked his name, but now that he has been disgraced by being remove from the scheme of things; the best thing to regain his honor is join the Ogboru camp which is crystal clear will become the next governor of the State. Will Fejiro listen to the call of those who have called him since the list came out and do the honorable rather than sticking to a group who only used his media dexterity to their aim? It is never too late to take the path of honor and dump Okowa for a more worthy politician that understands talent. My friend Fejiro can do better. I am sending this article to his medium and hope it gets published.
Ejoke Anthony, a staunch media supporter of Ogboru for Governor is a Lawyer and writes from Abraka