By Isaac Olamikan
I am compelled to give a response to this write-up purportedly written by Victor Ofure Osehobo, who claims to be the Assistant Publicity Secretary of the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Edo State, because of some passing comments he made regards those he tagged “relevance seeking half-baked online publishers.”
My publication: “Edo South APC leaders support Ogbeide-Ihama as Okpebholo’s running mate” which Ofure must have been referring to was actually culled from a report published by the Leadership Newspaper with the broad headline “Edo South APC leaders back Ogbeide-Ihama as Okpebholo’s running mate.”
The only thing I changed was the headline and I made no pretence that I culled the report from the Leadership Newspaper which I promptly credited as the source of my publication in line with the creed of the journalism profession.
The Leadership Newspaper that first published the report is obviously not an online publication and thus it cannot be reffered to as “relevance seeking half-baked online publishers.”
In the days of yore, after he exited the national newspapers that he was representing in Edo State, Ofure tried his hands on publishing local tabloids. The experience is better left for him to recount as he got himself entangled in series of libellous and damaging publications on three different occasions which resulted in his “hideaway” from public glare when court papers were served him.
I cannot recall anyone saying, “the rush to publish sensational stories without proper verification perpetuates the spread of misinformation, ultimately damaging the credibility of journalism as a whole” to chastise Ofure for his mad rush to either blackmail or tarnish the image of some notable officials of the Edo State Judiciary.Â
All these while we, his professional colleagues, rallied round him to protect him. There was no reference to “relevance seeking half-baked online publishers” by any of us in describing his unfounded allegations in his publications which fetched him the angst of the judiciary.
Thereafter, he tried his hands on online publication and it yielded no good fruit. At a point that he needed a job to make him remain relevant in journalism business God used me to recommend him highly to a friend, Dennis Sami, the Publisher of the Abuja based Nigerian Pilot Newspaper, who was a media aide of then President Goodluck Jonathan. Based on my high recommendation he was promptly employed as the Correspondent of the Nigerian Pilot Newspaper in Edo State.
I was not an “emergency publisher” then neither was I a “faceless individual who lack the basic rudiments of responsible journalism.”
Ofure continues to bask in the euphoria of his one year overseas trip to sharpen his journalism capabilities about three decades ago. I am not short of honour myself. In the year 2014/15 I emerged the Best Journalist in Bayelsa State via a keen open contest involving all the big names in the profession serving in the state then.
Bayelsa State is a neighbouring state to Edo so Ofure is at liberty to make his enquiries on my claim. His claim that I am a half-baked online publisher is just the postulation of an ill informed person.
My advice for him is that he should take due diligence in carrying out his Assistant Publicity Secretary assignment, choose his language well so as not to get himself entangled in so many problems outside what he is trying to address.
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