Gov. Bassey Otu.
OPINION
By Linus Obogo
In dramaturgy, there is rarely a connection with fictional drama and reality. But there now appears to be a confluence of the two after reading Elias Ozikpu’s horrible and despicable open letter. In his desperate attempt at dramatizing governance in Cross River State, he furtively struggled to align his fiction of governance with reality by deploying an admixture of fictional drama and melodrama, laced with superfluous or extravagant exaggerations.
In Ozikpu’s sensational and warped rant entitled: “An open letter to Cross River State Governor, Bassey Otu” in which he presented his base perception of governance in the state, the self-appointed Ombudsman merely regaled his audience with bogus and hyperbolic claims.
Reading through what he called an open letter to the governor, Ozikpu demonstrated clearly a tardy act of letter writing which bordered on outright laziness and incompetence. Waxing delusional in the entire content of his speculative missive, Ozikpu chose to embrace falsehood while letting facts take flight of him. There was hardly any substantive evidence to support his assertions in his letter. In what was clearly an armchair and gossipy exercise, the Obudu born dramaturgist’s argument only devolved into emotional appeals, name-calling, impudence, rather than concrete criticisms grounded on verifiable facts.
This explains why I am not particularly stunned by Ozikpu’s tendentious and ill-mannered letter, given that in a tumultuous political landscape such as ours, one cannot help but marvel at the peculiar phenomenon of idiocy manifesting itself in the form of media activism, most notably in the tirade of Elias Ozikpu against Governor Bassey Otu. His vitriolic attacks seem to echo a deeper, troubling narrative, as though he has taken it upon himself to become the mouthpiece for his misguided, rabble rousing and attention seeking faction of media activists seeking to undermine reasoned governance.
Indeed, it is true that the likes of Ozikpu who attempt to interpret or analyze the actions of government from the prism of media activism often suffer from mentally induced idiocy of the highest order.
His open letter, no doubt offers a grim reading of his own persona. It is therefore, unfathomable that someone who purports to engage in rational critique of the actions of government would willingly dive into a cesspool of baseless accusations, and activistic mendacity.
Now let’s begin to examine some of Ozikpu’s baseless and puerile claims and assertions as contained in his pejorative letter, which in effect border on exaggeration, sensationalism and downright falsehood.
For instance, in a manner that exposed Ozikpu’s biase and his lack of objectivity, he asserted: “The affinity you and your predecessor have for white elephant protects” (sic)…, formed the premise of his claim with regard to the Afreximbank facility for the Bakassi Deep Seaport project.
Clearly, his fixation on “white elephant projects” revealed a tired trope that lacks nuance. His comparison of the proposed $3.5 billion Deep Sea Port in Bakassi to the Lekki Deep Sea Port is not only misguided but also blatantly ignores the unique economic landscape and potential strategic advantages that Cross River State possesses. Such simplistic comparisons do a disservice to the nuanced analysis that is required in discussing infrastructure investments.
Ozikpu’s claim about the financial implications of the project shows his lack of depth and a grasp of economic realities. By asserting that the cost is “outrageous” not only reveal his subjective opinion, but also his lack of rigorous economic analysis. Perhaps Elias needs some enlightenment to understand that investment in infrastructure projects, especially in a verdant state with untapped potentials like Cross River, often requires significant funding, with costs varying widely based on a multitude of factors such as site conditions, projected economic impact, and the scale of anticipated operations. So, for Ozikpu to have so flippantly dismissed it out of hand because it sounds high, approximates to an intellectual laziness.
The Lekki Deep Seaport which was only completed in 2022, was conceived in 2012 by the Lagos State Government, with the cost put at $1.5billion. As a dramaturgist, Ozikpu was only preoccupied with dramatizing and sensationalizing what he claimed constitutes a humongous cost of the Bakassi Deep Seaport in his open letter, while ignoring other economic variables including inflationary pressures as well as exchange rates currently as the defining features of our economy.
In his desperate bid to exaggerate, he failed to reason how such hyperbolic assertions could indeed send wrong signals to potential investors, creating an impression of instability and mismanagement within the state. And for further clarity, however, It is important to state here that the funding for the Bakassi Deep Seaport project by Afreximbank will operate under a non-recourse financing model, as it imposes no financial commitment on the state government. The non-recourse model financing model precludes the state from losing any of its asset to the financiers of the project.
It is, therefore, preposterous for Ozikpu to have claimed that the governor is “mortgaging the future” of Cross Riverians by entering into a deal worth over ₦5 trillion. His assertion is not only hollow, but lacks context. Beyond the hollowness of his claims, is the mischaracterization of the situation regarding the deal with Afreximbank and the governance of the state. But come to think of it, why is it that a similar project conceived and already executed in Lagos, could come with so much fanfare and hype? Yet a similar one in Cross River is attracting severe excoriation from Ozikpu and his co-travelers in the media activism?
Has Ozikpu paused for one moment to reflect on the enormous economic benefits of this ambitious project to Cross River?
On the proposed railway project, Ozikpu appeared to cast aspersions, insinuating the absence of competitive bidding for the project, implying a collusion between the government and its partners. Yet he could not substantiate by providing any concrete evidence of corruption or misconduct.
An understanding of the procurement processes would have done Ozikpu a world of good, had he only taken time and not lapse into laziness. His failure, therefore, to appreciate these frameworks suggests his lack of thorough research and understanding of governmental processes.
On the cost of the project, the Obudu-born letter writer claims the figures quoted in relation to the projects are stupendous without substantiating why the figures are unjustifiable. Of course, as always, Ozikpu’s argument hinged on sensationalism rather than a rigorous analysis of the financial implications and funding model for such investments; either as debt or equity financing. However, for the two projects- the Deep Seaport and the railway, government is solely relying on equity financing to berth them, without putting a kobo into the two infrastructure projects. They are basically on public private partnership model.
In Ozikpu’s emotionally charged hollow rhetoric, he bandied a financial analysis capable of raising eyebrows. As if it was a deliberate attempt to create angst against Governor Bassey Otu, he cited a staggering debt figure of ₦156 billion as of Q1 2024, insisting that such debt is capable of entombing the state. How maliciously mischievous and irresponsible could Ozikpu be? Is it really that easy for states to obtain such whopping loans without any legislative oversight?
With the state long at its debt threshold, one wonders who could possibly have consented to such phantom loans as imagined by Ozikpu. The Otu administration, for purpose of clarity, has not taken a single loan since its inception.
As a visionary leader, with eyes on the future of the state, Governor Otu for instance, has revived the state’s Sovereign fund. Of course, this cannot possibly be music to the ears of Ozikpu and his ilk. As proprietors of disingenuous information, misinforming the public is usually the stock in trade and a feeding frenzy among Ozikpu’s feral band of media activists.
On road infrastructure, Ozikpu’s grim portrait of his travel time from Ogoja to Obudu leaves one to wonder what exactly this was about. What axis of Ogoja to Obudu road was he referring to?
For clarity, from Ijibor end to Abuochiche/ New Junction axis to Vandekya, Benue State, the road is a federal road, while from Abucochiche or Nyanya to Obudu, where Ozikpu hails from, is either federal’s or state’s, depending on the ownership status. So, if he was referring to the latter, he should be reminded that the immediate past administration succeeded by Otu, completed its construction and dualization to Obudu, rendering the road as the only dualized road in Cross River North.
Ozikpu should do well by properly situating his frustration and pains occasioned by the toll exacted on him by the dysfunctionality of Abuochiche-Obudu road and not by Indictment through indirection. By failing to do this, he made his traffic account or commute seem more like sensational storytelling.
It will be recalled that upon his assumption of office, Governor Otu refused to whine or complain about the craters called roads in Calabar metropolis. What did he do? He got his widespread validation as a purposeful leader by the entire Cross Riverians and beyond for hitting the ground running. Even as I issue this rejoinder, equal attention is being accorded roads in the three senatorial districts of the state. Such is the seriousness and urgency of the governor in addressing infrastructure deficit in the state. But because Ozikpu has long embraced blind and disingenuous criticism as a vocation, the governor’s strides in road infrastructure would not merit his acknowledgment.
While it is within the ambits of Elias Ozikpu’s right to write a letter drawing the attention of authorities to issues of governance, his resort to ad hominem attacks on the governor’s competence and his base claims that he is treating the state as a “personal company” detract from the legitimacy of the concerns being raised.
Often times, such personal attacks not only serve to polarize opinions and pitch the people against the system, they nonetheless reflect more on the letter writer’s hollowness than on the governor’s performance.
This kind of rhetoric, a hallmark of someone more intent on inciting outrage than amity, often reeks of alarmism and petulance.
Introspectively, Elias Ozikpu’s letter is at best, a poorly scripted critique that offers no real clues or insights. If anything, it serves as a sad reminder of the pitfalls of knee-jerk criticism devoid of substance. His vile language, devoid of decency reveals a lack of sophistication in his political critique. This bias mars his credibility and points to the fact that his arguments are actuated more by a desire to vilify rather than to engage constructively.
Ozikpu could have done more with his style of engagement by raising his concerns beyond mere hyperbole and embrace a more thoughtful, fact-based approach. His failure, however, to do that rendered his banal claims nothing more than a hollow echo in the vast landscape of political discourse.
Obogo is Special Adviser to Governor Bassey Otu on Media and Publicity.
