IZUNNA OKAFOR
The National Vice President of Ohaneze, Chief Damian Okeke-Ogene has revealed that every part of Nigeria is being marginalized today, judging from the current state of under-development in every part of the country.
Chief Okene-Ogene revealed this while speaking at the 2022 Bloggers Summit, organised by the Anambra State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, in collaboration with Life International Hospital, and which is currently ongoing in Awka, the state capital.
He called on bloggers to always use their pens to confute, criticize and tell the leaders of the country the bitter truth about the affairs and worsening state of the country, as they have always done.
He noted that the people who laid the foundation of the country were all youths then, and wondered why , today, even people above 80 are still desperately struggling to be the President of the country.
“If things continue like this, that means time may come when people would even go and exhume a buried corpse to come and contest election in this country. They keep saying that youths are the leaders of tomorrow; when will that tomorrow ever come?” he said.
He said the bloggers and media practitioners can help to change the narrative by reorienting the youths to take over their country from the old men and bad leaders.
He said: “You must use your pen to disengage them, because we don’t have the arms to do so, but you have your pens. Pen is mightier than sword. I like the way you criticize, even though there may few junks among.
“Also, always try to be objective in your criticisims. Always check and investigate well before publishing.”
According to Ogene, bloggers are usually freer because they and their addresses are not usually known, unlike the conventional media whom are known and can be sued or sanctioned at anytime.
Reacting to the recent attack at Kuje prison, Abuja, which is the highest prison in the country; he further urged bloggers to openly remind President Muhammadu Buhari that the country’s system has totally collapsed, and that people are no longer safe.
The elder statesman, Ogene, who chaired the Bloggers Summit also used the opportunity to call on every qualified Nigerian to get his or her PVC and get ready to change the narrative in 2023; even as he also called for the restructuring of the country.