By Fejiro Olivier

Elections has come and gone, but the gainers are yet to be known in Delta State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Since  he   assumed the office of Delta PDP Chairman, the opposition party has been having a field day, lampooning the ruling party and the state government. But the blame of not speaking out cannot entirely be on him.

For heaven’s sake, who is the party’s publicity secretary who should be in charge of mending the battered image of the party and also project its programme? If I may ask, what is he doing to reposition the party which Delta All Progressives Congress, APC, media men have made mince meat on both online and mainstream media?   I owe no one apology for not knowing his name. Since his or her emergence as the mouthpiece of the party, not one single press statement or rebuttal from the opposition party in the state that I know of has come from him. A good publicity secretary ought to have capitalised on the state   APC crisis that followed the appointment of the Niger Delta Development Commission NDDC Executive Director (Projects) to attack the opposition.

The only voice of the party in the state unarguably is that of Delta State PDP 2007 governorship aspirant,   Chief Sunny Onuesoke, who has taken it upon himself not only to project Governor  Ifeanyi Okowa’s image and programmes, but also defended the party from internal and   external attacks.

Because of Onuesoke defensive antics of PDP, a Delta APC online media guru once described him as ‘self acclaimed’ Delta PDP publicity secretary. You see what I mean, the man who is not recorgnise within his party is already being crowned by a member of the opposition party.

I am   still wondering   why   Okowa and Delta PDP leaders   did not deem it fit to   draft him into the race to contest for the position of publicity secretary.   There is no week he doesn’t   defend PDP and its policies both in the social   and mainstream media.

Is the PDP Executive just sitting down     comfortable while Onuesoke performs their functions daily?   Is the party just collecting money, while Onuesoke invites journalists to his Warri office to tell them of government and party programs? No. The party leaders think over the contribution of this man to the development of the party both at the state and national level. Even during the 2015 general election, Onuesoke erected PDP bill boards in all the nooks and crannies of the state projecting the image of the party and soliciting for votes for the party candidates both at the  national and state level at his personal cost. Sacrifice for a party could not be more than that.

For all we know within and outside the state, the mouth organ of the party is Onuesoke. While other publicity secretaries are defending the party in their various states, the one in Delta is yet to find his or her feet, while Onuesoke performs his function.

People may think I have been influenced by Onuesoke. But my conscience is very clear. I am speaking out of what I have personally observed from him. If the party knows what is good for them and if they want to excel in the coming elections, they should as a matter of urgency co-opt Onuesoke into the PDP media team either at the state or national level.

The Onuesoke I know is media friendly and has good relationship with journalists. The party needs an established public relations person because 2019 is around the corner and the time to carry out image laundering and propaganda is now. A word is enough for the wise.

• Olivier is the Publisher of Secret Reporters