He is the media mogul and chairman emeritus of DAAR Communications PLC, who took a curious path many Nigerians believed was impossible when he launched DAAR Communications Plc, the first private broadcasting company in Nigeria, pioneering the Africa Independent Television (AIT) and Raypower Radio. High Chief Raymond Anthony Aleogho Ayaoghena Dokpesi!
Obviously the Ted Tunner of Nigeria because of his fresh insights and innovations in the highly competitive media industry, Dokpesi is a deep researcher, humanitarian, avid reader, and philanthropist extraordinaire. Not many people know that DAAR actually represents the initials of his names read from the reverse side (Dokpesi Ayaoghena Aleogho Raymond, or Dokpesi Anthony Aleogho Raymond).
Born on October 25, 1951, in Ibadan, Oyo State, Dokpesi, who hails from Agenebode, Edo State, attended Ebenezer African Church School, Ibadan, for his primary school education, Loyola College, Ibadan, and Immaculate Conception College, Benin City, for his Secondary School education.
Dokpesi initially started his undergraduate studies at the University of Benin, before attending the Wyzsza Szokta Morska Gdynia and University of Gdansk Sopot, Poland, where he acquired his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
Amazingly, young Raymond was decorated as the best graduating student in Marine Transport Engineering after over 50 years of University’s existence.
Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, the then general manager of the Nigeria Ports Authority, was said to have sponsored Dokpesi’s primary, secondary and tertiary education.
As a born leader of men and material, while in University of Gdansk, Dokpesi served as the president of the following associations:
The Nigerian Students Union, Gdansk, Poland (1972 – 1974); African Students Union, Poland (1973); International Students Association, Poland (1974); and Nigerian Students, Eastern Europe (1974).
Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Nigerian Institute of Shipping, Nigerian Institute of Management, Institute of Transport Administration, and the Institute of Directors, Nigeria, the Ezomo of Weppa-Wanno Kingdom later in 1978 worked with the Federal Ministry of Transport and Aviation as head of Water Transport Division on secondment from Nigeria Ports Plc. He later served as the chief of staff to the Gongola State Ggovernment in 1983.
Dokpesi’s entrepreneurship journey
In the ’80s, Dokpesi started African Ocean Lines, the first indigenous shipping line in Africa. He was involved in the formulation of the Nigerian Shipping Act (Decree) of 1986. He later solely founded Baldok Shipping Lines Ltd and Ramat Properties Ltd. A lover of entertainment right from his secondary school days, Dokpesi had pioneered a dance/drama group known as Ozolua Play House.
It was the then Head of State, General Ibrahim Babangida, who democratized the broadcasting space when he promulgated a decree that allowed private broadcasting in Nigeria. Dokpesi grabbed that opportunity and started DAAR Communications Plc, the first private broadcast station in Nigeria.
Laurels
Dokpesi had also established the first indigenous shipping line in Nigeria; established the first privately-owned radio station, Raypower FM, in Nigeria, to which were later added Faaji FM. He pioneered Nigeria’s first global TV, which was Africa’s first satellite TV station, and later DAARSAT. He established the first TV station to run 24-hour broadcasting in Nigeria. He also launched the AIT signals in the United States. He was chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Association of Nigeria (IBAN).
Dokpesi’s politics
Aleogho Dokpesi also forayed into politics. One of his first political assignments was as a political campaign manager for Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, which saw Tukur into the then Gongola State government house as governor. He also assumed the same role during Alhaji Adamu Ciroma’s presidential campaign, and later Bamanga Tukur’s presidential campaign in 1993. Likewise, during Peter Odili’s presidential campaign, Dokpesi was one of the leaders of the South-South People’s Assembly (SSPA), an organisation that drove Odili’s campaign. In 2017, Dokpesi contested for the PDP national chairmanship position but lost gallantly to its present chairman, Prince Uche Secondus. He was one of the few who believed in the existence of the PDP after its long-drawn internecine factionalisation and fracture.
Awards, philanthropy
The Ezomo has received numerous local and international awards and honours to his credit and on behalf of DAAR Communications Plc; and has been conferred with several chieftaincy titles across Nigeria in appreciation of his tremendous efforts towards re-engineering Nigeria. From his hometown, he was conferred with two influential titles, the Oghierumua and Ezomo of Weppa Wanno Kingdom. He is the Araba of Osoroland, Okpe. At the Dr. Kwame Nkrumah Leadership Award ceremony in Accra, Ghana, and the Foundation for Excellence in Business Practice, Geneva, Switzerland, Dokpesi was praised for DAAR Communications’ rise to the top in African broadcasting and contributions to radio and television broadcast, all of which have placed Nigeria globally on the world map.
A philanthropist extraordinaire, Dokpesi has built schools for communities, offered scholarships to hundreds of indigent students in tertiary institutions, installed electricity and transformers for many rural communities, and empowered thousands of the poor and vulnerable. As Dokpesi gracefully turns a septuagenarian, he is one unforgettable Nigerian who has been inducted into the pantheon of heroes.
Happy birthday, Ezomo. Receive Genesis 6:3; and Philippians 4:7.
Separation of powers, checks and balances (3)
Introduction
In our last two outings, we discussed the doctrine of separation of powers, the present Nigerian judiciary, vis-à-vis the government’s anti-corruption fight; the doctrine of the rule of law as it relates to the doctrine of judicial review, etc. Today, we shall conclude our discourse, having started with the place of the judiciary in separation of powers, checks and balances last week. Please, read on.
The place of the judiciary (continues)
Fourthly, the judiciary adjudicates on disputes between states, between the state and individuals, between individuals and corporations or corporate entities, among others. The judiciary determines the meaning of the laws of the country.
In Attorney General of Lagos State v. Attorney General of the Federation and 35 Ors. 27a, the Supreme Court held that Section 2(2) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria re-enacts the doctrine of Federalism. According to the Supreme Court, in that case, the section not only ensures the autonomy of each government in the sense of being able to exercise its own will in the conduct of its affairs within the Constitution, free from direction by another unit of government, but also shows that no arm of government is subordinate to the other.
With knowledge of the sacred roles and powers of the Nigerian judiciary, one would wonder what then would have given the government of the day the impetus to treat judges with such brutality on October 7, 2016.
Make no mistake about this: We are under no illusion of the endemic nature of corruption in our society. We understand that corruption is a menace to our society and that it must be rooted out one way or the other. We know, also, that this monster must be killed before it kills us all. However, the point to be noted, and a very critical one at that, is that we no longer live in a draconian and unregulated Hobbesian society, as some government agents insist on show casing. We live in a democratic society governed by laws and rules. To act outside the laws of the land, irrespective of the grievous nature of the circumstance, is to unwittingly invite anarchy into the land. Former U.S. President, Theodore Roosevelt (1858 – 1919), once said, “No leader is justified for malfeasance on the ground of expediency.”
Nigerians of all shades have come out to say the way and manner the justices and judges were brutally assailed and arrested in the ungodly hours of the night (between 1am and 5am) was degrading, cruel, appalling and demeaned the exulted office of judges. The point to be made is that it is not the affected judges that were debased by the actions of the DSS on Friday, October 7, 2016, but the entire judiciary, the entire body of judges, the entire Bench, who before now enjoyed some air of respectability in the public glare, in consonance with the nature of their job.
To derisively lower the estimation of judges and the judiciary in the eyes of the public is one of the greatest mistakes of this government. Because, someday, somehow, judges would have the opportunity to remind this government of the principles of separation of powers, in a way that may not be as unpalatable as the so-called “sting operation” by the DSS.
We practise constitutional democracy. Anything outside this is an anathema.
If a dog defecates on the floor, and a cleaner, in an attempt to evacuate the faeces of the dog, uses her hands instead of a piece of cloth, she would have done the right thing in trying to evacuate the feces; but by using her hands to evacuate the faeces, she would have employed the use of the wrong method. This analogy aptly captures the modus operandi of this government in its fight against corruption, particularly as it relates to the unwholesome attack on the judiciary. The intentions are right, but the modus operandi is abysmally wrong!!
The judiciary in Nigeria is a distinguished institution. The fact that a few bad eggs are in the system (as in every system), does not give the executive the audacity and effrontery to pull it down. It will not bode well for the synchronicity and synergy of our body polity, especially between the three arms of government.
Sounds and bites
“Honestly speaking, seeing what Qatar and Saudi Arabia are doing with their oil money makes me wonder if Nigeria is selling coconut oil.” – Anonymous
Thought for the week
“On the mountains of truth you can never climb in vain: either you will reach a point higher up today, or you will be training your powers so that you will be able to climb higher tomorrow.”
(Friedrich Nietzsche)
