Leadership Beyond Charisma: High Chief Raymon Dokepesi And The PDP National Chairmanship Ambition

By: Peter Oriri Onu
Abdicating to introduce this man reputed to posses and harness an immeasurable grace in our National landscape will be doing disservice to our bloated conscience owing to what he symbolizes.
2. To many, his interpretative hindsight to delve where dwarfs dock their faces and voice when orators run for cover has naturally endeared him to many as a leader qua leader.

3. Today's leadership must consciously accept him beyond his charisma and his wealth of intellectual savvy that will be a waste if not engaged to transmogrify the collective identity of the PDP and of course the nation. Having armed himself with western education both within the nation and outside it shores, Dokpesi Anthony Aleogho Raymond (DAAR) stepped into the media with his famous DAAR Communications Limited and navigated the information arena through the engagement of capable hands at the Africa Independent Television (AIT) where he has recorded unprecedented commendations for not just pioneering the first Satelite TV but also floating the first privately owned radio station in Nigeria. With AIT, Raymond sufficiently set the standard of salary structures for all spheres of media employees in the country.
4. His passion for a better Nigeria pushed him to air the Peoples Democratic Convention held in Jos in 1999 at no cost which brought in the then first democratic president Olusegun Obasanjo into power.
5. DAAR as he is popularly called has remained active in the polity of Nigeria since 1979 when he served as Director General of campaigns Organizations to many aspirants.
6. The work cum political experience of this man of uncommon virtue has armed him more with sufficient understanding of the nation's political terrain.
7. He was an assistant to Bamanga Tukur at the Nigeria Ports Authority and at the Federal Ministry of Transport where he met with the likes of Umaru Dikko and Garba Wushishi; contacts that would impact his lifestyle and understanding of the developmental challenges of not just a political party but a nation.
8. Politically too, Dokpesi's feet have been toughened by the rocky path he had to walk; he successfully led the Bamanga Tukur's campaign to become the Governor of the old Gongola State. He also assumed the same role during Alhaji Adamu Ciroma presidential campaign, and Alhaji Bamanga Tukur's presidential campaign in 1993. Likewise, during Peter Odili's presidential campaign. Dokpesi was one of the leaders of the South- South Peoples Assembly (SSPA) an organisation that seeks to promote the south-south people of Nigeria.
9. After the birth of PDP, DAAR served at various intervals. He was the organizing committee chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party National
Conference in 2015, lastly was Deputy Chairman of Publicity in the recent PDP Non-Elective Convention in August 2017.
10. Undoubtedly, he has a penchant for community development that has accounted for the fleet of uncounted projects littered around his community in Edo State. A man of the people and a large employer of labour, DAAR has a deep touch of humaneness and is a philanthropist to the core.
11. At this critical time of the nation's political, ethnic, religious and regional confrontations, DAAR will bring his wealth of inexorable experiences to bear in the PDP as National Chairman. He would be a round peg in a round hole for those whose love for the mega African political party is true. He is a stitch in time, perhaps to save nine.
12. High Chief Dokpesi has pledged his commitment to ensure Power is returned to the people if elected as the next Chairman of Party. In his words “PDP is not owned by anyone, no conjoiners, we are all owners of the party” Raymond Dokpesi has also pledged his determination to bring reward system into practice in the party if elected.
13. As party members and supporters gather at a Convention later this year to elect National Officers that will pioneer the affairs of the party, we present to you, High Chief Raymond Anthony Aleogho Dokpesi, an Aspirant for the office of the National Chairman of the PDP.