A week after he sounded remorseful and apologetic, Chief Raymond Dokpesi performed a somersault that had the features of a stunt. The media owner and chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) national conference organising committee said in a November 16 statement: “My attention has been drawn to claims in the media that I apologised to the nation on behalf of the PDP over the fielding of former President Goodluck Jonathan in the last general election. Such other media comments and reports actually went further to say that I had apologised for the misdeeds and wrongs done to the nation by the PDP in its 16 years in the saddle since the return of democratic governance in 1999.”
According to Dokpesi, “these reports were clearly deliberate and mischievous misrepresentations of what I said at the press briefing.” He was quoted as saying that he was proud of Jonathan’s achievements in office as well as the country’s democratic gains under the Jonathan administration.
Now, shall we play back his November 9 media briefing in Abuja? He reportedly regretted the party’s rejection of its zoning formula which favoured the North at the time, adding that Jonathan’s resultant emergence as the party’s presidential candidate in 2011 was a mistake and a factor in its loss of the presidency this year.
A report said: “Dokpesi apologised to all party chieftains who felt offended by the action and extended the apology to the Nigerian voters who were denied the freedom of choice by the PDP.” Dokpesi was quoted as saying: “Make no mistake, the PDP is aware that there were errors made along the way. We admit that at certain times in our past, mistakes have been made. We did not meet the expectations of Nigerians. We tender our apology.”
If Dokpesi has had a rethink, and he is no longer comfortable with his expressed apology, that may be understandable. But his denial of the meaning of his words is beyond understanding.
He is perfectly entitled to his private interpretation of his words, but he cannot insist on interpreting his words for the public, particularly when the words can be correctly interpreted by the public.
Now that Dokpesi has withdrawn his apology, it suggests that he may not have fully understood the implication of his apologetic words when they were uttered. It also suggests that he is ready to live with the implication of his lack of remorse for what is generally considered an era of misrule by his party.
It may be that Dokpesi is genuinely confused about good governance, and cannot appreciate his party’s failure, which makes his case even more confounding. Whether he thinks the public deserves an apology or not, the people have demonstrated their sovereignty by rejecting Jonathan and his party, and what they represented. The people do not owe Dokpesi an apology.
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