I just saw a video where a massive crowd gathered in front of Agidigbo FM yesterday and they were praying for the owner, Oriyomi Hamzat, both Christians and Muslims were present.
Honestly I don’t believe it was a rented crowd because last week Thursday, I was at a ‘Cold Room’ in Bodija to share fish with some friends and all the fish sellers there were discussing Oriyomi Hamzat and how some people are bent on bringing him down because of certain reasons. These women shared all sort of conspiracy theories among themselves.
The truth is Oriyomi Hamzat has a different kind of goodwill among the masses in Oyo State, South West Nigeria and even among Yoruba people worldwide that is incomparable. The masses trust him so much that they prefer to take even criminal cases to him first before reporting at the police station. Do you know that Oriyomi’s radio station, Agidigbo FM has fans club in every part of Oyo State.
He represents hope and succour to so many people. He has helped so many downtrodden attain justice that they will never have gotten otherwise. The case of Timothy who died in the hotel in Ife comes to mind here.
We must note that in the process of obtaining justice for the less-privilege, especially ritualists, rapists, paedophiles and irresponsible parents, Oriyomi has stepped on a lot of toes, but honestly that does not substantiate the claim by the fish sellers but I sincerely believe that a lot of people may be happy with Oriyomi’s downfall.
As much as Oriyomi has his flaws especially on media professionalism which I have criticized not only on this platform but also elsewhere before but this is not the time to criticize Oriyomi Hamzat. We cannot continue to dance on the graces of those angels we lost. It is already painful that those children died an avoidable death, we must not use their deaths to prove a point. We should allow the relevant authorities do their job.
I strongly believe that the good Oriyomi has done for the people far exceed his excesses which is why they will continue to support him. Sometimes I excuse his lack of professionalism because I believe Nigeria is a ‘normal’ state and we may need people like Oriyomi to break rules to get results.
I also hope that he now understands that he cannot betray the massive love, trust and goodwill that the people has for him and ensure that he continues to speaks against injustice in the land and mobilize them for the right candidates during elections.
I really hope that he overcomes this and when he does, he will take the Public Relations aspect of what he does on the media more seriously. He should also ensure that he treats his staff well, he must manage his relationship with people who work with him well.
I hope that he will hire PR professionals to help him manage the powerful influence he wields such that they always do a proper scenario/crisis planning for him before he gets himself involved in any situation or events.
I hope he now understands that the media is too powerful or sensitive to be careless with. The same way the media ‘catapults’ you into prominence and makes you influential is the same way it makes you vulnerable as well as advertises and exaggerates your weaknesses/excesses.
And lastly anyone that is close to Oriyomi Hamzat should tell him, he is not God, he doesn’t know everything, he cannot solve all the problems of the world, he should do his best and leave the rest.
Oluwaamitooyin