RE: ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS (APC) SHOULD LEARN SOME DECENCY FROM
THE PEOPLES DEMOCRATIC PARTY
Dear Mr. Ogundamisi,
My attention has been drawn to the statement your posted on your blog on Thursday, Aug. 8th 2013 concerning my scheduled appearance on your programme, PolitrickTodaywithKO.
It is true that I agreed to appear on the show on the same date, and as a clear indication of this, I set up a Skype Account and forward the ID to you. There could not have been a better testimony to my sincere intentions.
However, I informed you that I will be travelling to Accra, Ghana, on that day, and should be ready for the programme once I arrived.
Unfortunately, by the time I arrived in Accra, cleared immigration, collected my luggage and headed to my hotel, much time had elapsed. Upon arriving at the hotel, the Internet acted up all night, making it impossible for me to appear on the programme as scheduled.
If I didn't call you immediately to alert you of this developments, it was due to the fact that while my number is roamed, it did not immediately come on stream when I arrived in Accra. When it did come on, it was too late for me to call. I therefore decided I would call you first thing on Friday to explain my inability to appear and to also express my regrets.
Sadly, by the time I woke up, my attention was called to your posting which was not only blatantly unfair but contained a number of inaccuracies. Let's treat them one by one
1. You wrote categorically that I called you four hours to the show: I hereby state categorically, also, that I did not speak with you on Thursday, Aug. 8th.
2. You wrote that I ''hinted'' at wanting to have prepared questions, and that this request was politely rejected: This could not have happened because I didn't speak with you at all that day, talk less of doing so four hours to the programme.
For the record, I grant media interviews to Nigerian and International media routinely, and not once have I ever asked to be given prepared questions.
3. You also wrote that one hour to the programme, you went on Skype and found me on the line: I could not have been on the line when I was on the road and had no access to the Internet, or when I reached the hotel and the Internet was not working. If you called and my phone was ''switched off'', it could either mean I was in the air (during which passengers were compelled to switch off their phones), or that the roaming had not registered when I arrived in Accra.
I have gone to this length to explain what happened on Thursday to debunk your insinuation that I deliberately refused to appear on the programme, and that I did not pick your calls when you tried to reach me.
I must put on record that you rushed to judgement on your blog. Though you started off by saying you would ''hold back and give him a benefit of doubt'', you did none of the two. If you were holding back, you would have waited for, at the least, one day to hear from me before reaching any conclusion. If you were giving me the benefit of the doubt, you would not have tried to
denigrate my person and the party I represent so unconscionably.
I am grossly disappointed at your rush to judgement and the aspersion you sought to cast on my person. Your characterization does not reflect my person, as I am sure you will find out when you inquire from your colleagues.
But worst of all, you erred by making such a blanket statement about a whole party. For a man like you who claimed to be a victim of injustice, you needed to have been more circumspect before being so unfair not just to another person but to a corporate entity.
I do hope you will give my response the same treatment that you accorded your own view on the matter.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
Interim National Publicity Secretary
All Progressives Congress (APC)
Accra, Aug. 8th 2013
Alahji Lai Mohhamed's Rejoinder! I stand by my earlier publication. Kayode Ogundamisi
I stand by my earlier statement, I dialed Alh Lai in the studio in the presence of 3 witnesses including an 11 year old child and also including Profesor Okey Ndibe who was in the studio with productions crew, Mr Lai Mohammed's Skype ID was not only ON but clearly indicating 'CALL REJECTED' by other party.
Mr Lai's phone rang severally and simple call logs can show this and at every point calls where not being picked and then switched off.
I am surprised Mr Mohammed is now claiming he did not speak to me on the day of the programme, this again is easily verifiable by phone records and contrary to suggestions demanding I produce recordings of the conversation. I believe it is unprofessional to secretly record a phone conversation without the consent of the other party. I will suggest Mr Lai party APC should provide him with a technology assistance, especially after his disclosure that he's just opening a SKYPE account in 2013. That is not acceptable for a National Publicity Secretary of a party that hopes to lead Nigeria to the next millennium.
Kayode Ogundamisi
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