Felix Ofou

Excusive Assistant (New Media)

Comrade Felix Ofou was until May 29, 2023, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Delta Broadcasting Service, Asaba. He served from December 17, 2019 till that day. Before then, he was appointed for the first time as pioneer Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Civil Society by His Excellency, former Governor Ifeanyi Arthur Okowa in 2018. He had previously been appointed Press Secretary (Lagos and Abuja) by His Excellency, ex-Governor Emmanuel Eweta Uduaghan from July 11, 2007 to May 29, 2015 when the administration terminated.

BRILLIANT MEDIA CAREER
Until Comrade Ofou’s sojourn into a diverse stream of political appointments, he had a blossoming career as a reporter, editor and media manager. He is undoubtedly one of Nigeria’s top flight journalists, having put in over three decades in the profession.

His foray into journalism started with the defunct NewsFirst magazine in Kaduna where he worked as reporter/features writer in 1987. He later took up the job of an artiste/presenter at the Kano Radio and Television Services in 1988. He combined this as a performing artiste with the Kano History and Culture Bureau (Arts Council).

Ofou’s big break into national media started in 1992 when he was employed as a reporter by Punch Newspapers. In less than six months on the stable, he was singled out and transferred from Lagos to Owerri as a Correspondent of the newspaper. He also served as Zonal Political Correspondent (South East), Political Editor and Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Punch Chapel before voluntarily resigning from the newspaper in 2000.

Driven by the passion to be a media owner, Comrade Felix Ofou established Essence Weekly (a soft sell magazine) in 2000 which later metamorphosed into the now rested Hammer Newspaper, circulating mainly in the South South, South East, Lagos and Abuja.

But the allure of practicing journalism at the national level soon took him to the Sun Newspapers in 2003 where he worked as an Assistant Editor. His stint was however short-lived as he left for the then fledgling Daily Independent Newspaper, also as Assistant Editor in 2004. In three years, he rose from Assistant Editor to Group Politics Editor and thereafter Editor, Sunday Independent/Assistant Managing Editor.

THE CALL TO SERVE
In 2007, this ebullient reporter was invited to serve by His Excellency, former Governor James Onanefe Ibori as Director of Media in the campaign organization of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He later combined this appointment with that of Media Assistant to then governorship candidate of the PDP, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan.

In accepting the call to serve, three daunting tasks were outlined for consideration, namely;
1. Media hype of the filial relationship between Chief Ibori and Dr. Uduaghan, thereby playing down the innate qualities and vast experience of the gubernatorial candidate in public office.
2. Excessive focus by the media on alleged corrupt practices in the PDP, thereby giving the then opposition candidate, Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru, giving him a seeming edge in the media.
3. Marketing of the PDP and its gubernatorial candidate in the media and the polity at large.

Needless to say that Ofou helped in no small way in changing the narrative, resulting in victory for the PDP and Dr. Uduaghan. The victory of the party in the rerun of 2011 and for the second term election bears testimony to the sagacity and dexterity of this Comrade in public communications.

CRISIS MANAGEMENT
Although he was saddled with the responsibility of ensuring that the party always enjoyed a positive media profile, the nature of politics in Delta State is such that at different times, he had to intervene to manage the crisis orchestrated by political rivals and opponents of the government and its main actors. His dexterity in evolving strategies for managing what the government’s political rivals may have envisaged as damning reports earned him the reputation of a media crisis manager. This is a product of his wide network of associates in the media, especially the Lagos-based media.

In this respect, he has been director (Twice) in the PDP campaign organization, Director of Media, Rochas Foundation, Media Consultant to former Deputy Governor of Imo State, Prince Eze Madumere, among other consultancies at the national level

EDUCATIONAL AND PERSONAL ODYSSEY
An indigene of Okpe Isoko in Isoko North Local Government of Delta State, Comrade Felix Ofou was born in Lagos on March 3, 1963. He attended Apapa Baptist School from 1970 to 1975. He was admitted a student of the famous Ijebu Ode Grammar School in 1977 and graduated in 1982 from where he obtained his secondary education.

Comrade also has a Diploma in Adult Education (1985 – 1987) obtained from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria where he graduated with an Upper Credit. He gained admission into Bayero University, Kano (BUK) in 1987 and graduated in 1990 with a B.Sc (Hons) in Sociology. It is remarkable that Ofou graduated from BUK as the best in the set and only student with Second Class Upper degree. He is presently pursuing an M.Sc in Human Resources Management at the Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT) Business School.

Ofou’s sojourn into political activism started from Ijebu Ode Grammar School after he was publicly flogged for coming first in the first edition of the Obafemi Awolowo Secondary Schools Debate which held at the Lagos City Hall in 1981. Apparently, the authorities were unhappy with some of the shortcomings identified by the young student about the policies of the governors of the South West states controlled by the defunct Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).

At the ABU, Zaria, he was further socialized into radical ideology which culminated in his emergence as the Secretary of the BUK Students Union, the first Christian and Southerner to occupy such a position in 1988. He was similarly elected Secretary of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the NUJ, Imo State and later chairman of Punch Chapel of NUJ, Lagos State.

Felix Ofou was variously Secretary, Civil Liberties Organization (CLO), Imo State; Chairman, Democratic Alternative (DA), Imo State and National Contact Committee member of the Campaign for Democracy (CD) which catalysed the pro-democracy struggle, following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election. For his role in that struggle, Comrade Ofou was conferred with the human rights award by the National President of the NUJ, which he is highly excited about.

Apart from being a member of the NUJ, he is also a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (MNGE) and Associate of Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (ANIPR) all of which have established him as a well grounded and all-round practitioner.

EPILOGUE
Trust, competence and integrity are values held dear by Comrade Ofou. They are virtues for which he would continue to seek excellence and be associated with. He strives for a better society founded on the rule of law and social justice.