Roaming Pen: Apology not accepted

Do you know or have you ever heard of a Nigerian national called Oby Ikeh Unekwe? I am sure that most, if not all, of the journalists in Sierra Leone know her.

But for the benefit of those who are very fortunate to have never heard of, nor met her, I will hasten to briefly introduce the person carrying the name Oby Ikeh Unekwe.

She is the outgoing Managing Director of Zenith Bank Sierra Leone, who recently proved herself as an ethically-challenged and undignified foreigner unfit to head a banking institution.

Readers could recall that this Nigerian national called Oby recently launched into a tirade of public vulgar abuses when an accredited female journalist from the Independent Observer, Khadijatu Savage, telephoned and told her that she was investigating a story on an alleged refusal of the bank to pay productivity bonuses to staff.

Instead of addressing the issue under review, Oby decided to spit venom on the female journalist, using adjectives like ‘bastard’, ‘cheap slot’, ‘jobless woman’, ‘child of an act of prostitution’, and other unprintable invectives to describe the journalist.

As if that was not enough, Oby telephoned Star Radio and spent over 45 minutes in raining all sorts of unprintable invectives against journalists in particular and Sierra Leoneans in general.

She even went to an extent of comparing her cleaner with our Minister of Information and Communication, saying Alhaji Ibrahim Ben Kargbo, cannot compare his salary with that of her cleaner’s.

Oby boasted that nothing will come out of her uncouth behaviour (buff case!!) and even instructed the journalist on several instances to record her utterances for ‘wider publicity’.

Eleven days after the incident, Oby has profusely apologized for exhibiting her true colour in public.

According to reports, the Zenith Bank Headquarters has already recalled and replaced her pending disciplinary actions, and she must be on her way now to Nigeria, if she is not already there.

Her admission of guilt came in the wake of a one week ultimatum slammed on Zenith Bank by the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ).

A press release issued by SLAJ ordered the immediate recall of Oby. All Sierra Leoneans would be asked to discontinue doing business with the Zenith Bank if the bank fails to replace Oby, the SLAJ release threatened.

Prior to that, Oby had already tasted the wrath of the ‘pens’ of Sierra Leone journalists, including that of the Roaming Pen.

Journalists in Sierra Leone have injected some sense into the brain of this Nigerian ‘girl’, as they succeeded in transforming her ‘buff case’ boast to a devastating end of her career in Sierra Leone.

She lost her job and was forced to tender public apologies for being rude, uncouth, ill-mannered, ruthless and uncultured.

Notwithstanding the fact that several people have been hoodwinked into believing that Oby apologized because she was truly sorry for what she did, this writer has a different concept about an apology of that nature.

The first question that comes to mind is whether or not the apology was voluntarily tendered by the outgoing Zenith Bank MD.

Even if the apology was made because she truly regrets behaving like a descendant of the remotest village in Nigeria, does she worth our forgiveness?

Although I have never met her before, one thing that is very clear in my mind is that the Oby I heard lambasting a whole country and its citizens will never apologize voluntarily.

This was evident in her refusal to adhere to the warning of legal representatives of the female journalist.  The Jenkins Johnston and Co. Law Firm cautioned Oby that she must tender an apology to the journalist within 48 hours or face public order charges. She was defiant in this regard and continued to exhibit pomposity.

I want to reiterate here that even a sincere apology from Oby or a decision of Zenith Bank Headquarters in Nigeria to recall her, cannot placate Sierra Leoneans.

What this foreign ‘girl’ has done contradicts provisions in the 1965 Public Order Act of Sierra Leone – It is a grave offence.

The national constitution is totally against acts of public nuisances and proffered penalties that defaulters must face.

Oby has deliberately defaulted and must face the music. Recalling her is not the penalty dictated by the constitution and that decision is definitely not enough punishment for being a public nuisance.

Let the law takes it course and set a precedent now or other people are sure to follow her attitude of no hesitation to publicly insult cabinet ministers and journalists and at the end of the day say am sorry.  Hope our law enforcers will not force the people of this country to believe that “am sorry” is all what one needs to say after violating the national constitution with impunity.

If Oby is allowed to go unpunished, then it lends credence to the ‘buff case’ boast she made earlier. And it will also be unfair to ever charge somebody to court and convict him/her for committing a similar offence as Oby’s.

She should have been punished first before considering the option of banishing her from this respected land of ours. At least a month or two at the maximum Pademba Road Prison will appease Sierra Leoneans and serve as a precedent to forestall future recurrence.

I am 100 percent convinced that Oby was forced to apologize by her bosses in Nigeria, and all that she is doing now can best be described as a display of two-facedness (white teeth black heart). Why should I believe that Oby will ever sincerely apologise to Sierra Leoneans after she had earlier made clear that she is not the type of person that talks to ‘poor Sierra Leoneans’? So why the change overnight is the question that Oby must answer.

But all the same, her sight and nauseating behaviours might one day force peaceful Sierra Leoneans to unleash mob justice on her, and it is better for her to leave us in peace and continue being the vulgar person she is in her native Nigeria.

The act of Oby does not only have the potential to damage the ‘good’ image of Zenith Bank in the country but is also tantamount to a deliberate ploy aimed at denting the bilateral relationship between Sierra Leone and Nigeria, and I want to recommend here that the Zenith Bank isolate itself from such an individual.

For humiliating Sierra Leone and its citizens, Oby will never know peace and our forefathers will continue to hunt her for insulting our heritage.

Oby, Sierra Leoneans will never accept your apology. You will forever live with your sins.

Khadijatu Savage has proved to Oby that she is the complete opposite of all the names Oby have been calling her, and that all those names are boomeranged – Christians call it back to sender.

Abdul Karim Kabia (Fonti), Freetown

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