Open Letter To My Friend, John Mayaki

By: Victor Oshioke

My dear John Mayaki, it is shameful that you can suddenly turn around and begin a campaign of vengeance against a candidate who you struggled so much to head the media department of his campaign organisation.

I sympathise with you for losing out in the battle for leadership positions during the composition stage of the Monday Okpebholo Campaign Council. However, I cannot understand why you are so vindictive and unreasonable in your battles.

It is not a sign of maturity that you always want to lead in every circle you belong and once you are denied a leadership position, you automatically turn against the institution by using your writing skills to work against that same entity you aspired to lead. It may interest you to know that the reason why you could not get the position of Director of Media and Publicly for the Monday Okpebholo Campaign Council is because some persons who know you very well argued that you are not a team player and that you are very volatile. I was one of those who stood for you and argued that in spite of your personal foibles and notoriety for journalistic recklessness, we should nonetheless give you that position and try to curtail your excesses during the campaign. Unfortunately, we were in the minority and couldn’t get you that position.

With the current level of vendetta against Monday Okpebholo, it is clear that those who argued that you are too unreliable for such a position were right after all.

I have worked closely with you, and I know you have an appreciable level of brilliance and resourcefulness, but also I have always known that you are erratic, lack a team spirit and sometimes betray juvenile tendencies in your reaction to issues. This has cost you postions of responsibility over the years. It is sad that, in spite of your abilityto write, you have since lost your credibility as a journalist with regard to ethical standards. As you continue on this dishonourable path of mercenary journalism, one thing is certain. Between Asue Ighodalo and Monday Okpebholo, whoever emerges as the winner of the 2024 Edo governorship election will not take you seriously.

Instead of enriching the political discourse as a journalist, you now write for a fee to merchandise inanities and the public rating of your writing has become worthless even to those of us who once admired you. I have been told that you received $15,000 by the Asue Ighodalo campaign for this hatchet job. I am indeed saddened that you, my own friend John Mayaki who used to write worthy articles is now worth so low as what Asue Ighodalo spent in buying a car for a mere social media urchin.

My honest advice is that you quit politics and concentrate on responsible journalism. It is a noble profession where you’d certainly excel if you change your ways. You are not a team player. You are too cantankerous, and you’ve fought too many vindictive battles to ever again be trusted for political office by any political party.