Why Stakeholder Engagement Must Never Be an Afterthought: A Lesson from the Owo Cenotaph Crisis

By Ishola Ayodele

                                                         Source: Sunday Tribune Newspaper

 1. Background

On June 5, 2022, a tragic terrorist attack at St. Francis Catholic Church, Owaluwa Street, Owo, Ondo State, claimed over 40 lives and shook Nigeria’s conscience. In response, the then-Governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, initiated the construction of a Memorial Park, a cenotaph, to honour the victims. The project, built near the Olowo’s palace, was meant as a public expression of grief, remembrance, and state solidarity with the victims’ families.

However, despite its noble intentions, the location of the cenotaph became a source of deep-rooted tension. The structure was sited close to the traditional palace of the Olowo of Owo, an act that many considered a violation of Yoruba cultural norms which prohibit monarchs from beholding symbols of death or mourning.

 

 2. The Crisis

What began as a well-meaning tribute evolved into a symbol of disregard for culture, lack of consultation, and growing communal discontent. The cenotaph's location stirred traditional and cultural outrage. Many community members, including palace chiefs, reportedly advised against the site, citing its proximity to the palace as a sacrilegious act.

Despite the appeals, Governor Akeredolu went ahead with the project. This decision sparked speculation about personal vendettas, especially given the demolition of historic properties, including the ancestral home of Banji Alabi, a former ally turned critic, allegedly to pave way for the project. Allegations of political score-settling and insensitivity further complicated the narrative.

In June 2025, nearly a year after Akeredolu's passing, his successor, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, ordered the demolition of the cenotaph, citing a need to respect cultural sensibilities and uphold the community’s wishes. However, the demolition, executed without salvage, consultation, or prior notice to key stakeholders, escalated the situation into a full-blown public relations crisis.

 

 3. The Backlash

The demolition drew sharp criticism from multiple quarters. Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) accused the government of dishonouring the dead and disrespecting the legacy of Akeredolu. The move was described as hasty, insensitive, and lacking in transparency.

Critics argued that while relocation might have been justified, the approach, complete with bulldozers and no apparent effort to preserve the structure’s materials or symbolism, amplified the loss. Others condemned the government’s failure to consult key stakeholders, including the Catholic Church and the Akeredolu family, before carrying out the demolition.

Adding to the backlash was the perceived waste of public resources, demolishing a multi-million naira structure barely a year after its completion. To many, it reflected the recurring governance failure of Nigerian leaders: policy inconsistency, poor stakeholder engagement, and disregard for institutional memory.

 

 4. Public Reaction

The public response was layered and deeply emotional.

In Owo, opinions were sharply divided. While many traditionalists and community elders applauded the demolition as a cultural correction, others, especially the victims’ families, felt it reopened wounds and disrespected the memories of their loved ones.

Social media erupted with hashtags and debates, with some praising Governor Aiyedatiwa’s cultural sensitivity, while others accused him of playing politics with pain. Prominent commentators described the incident as a lesson in “how not to handle legacy projects.” The Catholic Church, which had been directly affected by the original attack, reportedly felt sidelined in both the cenotaph’s creation and destruction.

Amidst it all, voices called for reconciliation and healing. Commentators urged the government to begin immediate plans to erect a new, culturally appropriate memorial, this time with full stakeholder engagement, respect for tradition, and transparency.

This crisis highlights a core lesson in public relations and governance: Intent does not equal impact. In sensitive matters involving grief, culture, and memory, how a thing is done can matter far more than why.

 

Strategic PR Insights and Leadership Lessons from the Owo Crisis

This Owo cenotaph crisis is not just a story of a monument lost. It is a textbook tragedy on what happens when stakeholders are ignored, and Public Relations is relegated to the background.

i.                    People are Not Projects. They are Stories Waiting to Be Heard.

We often forget that “Projects are technical, but people are emotional.” And when emotions are ignored, even the most well-funded, well-intentioned project becomes a ticking time bomb.

We have to understand that it is a fact that human beings are wired for meaning. According to Dr. Paul Slovic, a renowned psychologist and decision science expert, “people respond to a single identifiable victim with empathy, but shut down when faced with statistics or abstraction.” That is the psychology of stakeholder neglect. When governments, institutions, or corporations see “groups” instead of “grieving parents,” “cultural guardians,” or “dispossessed property owners,” they fail not only in planning, but in humanity. What was lost in Owo wasn’t just stone. It was ceremony, closure, and consensus.

 

ii.                  Emotion Is the Currency of Public Acceptance

Having studied and documented hundreds of crises; from global cases like Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol tampering (1982), Union Carbide’s Bhopal disaster (1984), BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill (2010), the Boeing 737 MAX crashes (2018–2020), to local cases such as the #EndSARS protests and Lekki Toll Gate shooting (2020), the Dana Air crash (2012), the Chibok Girls kidnapping (2014), and most recently, the Owo Cenotaph controversy (2022–2025) in addition to supporting clients through dozens of crises, one truth stands out across them all:

People don’t get angry because of what happened. They get angry because no one thought they mattered in the process.

Ralph Nichols regarded as one of the founding fathers of the field of listening studies, co-authored the seminal book “Are You Listening?” with Leonard A. Stevens, which became foundational in communication training, especially in business, education, and public speaking contexts. In the book Ralph Nichols asserted that, “The deepest human need is to be understood.”

Professor Stephen Covey in his magnum opus ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,’ also asserted that one of the major principles of becoming a highly effective person is to “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

Whenever people feel ignored or deemed not important in something that affect them, the brain doesn't process logic. It activates fight or flight resistance, protest, and rejection. And that is not public mischief, it is pure neurobiology. This is because the amygdala, the emotional center of the brain, hijacks rational thought when people feel excluded. That is what happened in Owo as well as in every boardroom or policy house where PR professionals are viewed as mere “press officers” instead of strategic architects of trust.

In behavioural psychology, there is a phenomenon known as “social pain.” Studies show that being ignored or excluded activates the same parts of the brain as physical pain (Eisenberger et al., 2003). Eisenberger and his colleagues at the University of California (UCLA) discovered through the use of the fMRI machine that the anterior cingulate cortex, which processes physical pain, also lights up when you are socially rejected, excluded, or deliberately ignored. Simply put, the brain doesn't distinguish much between a broken bone and a broken heart especially when it comes from rejection or being ignored.

When the Catholic Diocese spiritual guardians of the victims found out in the media that the memorial had been bulldozed, that pain was real.

When the Akeredolu family architects of the legacy watched it crumble without consultation, that pain was real.

And yes, when the palace was ignored during construction, that pain from cultural humiliation was deeply real.

Consequently, it becomes evident that the exclusion (in this Owo cenotaph crisis) is not just a political misstep but a psychological wound. Hence, any policy, project, or action that didn't stem from the point of empathy and compassion to address these pains is doomed to fail. It is not enough to build monuments or implement initiatives; how people are treated in the process matters just as much as the outcome.

 

iii.                Why PR Must Lead Stakeholder Engagement

Public Relations is not a press release. It’s not a media hit, a tweet, or a brand mention. At its core, PR is relationship engineering, the soul of strategic communication that bridges facts and feelings, logic and empathy, institutions and people. It is the only discipline specifically trained to hear not just what is said, but what is felt. And in an age where transparency, trust, and emotional intelligence are currencies of leadership, PR must not follow. It must lead.

A 2022 Harvard Business Review study found that projects with strong stakeholder engagement from the beginning are 3.5 times more likely to succeed. Meanwhile, the Project Management Institute reports that 56% of failed projects cite poor communication and misaligned stakeholders as root causes. These are not just statistics, they are warnings. No matter how perfect your plan, if people aren’t with you, they will work against you, or worse, ignore you.

This is not a communication problem, it is a human problem. And solving human problems begins with empathy, not execution. That is why stakeholder engagement cannot be treated as an afterthought or outsourced function. It must be embedded from the start, championed by those who are trained not just to speak clearly, but to listen deeply.

PR professionals are uniquely equipped for this role. We are taught to read a room, to anticipate reactions, to translate complexity into clarity, and above all, to make people feel seen. We don’t just manage perception; we cultivate emotional contracts between institutions and the communities they serve. We make belonging a strategy.

Peter Block, in his seminal work Community: The Structure of Belonging, reminds us that inclusion, ownership, and civic engagement are not luxuries, they are the foundation of any thriving society. Thus, stakeholder engagement is not a tactic but a moral commitment to invite others into the room where decisions are made, not just to inform them afterward.

So let us be clear: stakeholder engagement is not PR fluff. It is the safeguard of trust and the soul of sustainable decision-making. It is how we prevent crises, not just respond to them. That is why, in every crisis leadership masterclass I teach, I emphasize this: You don’t lead people by planning for them. You lead people by planning with them.

 

iv.                Crisis Management is a Leadership Function

When crisis erupts, be it a demolished cenotaph or a reputational inferno, what separates total collapse from successful management of this crisis is not PR statements nor damage control but Leadership. Because at the heart of every crisis is not just a failure of systems but a failure of recognition. When people feel ignored, excluded, or sidelined, even a well-intentioned action can ignite outrage. Understanding this emotional undercurrent demands what Jim Collins, in his classic "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't" described as ‘Level 5 Leadership’ (a rare blend of personal humility and fierce professional will). This kind of leadership is not just desirable in a crisis; it is essential. In fact, being a Level 5 Leader is one of the core attributes of "Crisis Leadership" according to crisis management scholars.

True crisis management begins long before the headlines, in the boardrooms and offices where leaders choose either to prepare or to gamble. The Owo Cenotaph crisis is not merely a tale of public outrage; it is a leadership failure, the offshoot of decisions made without the foresight of consequence, without the empathy of inclusion.

No PR tactics nor press releases can substitute for a leader’s personal buy-in. A leader must first own the crisis, then lead the response. But ownership requires knowledge. Training in crisis leadership equips leaders to act with speed, clarity, and moral courage. It helps them resist the temptation to deny, to blame, to delay, or to spin. Instead, they learn to face reality, communicate with transparency, and make tough choices that preserve trust, even under fire.

A growing body of empirical research and an abundance of real-world case studies have confirmed beyond dispute that possessing the right crisis leadership skills and mindset is not optional; it is indispensable for successfully navigating turbulent moments (see Hällgren & Buchanan, 2024; Kjeldsen et al., 2023; Keselman & Saxe-Braithwaite, 2020; Klein & Delegach, 2023; Obeidat & Thani, 2020; Kapucu & Ustun, 2018; and *PR Case Study: Mastering the Trade*, Vols. 1–3 by Ishola Ayodele).

Many leaders have come to realize (usually too late) that “The first message key stakeholders get from them in a crisis isn’t information or explanations but a signal of values.” That is, before people process what you *say*, they instinctively interpret *who you are*.

 

Conclusion

Leadership today isn’t about control, it is about co-creation. It is an eternal truth that when people are genuinely involved in the decision-making process, they are more likely to defend the outcome. But when they feel ignored, they are more inclined to resist it, even if it was well-intentioned. And that begins with public relations at the helm.

If strategy is the engine, stakeholder engagement is the fuel. And PR? PR is the driver that knows how to steer hearts as well as minds.

To every leader, communicator, and policymaker: it is time to stop reacting to backlash and start building alignment. Let PR lead from the start. Stakeholder engagement must not be an afterthought, it must be treated as sacred. Because when people feel heard, they can forgive almost anything. But when they feel ignored, even good intentions become unforgivable sins.

Bottom line: Good intentions do not automatically translate into impact. Learn to carry people along.

Ishola, N. Ayodele is a distinguished and multiple award-winning strategic communication expert who specializes in ‘Message Engineering’. He helps Organizations, Brands and Leaders Communicate in a way that yields the desired outcome. He is the author of the seminal work, 'PR Case Studies; Mastering the Trade,' and Dean, the School of Impactful Communication (TSIC). He can be reached via ishopr2015@gmail.com or 08077932282.