By Bobson Gbinije
“A man can be free even within prison walls.
Whoever has once had it can never lose it.
There are some people who are never free outside a prison.” Berthold Brecht (1898-1956).
We need no scholastic prolificity, mental binoculars and cerebral virtuosity to know that politics is a game of numerical superiority and Machiavellian acrobatics. Hence, the lexicographer Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914) observed in his Devils Dictionary that “Politics is the conduct of public affairs for private advantage”. But when will the Urhobos know this Descartian truism?
By way of dermatological statistical data, the Urhobo people constitute over 50% of the population of Delta State. They are one of the largest producers of oil in Nigeria, the fifth largest ethnic group in Nigeria with over 23 kingdoms. But they have no political sense of direction, they lack lebensraum and are cocooned in greed, back stabbing proclivities, deification and apotheosization of money. A nation that is perpetually at war with itself and sunken in the labyrinth and shenanigans of crass disunity.
In the 1958 pre-independence election, the Urhobos spoke with one voice by pitching their political tent with the NCNC. In the 1964 elections, the vast majority of Urhobos maintained an Indian file with the NCNC. They subsequently moved to the NPN, SDP and the NRC. From there they aligned with the PDP which has turned out to be their political waterloo and Achilles heel right from Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo, through Yar‘adua to now Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. It has been a political roller-coaster for the Urhobo people.
They have been wandering in the throes of horrendous marginalization, oppression and horrid neglect because of psychotic and ludibrastic fiscal dopple ganger. What a shame! They have not been able to put their numerical superiority to political advantage. They are like the comrades of Ulysses, who loved their slavish and brutish conditions as explicitly adumbrated in the Greek mythologies.
After the great Ibori’s sell-out and treachery against the Urhobo people, we thought they will learn their lesson in the PDP gubernatorial primaries. But it turned out to be the mother of all Urhobo political rascality and back stabbing. As it turned-out to be Urhobo against Urhobo; even against the admonition and wise counsel of the Pan Urhobo socio-cultural and political arrowhead – The Urhobo Progress Union (UPU) that, Urhobo delegate should vote en masse for Edevbie (the urhobo delegate).
In the free, credible and transparent gubernatorial PDP primaries, Okowa from delta north won by 409 votes as against Edevbie’s 299 votes. It means that about 1/3 of the 420 Urhobo delegates did not vote for Edevbie (UPU) Urhobo candidate, neither did they vote for Kenneth Gbagi non Omo-agege. With Ijaws’ less than 150 delegates votes that was shared between Orubebe and Okowa on 50/50 basics, Edevbie with 100% vote from Isoko, 3% from Anioma and 70% from Itsekiri was defeated because of the over 200 votes which the Urhobo delegates treacherously sold out to the highest bidder through Urhobo warlords and psychotic back stabber.
The Sisyphean albatross and mystery of what Uduaghan, Chief E.K Clark, Tompolo, James Manager, Orubebe, Amori (the Jesus of delta state politics), Igbuya, Evelyn Oboro, Faith Majemite and the Urhobo delegates did to snatch victory from the urhobo candidate is incubating in the womb of history and will be unraveled with the passage of time. Hence, the essayist and poet Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) said in his book ‘A Personal Record’ that, “only men’s imagination does every truth find an effective and undeniable existence. Imagination, not invention, is the supreme master of art as of life”
The English playwright William Shakespeare observed that “the fault dear Brutus (urhobos) is not in our stars, but in us (urhobos) that we are underlying’s”. He goes on to assert that “there is a tide in the affairs of men which when taken at the floods, leads on to fortune, omitted, all the voyages in their lives are bound in tempestuous waves”. Where will the Urhobo nation and its politicians and people go from here?
In this state of political torpsy- turvydom, dilemma and the drowning man holding on the straw syndrome, the Urhobo political machine and its operators are junketing from one party to another to find succor for itself. It must be stated with unambiguous clarity that the call of this writer is not that the Urhobo people must crassly hold-on to power in delta state because of their population advantage, but that they should and must be part and parcel of power breakers and king makers in delta state to influence and determine at any point in time who wins the governorship etc elections in delta state. That is the power of the majority having their way and the minority having their say.
As at now they are in a power salmagundi and mélange. They have become political hustlers and underdogs instead of being Kings and the tail instead of being the head because of their disunity. I assert that Urhobo should call a truce and back one candidate (Ogboru or Emerhor) and then do aggressive campaigning and then try to reach out to the Itsekiris, Isokos, Ijaws, Aniomas etc. notwithstanding their furtive alliances. This will fill the vacuum created by the disgrace of the PDP guber primaries and then we jointly use our numerical strength as bargaining chip on what we want for the Urhobo people. This will make it more integrity-inclined.
Finally, the 2015 elections are already at our door steps, the Urhobo nation must fine tune logistics and orchestrate strategies for political repositioning to ensure that its majority status in delta state and nay Nigeria is not a mere Mephistophelean placebo. The desire is not to make Urhobo the despotic holder of power in delta state for this will breach the principles of egalitarianism, power equity, dichotomy, fairness and justice. There must be an even spread of power amongst the geo-political zones. This is equity. But the power of the majority must be recognized and the urhobos must assert and claim their majority status through political unity. The political colossus, Schiller (1759-1805) asserted in his book Maid of Orleans that “that nation is worthless which does not joyfully stake everything in defense of her honour”. The urhobos must stop behaving like the comrades of Ulysses if they must take their rightful place in delta state, Nigeria and in the comity of Nations.
CHIEF BOBSON GBINIJE
MANDATE AGAINST POVERTY (MAP)
WARRI. (08023250378)
princeyesjesus@yahoo.com
