By Zik Gbemre
We have noted before now that we find it rather sad and quite unfortunate that, Chief James Ibori was given a heroic welcome and still celebrated at Oghara his hometown in Delta State, when he recently came back into the country from his UK prison release. And we rightly advised that Ibori should not only repent, turn to God, keep a very low profile (if possible, avoid public exposure for some time), and adopt a humble lifestyle that will not have anything to do with dishonest living, but he should also avoid and be wary of those professional ‘praise singers’ and ‘sycophants’ that are all around him – whose ultimate goal is to ensnare him into their political folds for selfish gains.
It appears we are not the only ones thinking in this light, as a national tabloid columnist, Abraham Ogbodo, recently also spoke our mind concerning Ibori’s return and the need for him, and his likes, to learn from that experience. Ogbodo noted that the “fanfare” that attended that ‘London show of solidarity’ almost created the wrong impression. It had seemed as if Ibori was defiant and learnt nothing from his travails even as he kick-started fresh legal processes to prove the claim of political and judicial vendetta against him by the British authorities. The situation was only carefully managed to douse the fire of triumphalism that had been inadvertently stoked around Ibori by the post-prison get-together in London.
“There are growing fears that the authorities in Nigeria may re-open charges of corruption against him, with a view to maximizing his pains for reasons that could be so elastic that anything would stand justified. It could be pleaded that maximum punishment for Ibori would serve as a deterrent to other itchy politicians. And since he is acclaimed as Odidigboigboi who cannot be vanquished in conventional warfare, it makes sense for his adversaries to sustain the pressure and finish him at this hour of his seeming vulnerability,” Ogbodo explained.
Like we did, Ogbodo expressed his candid advice to Ibori noting that, “this is not the time for Ibori to acknowledge with relish, the high-sounding name of Odidigboigboi – the invincible. The bible teaches that to everything, there is a season. There is a season to be impregnable and there is a season to lie low and be vulnerable. There is a season to be lion-hearted and there is a season to be chicken-hearted. This is the season for Ibori to eat and sleep and maybe swallow few tots of brandy in-between and avoid like plague, nocturnal political meetings designed to re-arrange the variables ahead of 2019. The Good God has delivered the man from permanent incapacitation or evil. That said, Ibori has a bigger responsibility to pray even harder not to be led into the temptations ahead. This time, many shall come to imbue him with transcendental attributes and say strange things like nothing about 2019 will happen in Delta State and Nigeria, except the endorsement comes from him. These are fake prophets. Amongst them could be those that fasted and prayed fervently for Ibori to be stuck in London so that the coast would be cleared of hurricane Ibori in the cruise towards 2019.
“For now, Ibori should go into ‘serious community service’ in Oghara. If he must hold meetings, he should do so with family members and the Oghara council of chiefs. His silence should be silence, not ominous silence, which is the kind of silence that is noisier than sound. I am saying this because between now and when the road to 2019 becomes more defined, anything he says or fails to say will be held against him. If he is talking, he should not speak in tongues but in a language, that will be understood by Christians and Muslims, North and South, herdsmen and farmers, etc. If he is not talking, he should cultivate the tact to communicate his silence in a manner that will make his own crowd to understand that he is not keeping quiet in the face of evil.”
The bottom line is that Ibori should realize that he has been given another chance by God and the forces of nature to ‘rewrite his life’ on a clean slate. While we do not know what the Nigerian anti-graft authorities have in mind concerning Ibori, but since he has paid his due in the UK prison, he should just move on, forget his unreasonable claim and appeal of a case “he willingly pleaded guilty for”, and adopt a new humble lifestyle. Ibori should not be carried away by the fake heroic welcome that was given him at his return, or the crowd that follows him to think that ‘he is popular.’ The crowd following Ibori is simply doing so out of their ignorance and lack of knowledge of what is right and the role they are supposed to play in the society.
Popularity comes in different shapes and sizes and means different things. There are those who are very popular today for the ‘wrong things’ and there are those whose popularity is built on ‘good and great things’. With his travails in recent years in the hands of global anti-graft agencies, Ibori should know where he belongs because there is a difference between being famous and being infamous. So, Ibori should not think that his supposed heroic welcome and celebration of his return suggests his ‘popularity.’ Ibori went to prison for the wrong reasons and therefore, should never be likened or celebrated like people like late Nelson Mandela. In fact, Ibori should study and look at the life lived by past “heroes that are still very popular today amongst their people and across the world.” Names like Mandela, Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jnr, Malcolm X, etc., are heroes of our time who were one time or the other were unjustly incarcerated for the ‘right reasons.’
Zik Gbemre, JP.
National Coordinator
Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)
