EKURWE: OPEN LETTER TO IGEDE POLITICAL STAKEHOLDERS–PART 2
Distinguished Igede political class, I hope my first letter was well received and wish that this second one will meet you well. This series of letters derives from my belief that Igede faces more political challenges than anything else. It is a known fact that we have done well in academics, religion, entrepreneurship, civil and military services, and agriculture. But the growth in the political area in recent times is much to be desired. It will be a lofty expectation if we expect much at a national level, but the passiveness of political actors in the affairs of the Benue State and Zone C is of grave concern.
A man’s weaknesses and strengths are his own, not another’s, they are brought about by himself, not by another, and they can be altered only by himself and never by another. So, pointing accusing fingers at the dominant tribes in the State may be right to an extent, but not in totality.
Let us travel into yesterday and remind ourselves. When His Excellency Gabriel Suswam came for the commissioning of electricity in Igedeland; he openly declared that he decided to pursue the project so that he could at least rest well. Because three persons were thorns in his flesh because at the end of every conversation he had with them, they would always end it with the need for electricity in Igede land and the people’s yearnings. They were the Late Chief Ogiri Ajine, Late Prof Iba Omenka and Bishop Dave Agada. People that will honestly recall, the Crown Prince, His Excellency High Chief Ogiri Ajine, prostrated literally in gratitude to Suswam at the commissioning in Oju. Years later, in what we can say is an anticlimax, two prominent political figures openly told the generality of Igede people the ignoble act of the political class, how they will come to them and only talk about their personal projects–the ward’s school fee and in-law’s burial. As unfortunate as this information may be, I only explained it to bolster my assertions of the declining trend and not to spite any personality, as derogatory words are not part of me, especially when addressing my revered political class.
There is a link between thought and result; the quality of thoughts determines the quality of the result. If we must have a quality result, we must think qualitatively. Without fear or favour, we must think as a people seriously about the level of disvalue, disregard and disrespect any class of people either knowingly or unknowingly bring on our collective interest as an Igede nation. To change our rating and relevance as a people, we must change how we attend to some sensitive issues. Life of a people shrinks and expands in proportion to their reaction to sensitive issues. If yesterday died in ignorance, today should learn from her mistake. Our political class, duty to restore the political dignity of Igede nation is calling.
As there are good academicians, religious people and farmers in Igede land, there are also good politicians, not all politicians are bad. It may be that the few good ones are overwhelmed by the selfish agenda of the bad majority. The political idealogy of an average party person in Igede is ‘I, me, myself, my family’ and not about the Igede agenda. Just like a civil servant does not collect a salary for Igede land, an average Igede politician feels it is an occupation and source of livelihood and never about representation. Nobody will deny that; you must survive to represent the people, but survival should not be the endpoint.
MY CONCERN–THE OVER-MONETIZATION OF IGEDE POLITICS AND UNUSUAL PASSIVENESS IN RELATING IGEDE AGENDA TO THE RELEVANT AUTHORITIES.
Let me shock you with a trending cliché in Igede political space, ‘E NO SERIOUS’. No matter the relevance of the manifesto of a political aspirant, if you don’t give a heavy amount of money to ward/local government party executives and critical stakeholders–you will be branded as “e no serious self”. It is unofficially believed that the last political party primaries in Igede land was the most expensive in Benue State. It is still fresh in our memories how delegates were flying with their transient cash out during the primaries. It was not about quality, it was the highest bidder.
When you exploit and take your pound of flesh from an aspirant, you will lack the moral right to hold him to account because the candidature was bought at a high cost. Which officer will be so dumb or lack intellectual acuity to allow debts incurred to accumulate without paying with constituency allowance? Which officer will readily pick up a phone call from someone who almost emptied his pocket before getting to the position? You know the popular complaint by party men– “since wey he gets to the office, he don turn big man, he no dey even pick my call again or he dey always busy my call and even after many miss calls, he no dey return the call”. He paid for the office through his nose, so you should give him at least three years to recover, and in a year to reelection, friendship can start.
How pleasant will Igede land be when the political class sits with an aspirant, and an agreement is made? An agreement that will look like this– “we will get you to that post without collecting money from you, but within 4 years, you will do 5 culverts, give 5 transformers, grant University scholarships to 10 students of Igede extraction, facilitate the employment of 15 Igede graduates and register WAEC/NECO of at least 100 secondary students.”
Let me talk about the unusual passiveness of our political class. Currently, in Benue State, we have 2 Local Government Chairmen, 23 Councilors, 3 House of Assembly members, one commissioner, the Zone C party Chairman, and several special advisers. Remember, Bishop Dave Agada, whom SUSWAM mentioned, was a special adviser. The degree to which the political class has displayed indifference to our direction and interest and disregard for our shared existence is distressful. My pain and concern, the aspiration, and the dreams of Igede people are not considered or matter to them. It will be disrespectful if I say they watch in cowardice and timidity or are just driven by personal interest, thus, undermining our collective feelings–So I will not say it. Maybe, we will be magnanimous enough to believe they have been crying and just that the voice is not heard by the powers or is not loud enough because it is sandwiched with a personal request, but at least we should be informed about the cry or at least see the tears on their faces instead of the grandstanding defence.
Let me not bother you to mention the bad roads, but do you know that about 102 days to the end of Governor Samuel Ortom’s administration, Deputy Governor Benson Aboonu-led boundary demarcation of Oju and Konshisha is yet to be done? God forbid, we will be back to square one when another crisis surface, and lives will be lost in Ukpute and Ochoro again. The demarcation issue is not big enough to be mentioned when Governor Ortom visited Igede for political flag-off. Just visit Igede now; the political air is filled with arguments about UBA, YES FATHER, HEMBA, etal and lives goes on.
We should be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that our faith in Igede land still abides and it is pointless to delay efforts directed towards finding solutions to our recognized problems. A door of opportunity will not open unless you push, and it will be funny to turn full circle and complain about what we allow to thrive.
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