The crime of SENATOR ABAH MORO and HON SAMSON OKWU was on the news after the flag-off of PDP campaign for Zone C in Oju Local Government. What is their crime? Oju-Otukpo road is terrible, and the duo are not making appropriate efforts to get the Federal Government to do the road. Ehh-ehh! Atooh!
Those fans of ‘Shakespeare’ and who read “The Merchant of Venice” would be familiar with ‘Shylock’ a money lender, and his hatred for ‘Antonio’. Funny enough, on a lighter note! A pound of flesh taken from a human is not so estimable, sweet and profitable as a flesh of a bush rat or the goat we have in the village.
I am not EMMANUEL ECHE-OFUN JOHN or JAMES IGIRI ODEH, their media officers, and I am not offering to stand in for them in defence of their boss. Still, seeking clarification will not be out of place as a stakeholder in the Zone. I want to clarify what we want because it is hard to fight when the fight is not clear and fair. Senator Moro and Hon Okwu had mentioned their consultations and efforts about the road. Is it that they are supposed to use their constituency money to do the Federal road? Is it that they are not pressing on the Federal Government enough? Is it that they stopped FERMA from routine maintenance? Is it that they should bypass the authority in Makurdi and set this road as a priority in Benue State, or do we think the State Governor has no hand in the execution of Federal roads in all constituencies in the state? Can someone prove the contrary?
I don’t oppose all forms of peaceful agitation and holding public officers to account. I want a fight but am opposed to rash judgement and skewed verdicts. Part of the arsenal of democracy that triumphs over evil are the agitations that are based on rational principles and not political propaganda that seems to distract people from reality.
We can take our pound of flesh, but let us not be political about it. We can take our pound of flesh, but let us know who is at fault. We can take a pound of flesh, but we should not play the drums that have the voice of a political opponent. We can take a pound of flesh, but let us be sure that our demand is not beyond their mandate. We can take our pound of flesh, but let us refrain from disrespectful comments and insults. Let us know that leaders are not motivated by derogatory utterances. In recent times, all the PDP stakeholders and seasoned politicians of Igede extraction have been dragged into the issue. They are now termed as ‘useless, directionless, greedy, rubber stamp, bootlickers, follow-follow, beggars, peanut advocates, traitors benefiting from crumbs, naive politicians and other unprintable names.
We want the road to be constructed–permit me to suggest ways we can approach the whole matter differently: We can arrange a meeting with them and ask them what effort they are making, what the constraints are and how we can together weather through it as a people. We can ask them if there is a way we can be part of the solution using democratic arsenals. We will not be right and fair on them if we cast aspersion while they are concerned about the state of the road and are making efforts.
There are battles I will willingly join–battles that respectfully hold leaders to account devoid of blackmail. Let us not encourage the worst but the best in our society.
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