Fact: I can hear some people are already singing requiem for Obaseki; others are practicing the dirge; the drumbeats of victory for the opposing camp is getting louder. Though the election is still a long way, but for now the calculus is that nothing can stop them; so the celebration may well begin. The suffocating feelings I have been having has simply refused to go away. I cannot comprehend the drama that is unfolding before my eyes: the dramatis personae that masterminded the paralysis of the old Edo State for sixteen years are suddenly favorites to return.
The more I ruminate over the matter, the more a tiny ball of fear creep inside my spines; I remember those cold dark days: like the present corona virus ravaging the world; Â thugs everywhere, exploitation of market women, looting of State Institutions; Edo City Transport and the prestigious Edoline Transport have not recovered to date from the debauchery they suffered. I remember governance was run on the page of newspapers, television announcements and paid advertisement.
Traditional leaders, community leaders of thoughts paid regular solidarity visits to the Osadebey House. Security votes were said to have been used to service these diurnal visitors. Then it was said that governance only came alive when federal allocation arrived.
According to the same progenitor of the return of the masterminds, the allocations were simply shared and everyone went his separate ways! Edo State suffered huge neglect; power supply became epileptic and eventually none existent; businesses paralyzed; almost all the roads were either blocked or left to deteriorate beyond repairs; the available motorable ones were home to huge craters of potholes.
Call it pandemic; Edo State reeled from neglect, deprivation; the virus was such that when Oshiomole came and salvaged the situation it was a big relief; and now because of irreconcilable difference, he is poised to superintend the return of the State to the dark old days—to the same masterminds! What went wrong? Are we to believe that we are living in a dispensation of lies, deceit and fraud?
What is governance turning into? Was this the way our fathers did it? What legacy are we leaving for our children? Is it right to destroy this nation for our children? Our fathers left ethics and integrity for us; why is Oshiomole leading the nation backwards? At least, if you cannot be a vaccine to give life, do not be a virus to terminate it. It requires wisdom to understand wisdom; and finally, no matter how long the night, the day is sure to come.
