By Sule Oyofo
Too bad as Edo State may burst into flames as the “Allied forces” that’s what you have to call the gathering of police, DSS, army, navy, 21,000 INEC ad-hoc staff, etc., led by their brilliant commander Adams Oshiomole and his expeditionary forces are set to “capture” Benin from the Axis forces led by GOC Nyesom Wike who rose to take up the challenge following the dismal performance of –what’s his name again—emm. Oh, yes…Uche Secondus! With the deployment of 31,000 policemen to supervise the frightful Saturday, September 19, election, it is no longer democracy we are practising; the aim is to “capture” an enemy—not to “win” anything; let’s not be deceived. They had their plans perfected; they merely want to disguise using the people’s power as camouflage. Cast your mind back to June 6, 1944, during World War 11, Normandy landing. The Allied forces had mustered an armada comprising 1,200 airborne assault, 5,000 vessels amphibious flotilla, 2 million allied troops; their aim was to dislodge the Germans from Normandy and pave the way for the eventual capture of Berlin. The battle was so intense, they failed on the first day of the assault. The Axis forces, however, capitulated the next day. Now fast track to September 19, the D-day for Edo State governorship elections—in a democratic setting—not military environment — and you have warlords comprising allied deities led by the hollow-eyed, gaunt and lean Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the general officer commanding issuing out ignoble orders that Obaseki must be “captured”—not defeated; he is not weary yet from his abrupt and insensate abortion of the political journey of a valiant personality, mind you. He wouldn’t say this if he knows that voting or the use of ballot boxes involves the people –not the armed forces! His second in command “major –general” Adams Oshiomole,(always in khaki dress) the wounded former chief of staff at the APC headquarters in Abuja is not leaving any stone unturned. He is now immune –impervious to any sudden obstruction; he is fixed on his prize: the capture and dethronement of the one who dared him in his den…..Godwin Obaseki. He is going about this evil task in dejure belief. No thanks to the shockingly weak leadership pervading the country that has produced the untamed and encouraged the now intractable hostility that has engulfed Edo State. A simple responsible word from the leadership would have been enough to stoke the fires now raging in Benin. Instead, we are presented with a rather anomalous arrangement, that is patently heuristic—full of assumptions and guided error—who can stand this? That it has to take the United States to issue a strong statement gives a frightful reminder of the Hobbesian state we have descended. People who are giddy headed, flighty with the obscure origin; those who are heteromorphic or heteronomous (subject to different laws outside the rule of law); they never fail to argue the wrong point (ignoratio elenchi) as though besieged by an idiopathic sickness. Who would believe that our dear nation would suffer this kind of indolent, self-inflicted and crisis strewn leadership? It seems incredible that after all the billions and democratic achievements Nigeria would descend into the medieval ages overtaken by saprophytic elements who plunder State resources and relishes in them? Leaders hold back and watch the growth of syndicates, gangsters who unleash terror on our hapless citizens; they have cowardly presided over the imminent collapse of our hard-earned democracy—all in bid to “win” Edo State at all cost! What’s the aim of involving security when we claim to nurture a peaceful environment for democracy? If they do not know, the presence of 31,000 policemen only signifies the total collapse of our democracy and that can be likened to the state of “euthanasia”, i.e., the practice of putting painlessly to death in the case of unbearable suffering. Tinubu’s contemptuous statement drives home that point, so also Oshiomole’s audacious gambits! Is he the president of Nigeria? Why is he allowed to spread radicalism? Why is he rampaging the State and spewing venom as though Obaseki was never an APC member? That is a State that has produced eminent personalities; the likes of late Admiral Augustus Aikhomu, Admiral Mike Akhigbe; the late Chief Tony Anenih, Chief Samuel Ogbemudia, Ambrose Alli; Legends like Chief Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion, Chief Tom Ikhimi, Mike Oghiadomhe, Senator Victor Oyofo; the most revered Oba of Benin, Ewuare 11. Nevertheless, let us collectively sound this warning: The heroic feats of the gallant Edo people should not be taken for granted. That’s a State full of brave warriors; people who are prolific defenders of their civil rights. As the general officer commanding Oshiomole would find out on that long-awaited day, the Benin people would display their much-vaunted formidable prowess in the battlefield; they would show that even 70,000 policemen cannot scare them; as it was on the day of Normandy when the firepower of the Axis forces halted the advance of General Montgomery, Oshiomole would be heavily disappointed. Let him go back into history; let him read about the battle of Iwo Jima by Allied forces to take over the tiny Island; the costly repercussion of him trying to turn Edo State into a cauldron would live in the memory of Edo children hundreds of years from now; same applies to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who has turned himself into an alternate president of Nigeria. Their hedonistic campaign to take over Edo State notwithstanding, as they would soon come to realize, that day September 19, would be the day for their valedictory speech to exit politics and then would follow unprecedented peace. Edo will not be set into flames. Lastly, as the Igbo would say “if the load is too heavy for one to carry on the head, you drag it on the floor”.
