Obaseki’s vicious attacks on citizen Capt. Hosa

By Tony Erha

“Aimu Idodia, aighi gb’ Idodia” is a sacred idiom, which also goes as a traditional worship song in Edo, which in the English language translates to: “It is a taboo to harm or kill Idodia.” In Edo’s myth and real narrative, Idodia is a beautiful, rare and harmless insect of a good omen (totem), which mustn’t be harmed. A domicile or household would be considered as “blessed” to have Idodia coming for a “sacred” visit. And it incurs deadly repercussions to those who intentionally harm or kill it!

In the social and traditional circles of Edo State, the mythical significance underscored the initial reactions to the false accusations and unwarranted attacks against Captain Idahosa Wells Okunbo (Capt. Hosa, for short), by obvious hirelings of the state governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki.

But the latest of the serial attacks by Obaseki on Capt. Hosa, a multinational business mogul, socialite and caregiver extraordinary, emanated from
a media statement, which proclaimed blatant falsehood, with the intent of tarnishing his hard-earned and soaring good public image.

In the caustic article that was copiously used in the print and online media, tagged; “The Big Revelation And How A Drug Baron Is Funding The Political Crises In Edo State”, an Obaseki’s hireling, Engineer Lukman, poured invectives on Capt. Hosa, who is widely respected for his massive investment in Edo and Nigerian economies and for being a cheerful philanthropist.

Were Governor Obaseki to be a true Benin man, as he is often doubted about his claims to being a native of Ike-Isi village of Uhunmwode local government area of the state, he wouldn’t feign ignorance and he would not have distanced himself from such “native” catechism of Idodia. But, for a man who is said to be a graduate of Classics Studies (language studies) from the University of Ibadan, it is little wonder if he had availed himself about the import of the killing of the “goose that lays the golden egg”, a similitude to the “Idodia” axiom? Could he also be ignorant about the import of a “man who bites the fingers that fed him?”

Indeed, Capt. Hosa has a very high individual esteem that the undue attacks by Obaseki and his supporters cannot diminish. For instance, the Edoseghe Social Cultural Group, a Lagos-based trustee, mainly comprising prominent indigenes of the Capt. Hosa’s nativity of Bini, lashed out at the governor and the writer.

In the statement signed by Chief Imafidon Uhuangho, President of the group, it dismissed the report as a hogwash sponsored by
“the embattled Governor Obaseki who, having been undone by his incompetence and unruly behavior, is on the hunt for innocent victims to blame and malign.” It further said that; “Governor Godwin Obaseki for so long has assumed the position of a god in Edo State, looking down and tramping on fellow men with reckless abandon.”

Watchers of the factional crisis lingering in the state chapter of the ruling All Progressives Party (APC), in which Mr. Obaseki masterminds a faction, had been shocked at the aggressive attacks the governor and his supporters have serially directed against Capt. Hosa.

At the initial stage of the irreconcilable crisis, which had pitched the governor against Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, APC national chairman and the very man who helped him into power, Obaseki once wrongly accused Capt. Hosa of harbouring and instigating some fourteen elected Edo state assemblymen against himself.

Also, not too long ago, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, an APC’s aspirant in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, joined many others to condemn Obaseki as having goaded another spurious media statement that Capt. Hosa, Senator Bola Tinubu (APC national leader) and Mr. Boss Mustapha (Secretary to the Government of the Federation) were those imposing on Oshiomhole the wrong choice of Ize-Iyamu as a consensus candidate for the contest.

It is also known to the public that Governor Obaseki, because of his ill-perception of Capt. Hosa as an enemy, had joined some others to also attack his (Hosa’s) business interests.

To numerous members of the public, especially the Edolites, it is disheartening as to why a governor and first citizen of a state, should be the very one to overwork himself into pulling down those who mean well for the state and try to wreck their businesses, as Governor Obaseki has done to Capt. Hosa and many others.

Now, should Capt. Hosa mind the ranting of an ant and a scatterbrain like Obaseki? Capt. Hosa, as a worthy Edo man, should know that it is only the trees that bear edible fruits that the madmen pester with the stones!

Tony Erha, a journalist and activist writes from Benin City, Edo State.