Of Akpakomiza’s Imposition, Ohonbamu’s Outbursts and Metaphoric Power Shift to Esanland, By TONY ERHA

“Edo 2024:Tony Erah’s Needless Outburst Against Ohonbamu’s Call For Equity”, written by a faceless Osarobo Igbinomwanhia, was similar in content and texture with the three television interviews, earlier granted by Hon Paul Ohonbamu, spokesperson to Senator Monday Okpebholo’s (aka Akpakomiza), who is inordinately vying for the governorship election holding in the state in 2024. The article, which lacked cohesion, rationality, and logic, was, unfortunately, clearly in response to my earlier article, “Edo 2024: Paul Ohonbamu and his skewed Quixotic narrative.”

The Igbinomwanhia’s writeup bemoaned my truest intervention, thereby justifying the alibi of Ohonbamu, who went beyond all the more competent and older members of Akpakomiza’s All Progressives Congress (APC?) of the Edo Central Senatorial District (Esan land) and others of the South and North districts, to name Akpakomiza as the only choice of APC. This is notwithstanding the fact that Senator Okpebholo, who had barely settled into his senatorial responsibility in the National Assembly, a mandate given to him on a platter by the Esan voters, had abandoned that mandate for the distraction of the governorship contest.

My question to Paul Ohonbamu was whether the aspiration of Akpakomiza was the reason for the call of governorship power to Esan, with his submission that “Paradise will be lost by APC if Akpakomiza is not given the ticket, at the expense of the other aspirants?

And I had asked Ohonbamu some pertinent questions which he refused to answer only for the Igbinomwanhia’s outlandish article, in which it called me unprintable names. What has an elected Senator Okpebholo, with the two others House of Reps members from Esan Federal constituencies, done with their National Assembly seats, which they got on a platter of gold, only to go for the governorship? Have their mandates suddenly expired that they now seek the higher office of a governor? Have they delivered on the first mandates that they crave to be a governor? Are they not indirectly telling their Esan constituents that the National Assembly’s positions they were voted into are too small that they now seek a bigger one? Why will they not provide the needed leadership to boost the power shift struggle in Esan, instead of their newest divisive aspirations? Are they not taking their lucks too far? By so doing, are they not taking their voters and constituents for a ride?

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When a man limps on a leg, which he deliberately had broken, his onlookers would be concerned that he is breaking the remaining leg! It takes a friend to tell the other where his roof leaks. Sometimes, Akpakomiza, the man Ohanbamu and Igbinomwanhia speak for and whose governorship gambit they are superimposing on the rest of Esan aspairants, may yet precipitate a postmortem inquisition into the (questionable?) processes of his ascendancy to the National Assembly. Then, it may be akin to a man in pursuit of two rats at a time and loosing both.

Lo and behold, the inspiring axiom of Franz Fanon, the unforgettable essayist and psychoanalyst, says; “For a man who has reason as a weapon, there is nothing more neurotic than having contact with unreason”. Franz Fanon also cautions all to be wary of duplicity and the chameleonic appearances of the human selves, which he also amplified by “Black Skin White Mask”, the engaging title of his book, from which the aforementioned significant quote emanated.

The court of public opinion is a market place where the precepts and examples of men are deciphered and their true natures perceived. But discernable public spectators do know better because one doesn’t steal items in the marketplace and hide them at his back, and expects the spectators not to see.

The false propaganda Ohonbamu and Igbinomwanhia ignorantly deploy is a two-edged blade to its users. Dangerously sharp it is. Men who learn to carry the headload, for the sake of their necks, ought to start with lighter objects and not the iron concentrate. And he who throws his hat in the boxing ring, must be forewarned about the exchange of solid punches. False propaganda is a tedious marathon race, which short distant runners (sprinters) could hardly endure. And so, a marathoner does it much better.

Expressly, Tony Erha has nothing to hide. There are no skeletons in his cupboard, neither does he have between his legs a scrotum which will stop him from yanking off his underwear for the prying eyes of the public. “Those who ate the pulsating heart of the mad cow are the ones who would have pulsating heartache.”

Igbinomwanhia’s writeup called Tony Erha a man who “parades himself as a journalist and an activist”. But, Tony Erha is not the only perceiver of the slapstick comedian and the Baba Sala Ohanbamu and Igbinomwanhia had constituted themselves, by marketing what the late Chief Evylene Igbafe once called the unripe mango. A salesman who de-markets other products, in order to sell his will also expect the condemnation of his own wares. Alas, as a dutiful spokesperson, it is understandable while he is another Moses, who must be hailed for coming all the way long from his Edo South nativity, outside of Esan, to pronounce the choice of the Esan oracle. Appalling it is that Ohanbamu will euphoric for such a ‘political campaign orgasm’, on the television media.

I have no personality contest with Paul Nosayaba Ohonbamu nor do I hate his person. Equity, as we call him, is a likeable fellow. But mechanical and excessive deeds are not the deserving traits of one who had volunteered to serve the public. An activist should cry when people are worried and one who gives out his only cup of cold water to others whose thirsts are not assuaged.

At dome instances, my good friend had abandoned his avowed ‘Ombudsman’s calling’ by joining forces with most of the fair-weather lawmakers of his time. In the State Assembly, where he was the second-in-command, not once did he pursue the public interest, as partly represented by the avalanche of street protests to the House.
Igbinomwanhia’s writeup said that “Tony Erah parades himself as a journalist…”. Yet, himself, who is most knowing, was so incoherent and lacking in his writeup. He couldn’t get aright very simple spellings of my name that was conspicuously stated in my article. How, therefore, was he to grasp that my journalistic practice has spanned about 42 years, on the wing of truth, objectivity, courage and fearlessness? The facts are in the public domains.

In my vocational activism, which the article tried to deride, my pathway had crossed with Paul Ohonbamu’s. Early in this millennium, semding that he was a lawyer, I recommended his service in a titanic court case between the 2001 kerosene explosion victims, under the KEVA NGO, against Edo State Government and NNPC. I established KEVA and a global coalition, which involved the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), with 22 other national and global NGOs, that moved for restitution for the multitude of victims who sustained varying degrees of burns and hundreds of deaths. Suffice that about ten years before then, I was one of the founders of the CLO, where Ohanbamu later served as its Edo State coordinator.

Ohonbamu should have shoved bitter politics aside to set the record straight that I don’t parade myself as a journalist and activist. Either, it is my work and those who see them as good that proclaim it. Osarobo Igbinomwanhia also regarded me as being on the payroll of a politician from Edo North, whom they derisively called an enemy of the Esans and my Automated Teller Machine (ATM), who directed me to hate the Esans and derail the power rotation thing. I work for my convictions. The worth of a man is measured by what he does in the secret, knowing that he will not be found out.

Obviously, cling others obscenity is the gimmick false propagandists use to divert the public attention from their oen misdeeds and political demagogy. The Paul Ohonbamu that I know so well and the Osarobo Igbinomwanhia who writes like he talks (the voice of Jacob, the hands of Esau), can’t convince even the gullible, that it was coupon papers and not wads of money that enforced their fruitless bid to sell Akpakomiza. How can Ohonbamu convince any journalist that the watchdog role that he had long abandoned got him the air travels from Benin to far-away Abuja and Lagos, and other perquisites that made possible his TV interviews? Else, he has to convince all that he did that with a bag of granite pieces given to him and mot money..

The yam tubers that are bent on tearing the bag that protects them as headload should be the ones that are imperiled, should they fall down and break into pieces.

It is also misleading for the Igbinomwanhia’s article to call me a trouble maker, who was creating divisions between Ohonbamu and his APC and Akpakomiza versus the other Edo central APC aspirants.

Ohonbamu and Igbinomwanhia, who labelled me as an enemy of the Esans, should tell me how they are more Esan than I am. My father and mother were Benins and a grandparent Esan. I had most of my orientation in Esan and a part in Owan. In my everyday life, I look Esan and I am
mosttly regarded an Esan person. What good has the Senator done about the struggle for power shift to Esan than I had done?

In 2011, I was one of the founders of Ikolo Esan, a political front for Esan progress, with the late Clement Ehebha, from Ugbegun in Esan Central LGA, Prof John Oteze and others. Earlier before then, I had earned assiduously with Mr. Peter Odia Iwelomen, Publisher and Editor of the Esan Magazine, a media I had contributed to. Iwelomen was also the first Coordinator of the Esan Youth Movement, a front line Esan body, established by Chief Francis Inegbiniki, a group I had assisted its work. Severally, I was discriminated against because of what some considered to be my Benin origin. About a year and a half ago, I was forced to leave an Esan WhatsApp political forum for a similar reason. I was later told that Tony Ekata, a journalist and childhood friend, and General Cecil Esekhaigbe retd, some urbane minds, who are Esans, were opposed to it because of my “Esanness and contribution to the zone.”

For years, I was a resource person to the late Dr. Christopher Igbelokoto Okojie, the prolific author of Esan books on history and tradition, whose works I had assisted. The late sages, Chief Anthony Enahoro and Prof Ambrose Alli, had established for me and my Esan friends, the Esan Drama Group International. I wrote drama scripts in Esan language and acted them on stage and on NTA Benin. Also, with Chief Enahoro, we had established Edo Okpamakhin, a pan-Edo group that sprouted from the Edo section of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in the United Kingdom and American exiles. One can hardly know where I am from, among Benin, Esan and Owan, since I write and fluently speak the three and a passable Etsako dialect. I am a detribalised Edo person.

Not discouraged, I was in 2015 Director General to an Esan person, who underwent the same APC governorship primary election that brought in Mr. Godwin Obaseki as APC’s standard bearer and governor. Then, we wrote letters to political elites and traditional rulers of the three senatorial zones, about the need of an Edo governor of Esan extraction. His campaign mantra was “Edo Is One.” Suprisingly, the idea was not then received by many Esan elites than it was welcomed by more others from the two senatorial zones.

I remember meeting the late Chief Anthony Anenih in his Asokoro, Abuja residence, with Prof John Abhuere, a Nigerian patriot and another Esan gentleman, an elder brother to Rev. Humphery Areghan, a classmate of mine. Chief Anenih was down to earth, revealing to us that Esan was not ready for the governorship contest, although it was believed to be her turn. Chief Anenih regretted that an immediate past minister and an Abuja-based school proprietor, from his zone, were no longer interested and considered it a great risk to run the governorship race, as ex-President Goodluck Jonathan had just lost the PDP presidential election. Hon Giwa Agbonmierele, Chief Anenih’s aide, had also harped on his Edo southerner preference. Even though we encouraged Chief Anenih to, instead, feature a former Speaker of the state’s House of Assembly, who was interested, the late chief, said he had no more money to waste on a governorship election, where the candidate was financially weak. He said the Esan PDP had already settled for an Edo South person.

This writer, the late Comrade Didi Adodo and a present-day APC governorship aspirant of Esan origin, who was very closed to Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, had reminded him in Edo Government House, yo finally unveil the Esan successor, which he was said to have preferred, in the person of a former labour leader from Esan. A moody Comrade Oshiomhole, now a Senator, regrettably said it was suicidal for him to go outside of Edo South to support an APC successor, since an Esan candidate would be crushed by an Edo South PDP candidate (a clergyman), who the Esan PDP had chosen. He too told us that the choice of an Edo South was pushed for by the APC stalwarts, including those from Esan.

It was, therefore, shocking when many people soon came around to influence the rumour mill that Comrade Oshiomhole, because of his hatred for the Esans, singlehandedly stopped the governorship to Esan.

It is baffling as to how the Igbinomwanhia article can accuse me, a little voice, of causing troubles and division in APC and Edo polity. They also accused me of stopping the power rotation moves to Edo Central, whereas they as the latter-day proponents of power rotation, by their sourly orchestration of disinformation and divisive campaign ought yo be held responsible.

Now, is it not vlear that ot is the wrong tactics of the Akpakomizas, the Ohonbamus and the Igbinomwanhias, that have made the other two zones to smell a rat that an ill-equipped person is favoured above others?

It is also interesting to know that a new slogan had emerged from Esan land, with the imposition of Akpakomiza by Paul Ohonbamu and others. “No Political Deyenyen”, is the said sloganeering coming out from Esan, meaning in Esan, “No more political oppression and imposition” of elective aspirants and clandestine politicking.

Moreover, many Esan APC stalwarts and members, in a nonchalant reference to the senator’s covetous governorship bid, now regard it in Esan as; “Amen rholo fo akue a daa eda”, meaning “the rainfall was over before a concerted effort at gathering the rain water from the rooftops.”

● Tony Erha, a journalist and activist, could be reached at tonyerha@gmail.com