My preferred approach for this essay is an academic exegesis of the subject matter, but I fret over the well-noted impatience of most readers nowadays, and what barrier that would pose to the ultimate goal of the exercise, which is to convey thoughts and argue a position. I worry about the industry, the fecundity and mental rigour that would be invested into it, and how all of that might go to waste as everyone seems to be in a hurry about the outcome and not the process of the sham known as election in Edo State.
In any case, be it academic or journalistic, I feel compelled to scribble down some words on how the tyrant (who needs no explicit mention, as everyone can reliably guess who he is) corrupted the relevant agencies the night before the election, and how he armed the thuggery unit of his inept government to brutalize his opponents in order to consolidate power in Edo State.
There’s no doubting the fact that he’s a tyrant; the elements are visible. The disobedience to court order, the shopping for court injunctions to enable him frustrate the will of the people, illegal demolitions, land grabbing, political high-handedness, imposition of candidates, deployment of thugs against political opponents, promotion of ethnicity in place of capacity and competence, among others exemplify the tyranny of Mr. Godwin Obaseki, the flailing governor of Edo State.
Did he militarize the elections using the coercive instrument of state power? Yes. He arrested Emperor Jarret Tenebe and framed him for frivolous charges that couldn’t stand scrutiny, hence the eventual release of the Edo North APC Chieftain by the Police. He didn’t stop there – he left terror instructions with his Deputy in Etsako and invaded Owan West where Professor Julius Ihonvbere hold sway. He flooded Owan West local government area with his ragtag army who wielded illegal weapons and succeeded in disrupting the election where the APC was in clear lead. And then, of course, crossed over to Akoko-Edo to intimidate the people. We heard Comrade Peter Akpatason loud and clear in his interview with NTA where he cried for help but none came.
In Edo South, the militia unit of his government reigned supreme. They wielded guns and cudgels. They were aided by some compromised police officers to freely unleash terror on voters. A Labour Party chieftain, Dr. Chief Patrick Osagie Eholor was unlucky but he survived the edge of Obaseki’s sword by the whiskers. The story is the same in Edo Central – Tyrant Godwin Obaseki reigned supreme with terror.
One of the recent actions of the tyrant that got me worried was the installation of a renowned thug and motor park Chairman in Egor local government area, Chief Odion Olaye as NLC chairman in Edo State. He was empowered and aided him with government paraphernalia to snatch ballot boxes and change the figures. Video evidences of his exploits abound.
And so, this tyrant, in his bid to maintain his illegal and dictatorial control of the State House of Assembly, having incapacitated it four years ago, dismantled all democratic institutions in the state, beginning with the crumbling of the local government system which he manned with handpicked bootlickers and henchmen.To give official support to all these, he sets up his own police unit under the guise of Edo State Security Architecture to ostensibly help protect the people. But Edo people receive no protection from these state-armed thugs. Their sole purpose and assignment is clear – a fusion into the conventional security agencies to hound and intimidate Obaseki’s opponents, especially in times like this.
He has terrorized the state into a seeming submission, making allies out of a section of the traumatized populace who, desperate and in sore lack, look up to the source of their problems for solutions. Obaseki inflicts poverty on the people and then exploits same to advance and perpetuate himself. He deprives independent institutions of oxygen, forcing those trusted to protect their integrity to look to him for crumbs, and thus do his anti-democratic bidding.
Or how else would you describe a situation where the tyrant lost his unit, ward, local government and senatorial district during the presidential election but suddenly won the same areas in the House of Assembly elections? The answer is a systemic conspiracy between INEC, police and the bootlickers who are ever-ready to take instructions from the tyrant since they worship in his shrine.
But again, there’s no crime in voluntary servitude. It’s your right to will your freedom to the devil who, in this case, is the tyrant in Edo State. The devil has his own disciples just as tyrants their loved ones. We now have in Edo state, the rule of the minority as against the majority – a situation where a handful of persons coarse the majority of the people, deny them of their legitimate rights and choice to imposing their rule. It’s the berth of Godwin Obaseki, the tyrant. The dictator who succeeded in making sure that judges do not sit to hear the case of those members-elect who were denied inauguration and thereby arresting judgement in that case. And here we are, hapless people participating in another Assembly election – no thanks to President Muhammadu Buhari over his indifference in the defence of democracy in the state.
This tyrant employed everything employable especially by weaponizing the tool of blackmail – “don’t allow the man from Etsako to dictate to you”. The real dictator himself had cooked and whipped up divisive and abhorrent ethnic sentiments against his predecessor, Adams Oshiomhole. He went further to recruit some hungry fellows to sell the devilish seed that would eventually germinate to haunt the state – if not now, in the nearest foreseeable future.
Governance by sympathy and not governance by performance – I had thought the campaigns would be around achievements but I was damn wrong – courtesy of the prebendal politics of the tyrant. But again, Edo people deserve the government of the tyrant because a government only exists and survives with the support of the general public. If the public withdraws its support, the dictator would fall and never to be further assisted with political oxygen.
Although this is not to say the progressive elements in Edo state surrendered to the tyrant – No. It is also a fact that the majority of Edo people are visibly dissatisfied with tyrant Godwin. However, there’s a fundamental insight here – every tyranny must necessarily be grounded upon general popular acceptance. In short, the bulk of the people themselves, for whatever reason, acquiesce in their own subjection. The tyrant is but one person, and could scarcely command the obedience of another person, much less of an entire state, if most of the subjects refuse to grant their obedience by their own consent. In a nutshell, no government can exist without the support of its people.
This tyrant couldn’t have acquired sufficient eyes to spy us all without the support of the people themselves. He couldn’t have got so many hands to beat us without us surrendering them to him. He trampled upon us with his feet because we gave it to him. Or, how else do you think tyrant Godwin got so much power over us except through us? Certainly, this tyrant couldn’t have assailed us without cooperation from us – we know ourselves, especially those ever-ready to sell-out in order to survive the next minute.
Isn’t it therefore a paradox that although we are dissatisfied with this tyrant yet many still worship at his shrine? A paradox that will eventually haunt us and generation yet unborn? That the tyrant collected over N20 Billion from the Centra Bank of Nigeria for food production and other agricultural purposes but was plundered?. Same tyrant quietly picked up a refund of over N18 Billion from the federal government for some federal roads constructed under the administration of Comrade Adams Oshiomhole but was also pocketed? How we sustained this tyrant and encouraged him with our votes baffles me continuously.
Why then do we continue to support this same tyrant who pillages our collective patrimony? Why do we oblige the tyrant political oxygen to continue to maintain dominance over us? Some say he’s the hero of the Bini people and so, they idolise him while others say he’s simply capitalising on the weaknesses of the people to perpetuate himself and consolidate power with brutality. Whatever the case, is he not the same man who fought the Benin monarch to standstill over artifacts? The Barabbas of our contemporary politics?
My worry therefore would be that, now that we’ve been subdued by the brutality of the tyrant, are we going to ever resist up-coming tyrants in our future democratic journey or simply submit to living under tyranny because despotism has become a norm in our society? Or could it be that our people surrendered to the blackmail against Oshiomhole? If that’s the case, how can we surrender to our profligate son on the altar of our collective development and progress?
Therefore, the question to ask is this: is Comrade Adams Oshiomhole the victim? A resounding NO – after all, he’s the Edo North Senator-elect with a lot of positive expectations and engagements in national politics under the incoming administration of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. If Oshiomhole is not the victim, who then? In my humble and candid opinion, the victims are the ethnic irredentists, the jingoists and chauvinists – they’re all the victims of the tyrant they empowered especially those who worship at the tyrant’s feet since the disciples of Oshiomhole had since renewed their hopes in Emilokan’s presidency.