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To Ayu, with condolences (2)
By James Tar Tsaaior
[email protected]
•Continued from last week
Dear Minister, the owner of the voice that speaks in
honour of everyone, prince and plebian, wife and widow, your silence also
reverberated and ricocheted the expanse of space when the political crisis that
rocked Kwande Local Government lasted. I do not need to tell you that Benue,
particularly Tiv land is acquiring
a solid and notorious reputation for political intolerance and violence. I do
not know if you spoke for or against this development but I never heard your
voice. This mayhem took a particularly awry and menacing dimension. It appeared
to have been targeted against Wantaregh Paul Unongo and other political foes
outside of the PDP. Kwande became desolate, writhing in pools of blood, clad in
ashes and sackcloth.
Perhaps, I need to whisper it into your waiting
eardrums that deep crevices have developed in the monolith of Tiv national
existence as a result of these fratricidal communal pogroms.
There exists an ever-widening schism among Tiv groups
against others that threaten the very fabric of our lives.
This is portentous. And bedbugs can easily take
positions in these crevices. Etch the arrow of your virile voice on the taut
bowstring of your ministerial and legendary personality and send it on an
errand to the people suing for peace and calm as you did during the heat of
June 12. Silence can be dignifying but can also be mystifying, sometimes. To do
otherwise will be tantamount to striving after fleeing mice when one’s
house is engulfed by tyrannical fires.
Honourable Minister, another vexing issue is that of
your role in the Benue Cement Company, Plc saga. Many people believe that your
involvement in the sale of the company, the only viable one in the State then
did not tell well of you.
They feel you collaborated with the enemy to exploit
and alienate them only to abandon the whole process when it was no longer profitable to you. You may
need to render your own stewardship in that regard so as to set the records
straight.
Dear Ayu, when you mourn the transition of a beloved
one, you tie a nyagba cloth around your waist. Where is yours? Save your torrent of tears.
Mama is set to execute the magnificent leap through
the transitional gulf or void. Tears can only render the ground too slippery
for her. Besides, tears may be an efficacious detergent and deodorant to sorrow
but will ultimately be ineffectual.
Harness your mind and circumcise your heart against
rampaging challenges. Continue the life of community service and honesty and
integrity Mama bequeathed as her legacies. Remember, you are not and will never
be an orphan.
With your towering achievements and fulfilled life of
public service, Mama’s passage is no longer and should no longer be too
painful. Earth has journeyed back to earth. A wilted leaf has fallen. Let it
remind the lush ones of their fate too. But let the dead leaf be rich compost
to manure the soil of your life and ours.
The sun has set but it will surely rise. The water
has spilled but the earthenware pot is intact. Be consoled that it is in death
that there is life. My sincere condolences.
•Concluded
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