It beats one hollow no doubt, when all you get from a fire of great expectation is a smoke of disappointment. All you encounter is an awful feeling of vulnerability when you suddenly realise that all trusted guard is nothing but an enemy. How does a people feel when it turns out that those who should be their hope of a brighter life turn out to be campaigners for their demise. Recent publications in various newspapers have revealed to millions of Edo people especially the enlightened younger generation that the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel is still very far.
The most recent of such publications by a former information minister titled "WHO RULES EDO STATES IN 2007" presents a despicable state of the mindset of some indigenes of Edo State.
What does the respectable former federal ministry intend to achieve by that disuniting article? Did he intend to further create valleys among the great people of Edo State who have long cohabited in peace, and incite them against each other as in Plateau, Delta, Osun and other states, which became or have become war zones? Or was he merely trying to whip up sentiments for his personal political interest? I had expected his likes to address the issues of unity, security, health, education, environmental cleanliness, water, industrialisation, transparency in governance etc, that leave us a better people, instead of drawing references from archaic history of how Esans and Afemais left Bini.
That to me is an issue of traditional antecedents, which should only remind us of oneness in ancestral root and should not be allowed to becloud us in modern time where the order of the day is rational thought and its attendant modernisation benefits. Linking the history of the different ethnic groups in Edo State with current political evolvement in the state is by all means diversionary and unproductive especially as we search for leeway in painful befuddlement to which we have been entrapped.
Politics to me should be severed from primordial tradition, religion and ethnic leanings. It is my suggestion that we should avoid attacks on traditional institutions when we air our opinion on political and leadership matters as was the case in the matter at hand, whereby there was a glaring insult on the Binis and their tradition.
By the way, is it only the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, that exists in this Nigeria political party system as was reflected in the article? How come everyone seem to measure their political expectation and projection from the standpoint of PDP? The media is awash with the PDP philosophy. Every article and the report indicate that events at the federal level, that since the current President is from the South the next certainly will be from the North. The same goes for Edo State. Since the ruling Governor, Chief Lucky Igbinedion, of PDP is from the South Senatorial District everybody is pushing and feeling the next must be from outside the district.
The issue of who succeeds Lucky Igbinedion cannot be pinned to who PDP feature to contest the gubernatorial seat in 2007, as PDP is not the only party in Edo State.
From what we read and hear, everybody seems to admit already that the Government House at the federal level and states like Edo where PDP presently holds sway, is the birthright of the party. The same goes for other states where other parties like ANPP and AD rule. We should at this age of our development grow beyond narrow-mindedness. We should not start thinking like parochial and petty minds, we should look beyond party position and the ethnic gimmicks and antics.
The question we should answer is, what if another party feature somebody from the same area where the outgoing governor comes from, and the people see that person as one that can deliver, and vote en masse for the candidate, and he wins? Let it dawn on us that all parties, provided it is registered by the electoral body has a right to governorship or other seats in all states across Nigeria including Edo State.
We cannot in any sense foreclose the chances of other parties irrespective of the tribes or senatorial district of the candidate it presents.
In the 2003 governorship elections, there were about five major contestants in race and all were Binis. Where were the Esans and the Afemais while PDP, ANPP, AD and others were presenting a Bini candidate?
My question is, if PDP presents an Afemai candidate for the next gubernatorial election and ANPP presents a Bini, and it turns out that ANPP or PDP also has a Bini as its flag bearer wins, who do we blame? What will this former minister and his likes do? He should remember that democracy is about popular participation.
This is my case - we should not substitute the imperativeness of our socio-economic advancement as a people from ourselves or ethnic-serving interest. It is time we discard divisive tendencies and embrace unity, appreciate our socio-cultural difference and thoroughly scout for apolitical leadership that can make things right. We should also be able to mobilise Edolites who represent different positions in the spectrum of ideas that can be aggregated for a perfect finish and transformational grand play.
My respected former minister should look in all directions in our societies; he will see discontent on faces. He should take a step further to ask those victims of hardships on the street, their choice of leadership. I bet you they will say "we need a messiah no matter where he comes from".
The question of the Nigerian state is more complex than we are reporting on the pages of dailies. Nigeria presents a situation that leaves all our past and present leaders to blame for their roles towards the gradual destruction and death of the Nigeria nation. No Nigeria leader who has ruled and is currently ruling had ever been willing to lay down his resources for the service of the nation. We must all search our hearts and minds and ask ourselves whether we’ve been fair to this fatherland of ours.
*Mr. Solomon Edebiri writes in from Benin City, Edo State.
