Rev Olu Martins To Sen. Monday Okpebholo, Luck Is Not Preparedness And Preparation Is Not Luck.
I love to play the game of snooker and I play the game very well ( if you doubt, you can challenge me to a set of five games).
On this very day, I happened to be at my best at the game of snooker as nobody was able to take the championship from me.
No sooner did I think that I was the undisputed champion that day that this fine guy steps in, declaring that he would end my championship without me seeing the blackball as we call it in snooker.
As though to prove his point, he got no small accolade from the guys around the smoker board especially the ones I won of course.
So, fast forward, the game starts and before I could say Jack, my challenger had dropped six of his balls, remaining one, while I , as the championship had dropped only one remaining six ( reverse osmosis if you like to call it).
Now if you are an experienced player of the game, you know that dropping most of your balls early may not mean that you will win, because if you meet those of us who began to hide from the world from our mother’s womb, you will see pepper.
So, of course my only game was hiding the cue ball or conditioning my opponent ( I am sure snooker players know what I mean) so much so that my opponent that came highly recommended to take away my championship didn’t have a choice but to keep giving me two shots.
To cut the long story short, my guy didn’t pot his only ball while I went on to pot all my six other balls without my challenger seeing the black ( the true reverse osmosis).
My guy got so angry and ashamed that he offered to give me 10k just so we can play again. Whosai? Who born monkey? The way the guy entered the game like he would destroy my snooker empire and the way I beat him was enough satisfaction for me. No amount could account for the way I felt that night. After all, I remained the undisputed champion of the world ( like they say in wrestling ).
More importantly because I knew that what happened was more of luck than skills . I couldn’t dare stretch my luck beyond one round ( one round of snooker of course before some of your minds travel too far.).
This story aptly paints the picture of the APC candidate and his foray into Edo politics. That you won the contestation between you and the reigning champion Senator Clifford Ordia shouldn’t make you think that you were good or better than him.
Like me in my game of snooker, you were just lucky and you should not consider luck as Grace because most lucky people can’t tell the difference. This is why someone who was lucky to win a jackpot would spend everything in loose living because he thinks like Samson in the Bible he will just do like he did before and things will happen like before.
Unfortunately there are no protest votes because the Edo people who argued for fairness and equity have another option of a much superior candidate in Dr Asue Ighodalo.
Now, those who didn’t know that the English of the APC candidate is bad can now see for themselves that but for the protest vote of “ebakota” Senator Monday Okpebholo would not have stood a chance.
Now Senator Monday Okpebholo’s political space isn’t limited to Edo central where he can get by with speaking only the Esan language to an angry voting populace who didn’t want to hear anything about the third term agenda, his space has now opened to include the Owans, the Binis, the Estako and the non indigenes.
Now the Senator must leave his comfort zone and safe haven to conduct his political business amongst those he must converse with in a language he isn’t very proficient at. At the last, breeze don blow and fowls behind is now in the open. Jungle don dey mature and men don dey mount.
Rev Olu Martins is the Deputy Director General of the Asue/Ogie Campaign Management Council.
