Two Fighting
By John Mayaki
When two elephants fight, the grass suffers, we were told. Here’s a case of two fighting—two brothers at that. They are up in arms over the repair of a broken-down federal road, a contract that has unfortunately been terminated. Now, who suffers?
I recall the excitement about the movement of equipment and construction workers to fix the neglected Irua/Ekpoma axis recently when a video emerged from the scene signaling a scuffle.
It was a video of the Minister for Works, David Umahi, visiting that portion of the road to conduct a flag-off of the construction. The two brothers, Monday Okpebholo and Collins Aigbogun, almost let hell loose. The council chairman mobilized his PDP loyalists, just as the APC bigwigs. The senator from Edo North, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, and the Minister for Niger Delta Development, Hon. Abubakar Momoh, were present. They were there to make a statement about who exactly was responsible for the road rehabilitation.
The APC candidate needed something to campaign with; otherwise, he would not be able to base his campaign on anything meaningful to convince the people that voting for him would benefit them. However, his brother, the council chairman, was determined to frustrate his deceitful game.
The senator claimed he got the federal government to intervene by rehabilitating the dilapidated road, especially from the Irua and Ekpoma axis. The council chairman, on the other hand, wants to take credit because he provided the contractors with the yard to keep their equipment. He claimed he’s the number one person in the local government area and that without him, the contractors couldn’t work. Therefore, credit for the road repairs must go to him. But Okpebholo disagrees because he has an election to run and needs the road as a campaign point.
The question is: now that the contract has been revoked, what will the APC candidate campaign with in this election since, according to him, he approached the APC-led federal government through the Minister for Works to assist him with the rehabilitation of that road to have something to campaign with?
I think federal government should immediately think of a better and more sustainable way to fix this road. Election or no election, the people do not deserve this suffering on that road. Must someone claim they needed to campaign with the road before it would be fixed? Does it mean that without elections, the road doesn’t need to be fixed? How do the people matter in this situation? Does it mean nothing works if there are no selfish reasons behind what should ordinarily be for the public good?
The unity and progress of our people far surpass the myopic self-interest of some endangered species in the name of playing politics.
Rather than think outside the box, the uninspiring candidate is waiting for manna to fall on his lap from ‘God-knows-where’ as the dearth of campaign issues hit him hard.
He has no core convictions. He has no political, social or moral capital that he can deploy for the benefit of his campaign except the ‘grace of Abuja’. But I know President Bola Tinubu and his administration will not allow him to indulge in anything capable of bringing disrepute and stain to our democracy.
As enlightened people, we must recognize that people who are ignorance-struck have no place in 21st-century leadership – they must be resented.
Now being discredited, he would not be able to lie his way to campaign with the road – he’s sure to be greeted with shouts of “liar, liar” and pelted with tomatoes and eggs at any provocation when push comes to shove in the heat of it all.
The unskilled politician who won election as senator due to protest votes against a third-timer put forward by the PDP in Edo Central now thinks winning elections are by grace – the sort of grace-without-substance, or you can call it ‘graceless grace’ instead of the ‘matchless grace’ being exhibited by Asue Ighodalo.
The entire charade does not offer any reason for commendation. It’s a pity that the disingenuous attitude of our political leaders over the years has exacerbated the sufferings of our people despite their years in government, both in the PDP-led federal government of Nigeria and in the APC.
It is time we stop all the wrong palliatives on our roads and address the issues once and for all to put a stop to the pain, frustration, and agony endured by our people on a daily basis.
