By Celestine Kezie Jr
It was the Philosopher George Santayana who said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And I find what George said very relatable in the context of Nigerian politics. For many years now, Nigerians have been lied to by politicians who thrived on propaganda and avoided issue-based campaigns until HE Mr. Peter Obi, the Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate for the February 25th presidential election came and changed the narrative. Unfortunately, Nigerians believed the liars to their perils. Never again! That era of collective ignorance and gullibility is over. A new generation of Nigerians – the Cheetah generation (to borrow from Prof. George Ayittey of blessed memory), has risen to take back their country from the “Hippo” generation.
I just listened, with dismay, to a speech made by the former Governor of Edo State, Mr. A.dams Oshiomhole, in which he demonstrated, in his characteristic bombastic way of talking, ignorance of history or perhaps his calculated mischief to discredit the candidacy of HE Mr. P.eter Obi. There is no gainsaying that Peter Obi has become a nightmare to Mr. Oshiomhole and his likes who seem to have sworn to keep Nigerians in a servile political Egypt against the peoples’ cries that they want to leave for the promised land. Unsurprisingly, the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) and the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have closed rank to attack Mr. Obi whose only crime is that he dared to lead a movement to dislodge the corrupt establishment that has kept Nigerians in political servitude.
In the said speech, Mr. Oshiomhole shamelessly lied, or perhaps, displayed his culpable ignorance of the situation relating to the defunct “Bakassi Boys” security outfit in South Eastern Nigeria and their operations in Anambra State. For clarity, the operations of the Bakassi Boys preceded the governorship administration of his HE Mr. Peter Obi in Anambra State. The Bakassi Boys began operation during the administration of former Governor Dr. Chinwoke Mbadinuju (1999-2003). I recall that I was in primary six in 1999, at Central School Ukpor, Nnewi South, when one day, on my way back from school with my cousins, we ran into the Bakassi Boys at Afor Ukpor, where they had just finished killing an alleged kidnapper and armed robber called “Akwa Eke”. The bloody sight of the matched Akwa eke who was set ablaze afterward is a sight I pray never to recall until Mr. Oshiomhole decided to provoke the old bad memory. For Oshiomhole and his likes, everything is politics; they often mistake diabolical sophistry for spokesmanship.
Even though Mr. Peter Obi won the governorship election in Anambra State in 2003, he was not sworn in as a governor until March 17, 2006, after three years in court against Dr. Chris Ngige (now APC serving Minister), to reclaim his stolen mandate. Bakassi Boys outfit was already banned in 2002/2003 following their alleged murder of the then Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) chairman of Onitsha Branch, Mr. Barnabas Igwe, and his wife, Blessing, who was gruesomely murdered on September 1, 2002 (https://www.refworld.org/docid/3f7d4de623.html). So, one wonders where Oshiomhole got his facts from to relate Peter Obi’s administration to the Bakassi Boys.
Mr. Oshiomhole should stop insulting the sensibility of Nigerians and come to terms with the reality before him which is that the era when his kind fooled Nigerians, is gone. Nigerians ain’t falling for any of their antics again. He wanted to sound academic by encouraging his audience to look up his lies on Google and YouTube, and I hope they did see through his lies. May I also refer Mr. Oshiomhole to the April 11 2014 edition of The Nation Newspaper, for him to see the clean bill that the then Inspector General of Police (IG), Mr. Mohammed Abubakar gave HE Peter Obi on security? The IG declared Anambra State the safest for five years until then. So, what is wrong with Mr. Oshiomhole? Is it a case of his mouth always running ahead of his mind?
Celestine writes for PO Express Media- POEM.
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