I read a lacklustre article this morning (Wednesday) in response to the one I wrote yesterday, ‘Hon Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama: Misadventure of a Faceless and His Desperate Sponsors’. The response was not only fickle and vague but lacking in substance.
The response failed to address critical issues I raised but went on a wild goose chase of me being faceless. I imagine them struggling to make a sensible line of thought that served as an attempt to address all the germane issues I raised. I pity the group of jobless “friends of Ogbeide-Ihama”.
Ordinarily, I would’ve ignored the stinker they termed “response”, but for the simple reasons that I have taken it upon myself to expose the overrated political liability called Omoregie Ogbeide-Ihama and for the sake of those who penned down the response, acting as an unknown group. I lived in Eheneden Street off Ekenwan Road in Benin City from 1980, when my parents moved in there until I was 19 years of age, when I gained admission into the University of Benin in Ugbowo. However, the issue of my identity is even a distraction; let me not help them to make it an issue. This group of jobless friends should address the raised issues instead of chasing imaginary shadows. I’m ready for Omoregie!
First, where lies the morals of Ogbeide-Ihama Omoregie, who fought PDP with Governor Wike and others during the last presidential election on the basis that the ticket was not zoned to the south as agreed by the members of the ruling party but has come to Edo to say no to zoning? Is Omoregie selective in his morals? How could he have fought Atiku and PDP over what they told us was an act of injustice and then come to Edo State within the same year to perpetrate the same injustice with his steep and disproportionate ambition?
Secondly, I am the second person asking him to show his significant projects in the Oredo Federal Constituency he represented for eight years. Or are the projects invisible that they cannot be seen with the eyes? We all can see the massive projects of our amiable Hon. Dennis Idahosa, representing the Ovia Federal Constituency. We see him inspecting street lights and bridges, renovating schools and other significant interventions within his first four years. Where are those of Omoregie? What we saw from him for eight years was the gathering of dancing ladies inside Oba Akenzua Cultural Centre in cultural dances.
I challenge Ogbeide-Ihama to show Oredo people how many roads he fixed and how many street lights he installed in Oredo in his eight years in the green chambers. Or don’t we have roads in his constituency that require his attention? Must every blame go to the state governor?
Thirdly, Omoregie should swear to ‘Ogun’ that he did not collect money from Obaseki after negotiations to step down from the 2020 gubernatorial race. This is public knowledge, and I am not revealing what is invalid. He tells people that the PDP owes him; let him tell us what he sold to the PDP that they didn’t pay.
Lastly, it is always said that the PDP ticket that Obaseki used now belongs to Omoregie. That is a blatant lie: three candidates were vying for the position, and any of them could have won it. So, to lay claim to the ticket, to feel entitled to it, is a fallacy, and it amounts to an insult to the other personalities who were also aspirants. By the way, who told him he could’ve won that primary? He keeps overrating himself, especially after soaking himself in alcohol!
I’m waiting for his committee of jobless friends to respond to this then I will show them the stuff I am made of!
Comrade Odianosen Francis, a socio-political activist, Sent this piece from Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria.
He can be reached at the email address below;
odianosenfrancis57@gmail.com