By Ismail Abdulazeez Mantu
“We have come to the cross-roads
And I must either leave or come with you.
I lingered over the choice
But in the darkness of my doubts
You lifted the lamp of love
And I saw in your face
The road that I should take.”
I do not want to assume the Edo State citizens are as much in a crossroads as Kwesi Brew suggested in the poem above in choosing who to be their next governor. What should the people be occupying their minds with is how to make sure Senator Monday Okpebholo is not out of error of omission or commission elected the governor Edo State. We must stop him in his tracks and the time is now.
Yes, the people can have excuses from ill-feelings over past deeds with whatsover sort of anger, but we must act in consonance not to allow the misfit near Osadebey Avenue, the Edo State seat of power.
We must look beyond cutting our noses to spite our faces. If we do, the impact in our commonwealth will be too gasping to contemplate.
In a recent video that has gone viral, Senator Monday Okpebholo was heard saying in a campaign function, “how many Esan is in the bank? If its me, I would flood the place with Esan people and nothing will happen”. This words, quoted verbatim, came from a candidate vying to become the governor of Edo State, not of the Esan nation.
The Edo State people, from Edo North to Edo South, cannot afford to have this ethnic jingoist and bigot as governor; he has already displayed his biases and prejudices before the voters. We must decide his fate.
Edo State is one of the most sophisticated in Nigeria in terms of political awareness and education. It will be a disservice to the over four million inhabitants to have a Monday who has shown no capacity to be allowed to rule over us. People progress, they dont intentionally recede to obscurity.
We must therefore form active political cells to choose a man with capacity, experience, track record, lineage, capability…a candidate like Dr Asue Ighodalo, who speaks to the ranges of our collective desires irrespective of political affiliation, rather than step down for a mediocre like Monday Okpebholo who obviously does not know the difference between a bank and from a personal save, a museum from a zoo, and Akoko-Edo from Ihumudumu.