There is an unfortunate short drama in circulation on social media titled Edomakon, Episode 1. It is credited to the Labour Party, LP, Campaigns. The drama, allegedly meant to be a campaign material, expresses nothing but divisive sentiments that celebrates ethnic bigotry and discrimination.
Rendered in the Benin dialect, the drama is patently meant to discourage the people of Benin from voting for non-Benins in the coming Governorship Election in September.
There is an urgent need for candidate of the Labour Party, Olumide Osaigbovo Akpata, who recently promised the public that his campaign would be issue-based, to come out and publicly condemn the drama in its entirety and dissasociate himself from the existing episode and any other future episodes.
However, if he actually commissioned and endsorsed the drama, as it is being alleged in some quarters, it will mean that he endorsed an insult to the unity of Edo State people. It therefore goes to show that he is unfit to govern the state and her people. What the people need is a unifier, not an ethnic bigot.
The drama is not representative of anything that can be associated with the Benins. It’s a product of indolent, divisive, mischievous and backward gang of few dull attention seekers within the Benin descent.
The Edo State people are one and united by history and land. From Ologbo to Igarra, from Auchi to Illushi, from Ewohimi to Agbede and from Irrua to Ibillo, the Edo people are one and a united family. Partisan politics cannot and will not be allowed to divide us. No single mentally stable individual will shoot such a video that is demeaning in content and form. Olumide Akpata, therefore, must condemn those behind the drama, openly deny them and denounce the video. It represents nothing but backwardness.
The entire citizens of Edo State voted for three past governors of Benin extraction without resorting to ethnic profiling which the alleged campaign handlers of Akpata have now brought to the fore. During those elections, it was issue-based campaigns, not this belittling sentiment that is capable of dividing the people.
As patriotic Edo people, what we are expecting from the LP/Akpata campaign organization is for them to create better campaign nuances rather than this which cannot go beyond the small minds of ethnic jingoists. This unwholesome orchestration of ethnic superiority is not good and healthy for our dear state. It has no place in Edo history, rather, it is rooted in abject illiteracy and ignorance.
Akpata owes it a duty to direct those mentioning his name in association with it to pull down the drama immediately.
Ehanire Osagie wrote from Benin City, Edo State.
