Meeting an untimely and violent death in the line of duty is a tragic event that warrants a thorough investigation. It also tests the leadership of those who engaged the victim, who are expected to show empathy and do their best to prevent such tragedies.
Last week, Monday Okpebholo, the APC governorship candidate, failed this basic test when violence ensued as he reportedly accompanied someone on a strange self-help mission to enforce a disputed judgment. Gunshots were fired, people scrambled for safety, and an officer assigned to protect Okpebholo was seen being ushered away from the chaotic scene, visibly alive and clutching his side in pain.
One would expect that the next step to avert tragedy and save the cop’s life would be to provide urgent and immediate emergency care, especially since a well-equipped hospital, Faith Medicalplex, was within walking distance of the incident. But this was sadly not the case. Instead, he was callously squeezed into a bus, where he reportedly bled to death.
The tragedy of his death elicited no remorse or pity. To the politicians, it was an opportunity. They hauled his corpse onto the open rear of a truck and paraded it around the streets of Benin like a grotesque trophy. No thought was given to the dignity of the man who died an avoidable death or to his loved ones, left to grapple with the trauma of their loss and the horror of his forever archived image on the internet.
Okpebholo and his team calculated only one thing: how to manipulate sentiments and garner votes from this tragedy. A most wicked, abhorrent, and inhumane act; the politics of death at its most vile.
When they gathered later to celebrate their campaign council, no thought was given to the fallen cop. He had played his part, and they had swiftly moved on. His wife, children, and other loved ones were left alone to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives.
Sane humans among us who have not lost their empathy and reasoning to politics have asked: would Okpebholo have handled the situation similarly if it were his biological relative or offspring involved? Would he ask that an injured and bleeding relative be dumped in a bus when a hospital and competent medical staff were only a few meters away? Upon death, would he display their bodies and parade them around town to score political sympathy points?
Let this be a lesson to those who continue to support Monday Okpebholo and the people of Edo State at large. Okpebholo lacks the capacity for care and empathy. He sees people only as political tools to be used and discarded at will. Nothing is too sacred to be exploited in his desperate quest for political power. Not even death. If you proceed to elect someone like this, you cannot plead ignorance in the future. He has shown who he is.
As Moses said to the Israelites in the book of Deuteronomy, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live.” Likewise, I urge the Edo people to choose life at the polls.
John Mayaki is a Media consultant