A political party just doesn’t exist to win elections, it also exists to serve as the spring board with which nations groom leaders for the future. This is why the selection process of who holds a party’s gubernatorial ticket is water tight ( at least should be) so that only the best of the best should represent the party.
I watched with disappointment the very incoherent speech of Monday Okpebholo during the inauguration of their campaign council which they conducted a few days ago. I could see the disappointment and fear in the faces of the people. Disappointment because an Edo man wey nor even go plenty school like that should do better than Monday Okpebholo and fear because make him nor blow the roof of the building with bad English.
The man said restoil education. Oga Monday it is restore please not restoil. He said Edo best is Edo jagajaga, bros the students who benefitted from Edo B. E. S. T speak better than you. Afterall, because of Edo Best they came out Best in a competition that no public school has ever won. If na your type of English dem speak Dem for nor win.
I couldn’t make any depth of intellectual meaning from the speech. The senator just kept pacing up and down like someone wey piss dey catch. Bros please stay in one place, compose yourself and speak confidently. Not only was his speech demotivating, it was also empty, nothing to take home. This is a speech that they must have used one week to rehearse after plenty of coaching.
Comparing the best of Apkakomiza’s speech to the worst of Asue Ighodalo’s speech you can tell that they are not in the same class. Even if Asue Ighodalo has a cold and isn’t feeling too well he will make more sense than Apkakomiza even after he has received coaching from the best lecturers in the world. The man wey nor sabi dey compete with the man wey sabi, indeed politics is a leveler.
So APC looked around all the guys who indicated interest in flying their party’s gubernatorial ticket and decided that Monday Okpebholo was their best. How na? Anyway I am not surprised about that at all. Hear what their director of publicity Omo-ojo Orobosa said about Adams Oshiomole in his book, ‘Breach of Trust’ concerning the selection process of getting a candidate for a party ” Oshiomole has always projected weaker links than those perceived to be cerebral ”
So clearly APC prefers unintelligent candidates to the intelligent ones. Ordinarily people staff their weaknesses such that when you can’t speak very well, you look for another who can speak well to stand by you. But in the case of APC they pick someone who stammers and ask the one who is deaf and dumb to be assistant. Candidate nor sabi yarn and deputy only sabi fight, what a lethal combination.
Little wonder why none of the guys who contested that primary with Monday Okpebholo have not been seen in public with him. Where is Prof Osunbor, where is Gideon Ikhine, where is Mike Onolememe, where is Dr David Imuse. All of these guys who are brilliant guys themselves can’t believe what APC did.
Rev Olu Martins
Deputy Director General Media and Publicity
Asue/Ogie Campaign Management Council.