Few days ago, an insufferable piece brimming with envy, jealousy and frustration found its way into the social media. It was authored by one Felix Osemwengie Isere Esq. The piece is a case study in self-deprecation and frustration. It is titled “EDO 2024: Between Asuen Ighodalo’s Queens English and Akpakomiza’s Native Intelligence and Performance”.
In the said piece, Isere shamelessly exhibited nothing other than palpable fear, envy and hate toward Dr Asue Ighodalo, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming governorship election in Edo State.
To be frank, one is at a loss why a lawyer, who is referred to as “learned” will be the one claiming to be uncomfortable with, and perplexed by good spoken English.
Let’s face it, what is a lawyer’s most potent weapon? Is it not a flawless deployment of English Language coupled with requisite knowledge of the law? If a lawyer stands before a judge and starts blabbing incoherently, vomiting some English Language that is at best ‘jagbajantis intete’, what do you think will happen to the case he is handling? I bet you the fate of the case will be immediately sealed.
Isere’s illogical attempt to present ‘education as a scam’ is a crying shame of how people driven by lack of self-esteem and objectivity can rubbish whatever they claim to represent in the society. Imagine, a lawyer purportedly advising Edo voters to reject a candidate simply because he is fluent in the English Language. This is unbelievable. Isere’s unreasonable call on Edolites not to vote for a man who can speak correct English without ‘shooting canons’ and sending everybody scampering for safety is cause for concern. Accomplished men like Mr Femi Falana, SAN or the highly cerebral Dr OlisaMarch 3, 2024 Agbakoba, SAN, both lawyers of repute, will never call on the electorate in any state not to vote for a candidate because he speaks impeccable English. My sympathy goes to Isere because this is the lowest anybody can sink.
Mercifully, Edo people are wiser, smarter and more forthright than Isere is trying to project them. Come September, Edo voters will go for the Gold and shun the Clay. Why? Edo people know what fits them. They know who can represent them adequately at the Council of State meetings in Abuja. They know Ighodalo will do that and do it very well. They know he will not just sit down there to complete the numbers and nod his head in agreement to any decision without meaningful contribution from the perspective of how it will affect his people back home. They know he can quickly process the implications of any policies and decisions on the good people of Edo State. Not the type of ‘I do creation of boreholes.’ No !
If there’s one thing Edo voters know, going into the September election, it is the fact that Dr Asue Ighodalo is by far the most competent, most accomplished, most visionary, most passionate and most well connected and most qualified for the job at hand. Edo people will not trade off the well refined Gold they have come to know in the person of Dr Asue Ighodalo for a grotesque piece of Clay. Never !
· Atanu, a public affairs commentator, writes from Ekpoma, Edo State.