In this political season in Edo State, the whistle will blow on September 19th as the beautiful people of my beloved Edo State go to the polls. The chips will fall one way or fall the other. One thing is guaranteed. The heavens will not fall. If anyone was in doubt that the end of the matter of Obaseki versus everybody had been put to rest at the meeting at the Palace, I believe by now, they should know better.
In Benin, we are dealing with an unusual kind of man in Godwin Obaseki.
He is a disagreeable personality and nothing is going to change that.
If ever there was an absolute Monarch or Emperor in a democracy, here, you have one on full display.
His hand is against everybody and many times, for imaginary provocations which he concocts all by himself and then turns around to sell to the unwitting Edo public that he is doing what he is doing because people want him to share the resources of the State.
This is far from the truth.
It is a known fact that when a man gets into power, his circle of friends gets wider. For Obaseki, that circle has shrunk considerably. All that is left is a group of young men and women, 600 of them, ensconced in a “war room” code named “Canada” which he created at the start of his administration.
His minions write in pseudonyms but always from ‘Canada.’ At least, that is consistent. I can bet the governor has read Mein Kampf, the story of Adolf Hitler. If he hasn’t, then, one must wonder why the playbook is so identical. In Mein Kampf, Hitler devoted two chapters to the value of propaganda.
He states—- propaganda must always address itself to the broad masses of the people. All propaganda must be presented in a popular form and must fix its intellectual level so as not to be above the heads of the least intellectual of those to whom it is directed. The art of propaganda consists precisely in being able to awaken the imagination of the public through an appeal to their feelings—— the broad masses of the people are not made up of diplomats or professors of public jurisprudence nor simply of persons who are able to form reasoned judgment in given cases but a vacillating crowd of human children who are constantly wavering between one idea and another———- the great majority of a nation is so feminine in its character and outlook that its thought and conduct are ruled by sentiment rather than by sober reasoning. This sentiment however, is not complex, but simple and consistent. It is not highly differentiated, but has only the negative and positive notions of love and hatred, right and wrong, truth and falsehood. This excerpt is from Mein Kampf in Chapter 6.
For anyone who may have been in doubt, the Oba, a very wise King who sits on the throne of the longest reigning continuous monarchy in the world drew the ire of Obaseki by speaking the truth— just by telling a story. The theme of his discuss on that day was: how did we get here? “If you people had allowed me to settle this matter when it was still brewing, we would not be here.”
The truth cannot be balanced. It must tip the scale in one direction or the other. The truth is not political correctness even though the Oba tried to be politically correct as much as lay in his power on that day. For the avoidance of doubt, to those who listened to that tape, when the Oba said—- “every time I called a meeting to settle the two of you, (Obaseki and Oshiomole), one person will show up, the other will not show up, what he really should have said was that Oshiomhole always showed up but Obaseki never did. That is the whole truth of the matter.
Obaseki’s belligerence made us a State without elders. What is it with him?
By now, he should know how quickly four years can roll by.
He is not the kind of man who listens.
He is not the kind of man who knows how to say, ‘I am sorry.’
He is not receptive to advice and does not brook any opposition.
One of his minions, a certain Osaro Omoruyi who writes from “Canada” in Benin has flown a kite. He made an allusion to the removal of Sanusi in Kano.
Let no one be in any doubt as to the capability of Godwin Nogheghase Obaseki and his capacity to inflict pain.
If he comes back for a second term, the throne will be in danger.
The Binis should not deem it an impossibility. I have written what I have written. All my Edo people who have ears to hear, let them hear. May God bless the people of Edo State. May God bless and keep our Oba. May the people of Edo State win on September 19th.
Michael Ovienmhada. Author, Poet, playwright and Public Affairs Commentator. I write because I am involved. Email: omeekey@hotmail.com.
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