By Josef Omorotionmwan
NO matter how much a man tries to cross his mind, there comes a time when he must cry out at some ugly situations around him. If it is a coincidence, it must be a great one.

This is an election year. People are dying. Many of the deaths pass unnoticed while a few get celebrated.

We hear that within two weeks, the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, Igbanke West Ward in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State, lost the Chairman and his Deputy. Both corpses are still receiving refrigeration at a nearby morgue.

The more public ones started on Saturday, April 28, 2012. That was the day a tipper ran into the convoy of the Comrade Governor. There have been lots of dirty politics, mudslinging and smear tactics around the unfortunate incident. And we wonder why.

In orthodoxy, a simple security check could have easily revealed that there was danger ahead. Or, in the African way, where the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, is heavily entrenched, “African insurance” could also have shown that there was danger ahead.

In either case, where there was already a premonition of an impending danger, anyone who would refuse to take a step that would avert such danger would be a moral idiot.

So, the Comrade Governor drove himself in an unsuspecting car. Even assuming the worst case scenario and granting that the man was not licensed to drive, if staying alive meant driving without a license, why not? To some, that has become the political hub.

In the accident involving the Governor’s convoy, the Governor did not die. Neither was he scratched. But three journalists and a driver died and several others were injured.

From the sequence of events that followed, the ACN could have easily pointed accusing fingers at the PDP, particularly considering the speed with which the latter reacted to the incident. It was observed that while people were yet at the scene of the accident, trying to rescue the wounded, condolence messages from the PDP were already flying on radio and television, giving vent to the suspicion that the recording of the messages predated the accident.

The ACN could not hide its feeling. The PDP was accused. Up till now, we have no concrete record of where the PDP expressly denied or accepted the accusation. Rather, the State Chairman of the PDP, Mr. Dan Obih, proceeded in all haste to demand why the Comrade Governor drove himself and whether he possessed a valid driver’s license at the time.

The only serious interpretation to this is that some people must have been disappointed that the Governor did not stay where he had been targeted. In more civilized climes, this would be a good take-off point for criminologists and crime busters.

The same night, four intruders allegedly moved to the residence of the State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Louis Odion. Incidentally, he did not sleep at home that night. So, he cheated death. We are still expecting the PDP to demand why he did not sleep at home.

Barely one week later, four merchants of death moved to the residence of the Principal Private Secretary to the Governor, Comrade Olaitan Aremu Oyerinde and gruesomely murdered him in the presence of his wife and children.

You don’t beat a child and ask him not to cry. Two times within one week, the Governor wept profusely. ACN wept. Edo State wept. While we were yet weeping, the much-awaited official position of the PDP on these sordid events came. They spoke through the National Publicity Secretary of the Party, Chief Olisa Metuh (Vanguard, Thursday, 10 May 2012, p. 12). Every word that proceeded from the mouth of this man was fetid.

Perhaps in a desperate attempt to exonerate his party, he pushed the party further down the dark alley. Hear him: “The PDP could never be involved in murder. Our pedigree as a performing party places us in good stead to succeed in any electoral contest in Nigeria.

We do not need to kill to succeed”. He soon forgot that he was not talking to people from outer space but to Nigerians, a bulk of whom are not as naïve as himself; people who know that as a party, PDP is dead on arrival. His submission was therefore an insult on the collective sensibilities of Nigerians. If non-performance is the basis for murder, PDP should wear the bold tag, “MURDEROUS MURDERERS”.

His mind carried him further into the deepest mess: “It is only the ACN that stands to gain massive sympathy from the murder”. What a way to commiserate with the bereaved!

This is the very height of political absurdity. So mean is the PDP that they think Nigerians are so naïve to believe that ACN in Edo State would embark on the murder of its members to attract sympathy for an election.

As things stand, if electoral outcomes are to be based on sympathy, the PDP should begin to think of how to exterminate at least 50 percent of its members so as to attract some semblance of sympathy, to avert losing its deposit in the forthcoming gubernatorial contest in Edo State.

Sadly, this is one country where we are not dealing with the corrupt in society. Rather, they are dealing with us. All our arms and ammunition are used to defend and protect the corrupt and the wicked. Anyone who speaks out is killed – perhaps oblivious of the obvious fact that the same death awaits everyone.

The only difference is in the timing! In Edo State, the time has come for the law givers and the law enforcers to wake up. We certainly cannot continue this way into injury time.