By Tony Eluemunor

What exactly could be the underlying message in Zik Gbenre’s rigmarole published in the Urhobo Voice of September 21, 2019?  Please, dear reader, bear with me while I grope for calmer words with which to open my reply to the nonsense. Now have I already sounded harsh?

I plead that I took the title from my late boss, Dr. Stanley Macebuh’s article in Vanguard Newsppaer of April 1st, 2001 newspaper.

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Anybody who read the cerebral Macebuh, Nigeria’s own Immanuel Kant, will remember that he was a gentleman to the core…and that gentle spirit pervaded all his written or spoken word. But once in a while, even he had to say things the way they were and titled an article:”Less sense, more Nonsense,” saying that had pervaded Nigeria’s public discourse. He was in Obasanjo’s administration then and was replying a critic.

And so, with a fine tooth-comb,  I read Zik Gbemre’s article; “James Ibori On The March Again”, searching diligently for any wholesome message. I found none. I hunted for that important thing he could have to say to Ibori or about Ibori, I found none.  So, how on earth could a man have wasted 1212 words in saying nothing worthwhile? Or the better question could actually be this: Why did he do it?

For the sake of argument, I have to take his last two paragraphs as the meat and soul of his bothersome syntax and treatise: “We believe that those pushing Ibori into “active politics” are really not doing him any good, but they are simply doing so for their selfish purposes. The saying:”It is better to leave the stage when the ovation is loudest”—can still be applicable to Ibori, hence, he should leave this stage of his at its peculiar current high note.

“Ibori should completely quit the ‘political stage’ and allow the younger politicians in Delta State to be the main actors in the state’s political scene. He needs not to be seen in the political stage with other active political actors right now. Though, to some, Ibori is still their ‘hero’, but he should not be deceived by all these praise-singing intended for all selfish gains. Ibori has tasted wealth, tasted power and has even tasted prison, what more is he looking for?”

Who joined Gbmre in making up the “we”? Is Ibori being pushed into active politics in 2019? What did Gbemre mean by active politics? That he decorated those two operative words with inverted comas served no purpose whatsoever. If by “active politics” he had Ibori’s seeking an elective post in mind, then he must be living in a never- never- land because Chief James Onanefe Ibori is not embarked on any such journey.

Yet, if the active politics Gbemre wants Ibori to leave is that he should play dead, and not have an interest in all matter political, the question that should follow, naturally, is why?

In truth, anybody who has been afflicted with the things Gbenre has been writing about Ibori in the past (yes, they are afflictions on the soul, as diseases are on the body) may suspect the ill-defined direction Gbemre was heading to in that article. It is just unfortunate for him that it takes some effort and command of language and certain techniques too, to string words into sentences and sentences into paragraphs. But first of all, it would require a really functional mind to think out the message to be conveyed and how best to convey it. So, it is likely that Gbemre did not realise the damage he was doing to his entire personality and all the complete stance and stand has always taken against Ibori, when he wrote: “It is better to leave the stage when the ovation is loudest”—can still be applicable to Ibori, hence, he should leave this stage of his at its peculiar current high note.”

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Please, somebody should ask Gbemre when he was cured of his blindness of the mind, heart and soul that he suddenly realised that the ovation is now “loud” for Ibori—12 years after he ceased being state Governor. Yes, 12 full years!!! And did he say Ibori is politically on a high note in Delta state? I thought he used to call him the worst failure in Delta state politics and a common thief? Do thieves and failures earn any ovation? Phew, how woolly some people’s thinking process can be! And did he also write this: “Though, to some, Ibori is still their ‘hero’, but he should not be deceived by all these praise-singing intended for all selfish gains.”

So, he knows that a lot of Nigerians consider Ibori a hero? And that they may gain by being on his side, he the big fish beside which other smaller fishes string along in their search for relevance? Does that not negate all the nonsense he has been writing? On what pedestal does he think he is standing, for him to assume that he sees further than the majority of those Ibori reverently call “the good people of Delta state”?

To sound profound, Gbemre advised Ibori to learn from contemporary history and stay away from politics and he quoted the names of some former state governors. Ah, is Gbemre’s mind as narrow as that of a child? If not why did he forget that a certain General Olusegun Obasanjo (rtd) and a certain General Mohammadu Buhari (rtd) returned to politics after having been something more than state Governors earlier and having tasted wealth, office and incarceration too? Could his friends please help him grow up by filling in the gaps in his understanding of Nigeria’s contemporary history? And why did he ask Ibori to learn from Dr. Emma Uduaghan? Or is Uduaghan not EVEN TODAY still in the race for a Senate seat? What nonsense!

Oh yes, he quoted Abraham Ogbodo, that Ibori should remain silent, and be an elder statesman. Was it not the same Ogbodo who once replied to the criticism that Ibori was purposely pursued and was railroaded into a London jail—for political reasons, that Obasanjo’s Prerogative of Mercy as President included singling out those to be whimsically throttled into jail? If true, the farther I am away from Ogbodo’s ideas, the better for my sanity.

Yet, Ibori is not contesting for any elective post. All that is happening is that the Delta Central Senatorial District, peopled by the Urhobo nation is preparing to take over the Governorship baton in Delta state. And some people are afraid of the stout unity of the Peoples Democratic Party family under Ibori’s leadership. Finish!!!

Vanguard