By Chris Ojeikere

Every normal child wants the assurances of peace and camaraderie in his immediate environment and community. They don’t know that peace comes at a price and camaraderie with neighbors, community and country are prized gifts sustained by the Divine virtue of EQUITY! The normal child would usually take such highly valued environment for granted. And I wasn’t different. I was a normal child.

I found my paradise environment to be 7, Hospital Road, Auchi. I came straight from Abbot Primary School, Sapele, to Akpekpe Primary School, Auchi, when I was about eight years old. Auchi was such a beautiful place: active and communicative. I could immediately relate with it. The Idonijes from Ihievbe lived opposite our house. Another of the Idonijes directly behind us. Both were ‘Auchians’ then. We were all called Afemai or Afeinma or Afemain, Our Home!

I loved this place, Auchi. Everyone loved each other. Auchi was a melting pot for Afemai people. I made friends fast in my primary schools; for I left Akpekpe Primary School for the famous Uchi Primary School, Warrake Road, Auchi, after one year in Akpekpe. Wonderful classmates everywhere!.I have never forgotten their names. Jimoh Momoh, Ascaris Shelu, Ilesanmi Akiniraye and Adegoke were cousins, Big Azeez. They were all so fond of the little boy from Sapele who could defeat anyone in ” wording” a Sapele ‘Boma boy’ word for teasing.

However, it was Ikpomaza Grammar School, Okpella, that later proved to be the ‘Age of Discovery’ for little Christopher ‘Columbus’ Ojeikere. Now nearly eleven years old, and in a boarding house with a cupboard full of confectioneries/ provisions plus ‘pocket money’. What was left to do, but adventure? Senior students loved smart boys who they can send out of boarding boundaries for “sugar” and expect it to come in Benson and Hedges wraps or St Moritz packets. You are a favorite if you knew where they sold ‘dried vegetables’ And especially, if you could watch out for them, while they initiate the new “senior” into the fold. I understood the language of Senior students.

Good old Ikpomaza Grammar School completely integrated me into ‘Afemainism’. No school in Edo North had a greater blend of Etsako and Akoko edo students. The Afegbuas from Okpella, Iyamahs from Unemeh, Ayewas from Atte, Anesi, Oyarekhuas from uzairue, Umosors from Avianmu etc, to name a very marginal fraction of the mix of Afemai students in the school.

Adventure wasn’t in short supply at Okpella too. I climbed the rocky mountains of Okpella with the Ogedengbes and walked the seven or so kilometers to Okpella Cement factory on week ends. Large highways fascinates me. They Still do! I went into the mosque to do ‘Yasi’, a spiritual muslim rite with malam Anesi Musa and played truant with Evaristus Oshionebo. In fact, young Evaristus had written to me then, after I left Ikpomaza Grammar School, in Class 3 for Otaru Grammar School, that the only legacy I left for him was truancy😃. Today, he would have appreciated the smart activism that it actually was😃. You had to know how to get around. Some senior students weren’t given to smiles o.

Because of space, I will limit myself, because I realize I am getting carried away by pristine nostalgia. Anyway, Otaru Grammar School wasn’t different at all from Okpella. Afemainism was unfolding before my eyes and I was loving every bit of my origins.

The stimulating intellectual environment provided the icing on the cake. The Edo North of my writing was a ferment of erudition. It was a natural part of the air we breathe and our daily activities. Young men from any side of the tripod that makes up Afemai land won heroism by proven intellectual prowess, Full stop. And not by anything else. Each generation had its own heroes.

At some point, my father’s house became a sort of Athenian ” Areopagus”. I first forged my analytical skills from there, even though I could hardly tell what I was doing then. I was named a rebel; quite a compliment! 😃

Then it was time to move on, and I did! Every normal Afemai son knew when to go out to see the world. I did. I kept in touch until schedules could no longer allow for long distance letters through ailing post offices. Nitel calls were prohibitive. But I kept and loved my memories. I carried it through the world like what it was: a priceless treasure. And I kept hope alive and some how knew I will come back to it one day! I have done that, but to a brutal reality!

My Afemai world is near gone and presently under a hegemony initiated by Comrade Adams Aliu Oshiomole. Comrade Adams Oshiomole is a Pharaoh who knows not my Afemai. He spent his own childhood, not in Afemai land. He is brutally ignorant of my Afemai.

My Afemai speaks Afemai language. Comrade Oshiomole speaks affective politics. My Afemai speaks Unity, Equity, Love and Spread acceptance, Oshiomole’s Afemai speaks cronyism, ethnicity and partisanship.

The geographical region of Adams Oshiomole’s Afemai is epitomized and concretised in his cronies. If Oshiomole
hears that there is vacancy in the Deputy Governor’s position in Edo State, his cronies have to have it. He would pluck off a Phillip Shaibu from an already elected, representative seat and force him to become Deputy Governor. And then replace him with another lackey around. Owan or Akoko edo could have filled that DG position and fulfill Afemai’s Equity. But no! Not in Oshiomole’s Afemai.

You would think he would be a bit less disagreeable next time and give out one of two ministerial slots available to either Owan or Akoko edo. Never! He laboured hard to block off Owan and Akoko edo. And would then give the two ministerial appointments, not one, to only his cronies: Clement Agba and Hon Abubakar Momoh. All of this within the same period of time.

Comrade Oshiomole’s deliberate distortion of the true Afemai land unity, oneness and structure became clear to all, when he would greedily appropriate all other following appointments to himself alone. Appointments like giving the Chairman, Ecological Funds Commission to Blessing Agbonmhere, ensuring he frustrated Professor Julius Ihonbvere from the Senate seat of Edo North, so he could grab it later and such other self serving, self centered actions.

Oshiomole has thrown my beloved Afemai land into confusion. Brothers have now stopped using the word “Afemai” to identify themselves. It’s now Owan nation, Akoko edo nation, Owan and Akoko edo alliance etc. Oshiomole has redefined Afemai filial affinity. He is creating a redefined relationship based on the philosophy of greed. He is sacrificing inherent cultural and traditional consanguinity for political acrimonies and unhealthy rivalries.

And he has disciples, mainly men of the baser sort, who cannot imagine the damaging influence and precedence of their actions. Simply because, like Oshiomole they don’t have my Afemai history. They cannot relate to it, except some of them, who obviously have turned renegades.

They are the disconnected group from the things that have made Afemai unique and formidable. They have no idea of the fellow feelings, the unique world view, the homogenous mentality, forged in the ferment of intellectualism. They lack all these, because, again, they are disconnected from Afemainism!

Now led by the bad politics, bad relational ethics, bad communal attitude of Oshiomole, they want to take my dear Afemai land from Afemai. They want to destroy the Afemai story, Afemai connection, Afemai good breeding, Afemai history, and Afemai roots.

Oshiomole operates a different value system, he runs on a different frequency. He pursues a different paradigm. He pursues a different politics; all of which are antithetical to Afemai land and world view. He has never bothered to find out what makes Afemai tick. He has always imposed himself on the Afemai people. He is out of tune with their aspirations, their interest, their preferences and their love! He represents only himself! He has NO idea What Afemai People NEED! Let us retire Oshiomole home in 2027 to save Afemai land!