YET cliché purists would agree that Oshiomhole’s “let the people lead” is one formula that is capable of firing in the citizenry the patriotic commitment to government and governance.

But this does not excite anymore, reason being that he promised to be the people’s governor in deeds whereas it is difficult to situate his deeds within the context of genuine humanism.

Although, he appears to be doing some things, the question is how little or how much are we getting from the so much that is being expended in the process?   Has he not demonstrated to the state that the cliché about the people leading his government is not only a ruse but also a smokescreen and mirage?

The British essayist, Aldus Huxley, in his Tomorrow, Tomorrow and Tomorrow of 1956, took a good look at the fantasies that usually sway most governments. His judgement was a dry humour: “Chaos and ineptitude are anti-human; but so too is a superlative efficient government of the people equipped with all the products of highly developed manpower and focused leadership that is devoid of deceit and hypocrisy”.

Perhaps there are places where government agencies work with smooth, quiet efficiency of a 17-carat Swiss wristwatch.

In Edo State, however, where the elite are pathologically committed to the conspiracy of silence and the mass of the people are still being hoodwinked with campaign clichés, the government is in a conspiracy with either the gods or nature to ensure that it (government) never works that efficiently.  Thus, Huxley, had he sought a test of hypothesis of government, would have found it 100 per cent verified if he was limited to the laboratory of our experiences.

In this 21st century where every Nigerian state government   is clamoring for a visionary leadership and the imaginative husbandry of its humane and natural resources, Oshiomhole is at political war with citizens. The Governor has vowed to sentence the Esan tribe of Edo Central into extinction for daring to challenge his governance philosophy through the ballot box.  Political appointees in his government had been given the boot while every development effort in the area is put on hold.  Certainly, this is not how the people lead.

To other Edo indigenes, particularly the Binis, Oshiomhole’s government is like a weird future in which one should not place confidence.  When a customer wears this mood, he or she puts up a red signal which all advertising people know too well: that he or she is not a moron and that he or she is grown up to know what is good.  But should all be quiet and watch this bull in the China shop destroy all the values we have stood for?

This will be self-contradictory because going by infallibility of the bureaucracy, every government with its business, is indispensable for reasons of public good and Oshiomhole’s cannot be an exception. If this raises a catch–22 situation, then the consumer takes solace in the 18th century wit of Samuel Johnson (a British): “Promise, large promise is the soul of advertisement”.

So, when next the national carrier’s advertisement says that the elephant can fly and can go to the moon, the general public has a right in the matter to demand that the celebrated elephant hits its claim to be able to walk and sometimes be able to run. After all, if big promises are not made, then we cannot have big disappointments.  So let it be with Oshiomhole that in his government the people can never lead.

Mr.  OKHAREDIA IHIMEKPEN, a public affairs analyst/ commentator , wrote from Benin City, Edo State