When chief Great
Ogboru came into Delta politics in 2003, he rode on the image of a hero who
attempted to free southern Nigeria, from what was then perceived as dominion
and exploitation by a supposed northern oligarchy. This image of a ‘freedom
fighter’ stemmed from the myth created about him, as the inspiration behind the
abortive military putsch of 1990.
The question
today is what has become of our fate since the political dethronement of the
oligarchy in 1999? The regrettable answer to this question reveals Ogboru’s
ideological failure and naivety in 1990; as he erroneously assumed the
political interest of all southern nationalities to be synonymous. Ogboru thus
equated the strategic interest of Urhobo to those of other southern nationality
then. However, the events since the 1999 ceding of power to the south has clearly
invalidated that assumption. For example, while southern nationalities such as
the Yorubas, the Ijaws and Itsekiris amongst others; have since gained
political advancement in this new epoch, the fate of Urhobo still hangs in
balance.
And the Urhobo Press, at its inception, failed
to critically look at and present the objective perspective of Urhobo interest
in that misadventure of 1990. They thus lent themselves as vehicle of the propaganda
that created a heroic image for Ogboru in the eyes of many Urhobo people in
2003.
The groundswell
of this propaganda, facilitated by sections of the Urhobo Press especially,
railroaded many Urhobo people to vote for Ogboru in 2003, on the platform of
the Alliance for Democracy (AD). It was
thereafter seized upon by the DPP; again with the active encouragement of the Urhobo
press. For example, before any judgment in
the series of electoral litigations involving Ogboru, our people are severally
inundated and deceived by widespread report of certain victory. And at the end of the day, such reports have always
turned out to be mere hoax. Here lies the strategy that has been used to
sustain Ogboru’s uncritical support base; among an otherwise disillusioned
Urhobo people so one, not even the most gullible of this strategy that sustains
a state of illusionary expectation, should again be deceived by Ogboru’s recently
reported returned to court, over an electoral litigation which every one
thought had run its conclusive course. Now senatorial by-election are around
the corner they are only resorting to this worn out strategy, by dangling the
illusion of gubernatorial expectations; to rally support among already
disillusioned supporters. Nevertheless, since propaganda is a legitimate
instrument of politics, to that extent, must we concede that the DPP has excelled
in its use.
What is
unacceptable however, is the height of recklessness and absurdity to which the
Democratic People’s Party, DPP, has further taken this Ogboru propaganda enterprise; in addition to the usual winning of court
cases on pages of Urhobo newspapers even before actual judgments are
pronounced. The result of all this is that, our people are being misled to see
Ogboru, not just as a symbol of Urhobo political heritage, but as the totem of
Urhobo nationalism as a whole. It is even to the ridiculous extent that, any
Urhobo who differs on Ogboru’s gubernatorial ambition or nurses a similar
ambition is branded an anti-Urhobo; even in their party. And this was how
demagogues in that party, not only called the late Senator Ewherido a traitor, but
went as far as invoking curses on him in the name of Urhobo ancestry, for a perceived
democratic ambition.
A measure of the
great success of this misleading propaganda is that even some Urhobo elites, who
are supposed to be more discerning, have become victims themselves also. A
particularly regrettable case appears to be that of the versatile Urhobo writer
Miss Annabel Ogheneganre, who has won the admiration of many in her recent
media outings. On page 5 of the Urhobo times of July 25, 2013, she wrote that
“DPP as it stands today is divided…” and that “let UPU as I have said over and
over take the challenge of making peace between the factions”. There can be no
clearer statement on the masquerade of Ogboru and the DPP as Urhobo political
symbol and party respectively. Why has UPU not been called upon to intervene in
the internal crisis of other political parties such as the PDP, ACN and LP?
So, if an Urhobo
elite, who features regularly in the Urhobo press, particularly in the Urhobo
times, might herself be a victim of such partisan propaganda, one would
appreciate the urgent imperative of its deconstruction. Therefore, in the
present political wilderness which Urhobo finds herself today, the danger of
continuing in this misleading partisan usurpation of our collective political heritage
cannot be over emphasized.
In
deconstructing the Ogboru/DPP propaganda strategy, let us examine its usual
demonization of the PDP and attendant sanctification of the DPP as a case study.
This demonization for example, aptly finds characteristic expression in the
conspiracy theories that have continued to trail the sad death of Senator
Ewerido. A particular version of this theory, contained in Miss Ogheneganre’s
same article on 25th July, Urhobo Times, insinuated the late
senator’s death as the result of “designs of some PDP hawks and demons in Delta
State”. She went on to say that because of this, the PDP would be in trouble in
the coming election.
Firstly, let us
not conveniently forget that majority of DPP members were former PDP people,
who crossed over to seek political actualization as a result of perceived
marginalization, in their former party. Does the cloak now make the monk? In
SHIBUMI, Trevanian wrote that “when cultures crossbreed, the dominant and base
values prevail” perhaps, this explains why observers have wondered whether a
DPP in power would not have resulted in political dictatorship and intolerance
in Delta State.
What about those
DPP House of Assembly members, who rode to office on the bandwagon of the
Ogboru/DPP propaganda, only to have reassumed PDP membership today? Where lies
the so-called Urhobo cause?
Now we are all
witnesses to a new height of their propaganda, as the sad death of Senator Ewherido,
even before his burial, was turned into a tool of election campaign; using the
same section of the Urhobo press as vehicle. Hence, the emergence of conspiracy
theories, that insinuate PDP as the architect of his death. It therefore becomes necessary to subject these
conspiracy theories that raise more questions than answers, to a test of logic.
This is so that, in the trauma of the senator’s death, our people would not
fall for opportunistic partisan antics that seek to turn an Urhobo tragedy into
a campaign issue. Let it be hastily stated however, that in our peculiar
spiritual environment, it is possible that his death might not have been
natural after all.
It is also
important to note that the late senator was an original PDP member, for which
speculated governorship ambition; several PDP members had vowed to throw away
partisan consideration and work to actualize. Secondly and more instructive,
under the PDP umbrella presently, are different gubernatorial camps plotting
for the party’s 2015 ticket, as is typical of every party; in the build-up to
their primary elections. So, which of these camps that have not even secured
their party’s ticket would begin to focus with such devilish intent, on an even
speculated opposition candidate? How can a party that has not yet come under
the umbrella of one candidate, focus on a merely anticipated common opponent; in an election that is over
two years away? Again we have a sitting PDP Governor who is completing his
constitutionally circumscribed two-term tenure in 2015.
So what would be the
basis of the personal desperation that could inspire such extremism? However,
if such a conspiracy theory had pointed at specific individuals in the PDP, who
were in contention with the late senator for his senatorial seat, as a more
widespread version does, then perhaps it could have passed the test of logic. Only
God can tell; because there is so much evil in the world today. To insinuate an
entire political party however, is the height of illogicality.
As with the
logic of police investigations, the prime suspects in a murder case, are
usually those having issues of conflict with the diseased. And everyone is
aware of the deep seated enmity in some quarters of the DPP against the late
senator. This is even to the extent that some persons were no longer on speaking
terms; not to talk of curses being invoked on him. Why then are there no
conspiracy theories pointing in this most logical direction? What of those in
his party whose gubernatorial ambitions felt threatened by his own? Whatever be
the true situation however, the wicked shall not go unpunished; as God says.
The point here is that Annabel’s conspiracy theory version, that seek to
stigmatize the entire PDP as a party, fails the test of logic. This failure is
characteristics of DPP demonization of the PDP in most cases.
The danger in
this untenable superimposition of Ogboru as symbol of Urhobo nationalism, by the propaganda machinery of DPP, with tactless
support of some sections of Urhobo press, cannot be over emphasized. For
example, it is capable of aggravating the already painful marginalization of
Urhobo in Nigerian government and politics; with an additional crisis of
awkward partisan identity and isolation that afflicts DPP today.
It is a great
insult to reduce the whole historic heritage, of an entire ethnic nationality as
Urhobo, to the narrow interest of an individual’s political ambition. Nationalities
where certain individuals symbolize their political heritage are usually those
with indigenous and home grown political parties; and such individuals emerge
from the evolutionary process of leadership in these parties. This explains the generational emergence of a
series of leaders from the late Obafemi Awolowo to the present day Bola Tinubu,
who can be described as political symbols of the Yoruba nation. Their parties
over time, from the Action Group (AG), to the Unity Party, of Nigeria (UPN) and
from AD to ACN were not only home-grown, but essentially the same; revolving
around a clear political lineage. This same history is replicated in the east
and north also. The South African experience is another illustration of
individuals who became symbols of their nationalism; on the platform of the
indigenous parties, in this case, the African National Congress (ANC).
How then can a
man who contested on the platform of a South-West regional party, AD, in 2003,
against a fellow Urhobo man, who ran on the ticket of the then Urhobo preferred
party, the PDP, be propagated as symbol of Urhobo nationalism? Was it not the
same Ogboru who went ahead to contest and bitterly fought against Chief James
Ibori in 2003; even when the UPU, under the leadership of late Chief Benjamin
Okumagba, had endorsed the latter? Where then is the Urhobo spirit in Ogboru?
Again, was he accused of being anti-Urhobo by the PDP then? Or did the PDP
parade Ibori as the symbol of Urhobo nationalism on account of the UPU
endorsement?
So, it is not
only misleading, but fraudulent to misconstrue the circumstantial support of
UPU in 2011 governorship elections, as making Ogboru the symbol of Urhobo
political heritage. The DPP should know that he was an Urhobo man contesting
elections at a time Urhobo marginalization had reached desperate proportions. They
should also know that to the Urhobo nation, 2011 was a decisive culmination of
the rage that trailed former Governor James Ibori’s installation of his brother
as Governor in 2007. The Urhobo resolve was further fueled by a collective
feeling of deliberate political persecution by Itsekiri governorship. So, it
was like a feud against sectional political persecution.
In all these
propaganda that DPP had relied upon to deceive the Urhobo people all along, the
complicity of sections of Urhobo press cannot be overlooked. Their lack of circumspection, constantly fed
by the propaganda machinery of the DPP, resulted in this media creation; that
has continued to distract the Urhobo nation.
Now that the
time has come for Urhobo to move on from the propagandist appropriation of our
collective political heritage, the Urhobo press must be in the Vanguard of the
new struggle for true Urhobo political resurgence. This process must begin with
the deconstruction of the erroneous dogma of Ogboru’s symbolism of Urhobo
nationalism; built on partisan propaganda. The said section of Urhobo press must shed
their seeming toga of partisanship and lead the way in ensuring balanced enlightenment
and political education, if they hope to continue enjoying public confidence. In
their reporting, they should be strictly guided by their professional ethics,
restrict themselves to objective presentations of facts; leaving the people to
conclude.
However, it will
appear that the natural course of political events in Nigeria has already
relieved us of this deconstruction task, as evidenced by a recent declaration
of the DPP national chairman, Gen. Jeremiah Useni, in Abuja of a portended
alliance with the PDP. So, while the soul of the DPP has gone to APC with the
late senator Ewherido, leaving its skeletal remains which seem fated to the
PDP; with the Ghost slated for final rites.
A particular
weakness that must be addressed by this section of Urhobo press is the absence
of editorial columns, which would represent the paper’s corporate positions
& objective analysis of issues affecting Urhobo; as different from an
almost exclusive coverage of views, expressed by particular partisan interests.
And this is the surest way of dispelling the impression of partisanship. Then
there would be no need for the excuse that they only publish materials received.
MAXWELL
OKIRIKPO
Orerokpe
08025826267
urhobotimes.com
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