By Daniel A. Noah OSA-OGBEGIE
“I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten— the great locust and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm — my great army that I sent among you.” Joel 2:25-
The All Progressives Congress was formed sometime in 2013 by a combination of bitter and power hungry politicians.
Some renegade elements in the PDP who lost out in the power game saw a veritable tool in a budding alliance between Bola Tinubu and his underlings from the South West and the then serial contestant buhari, who was coming out from the frustration of a forced retirement.
The plan by Tinubu and his minions was to use buhari’s bizarre cult following in the core North, in addition to their South West votes to get into power.
They largely succeeded because they deployed a mindless propaganda machine, using David Axelrod’s consultancy firm in Chicago to drive an international propaganda against Goodluck Jonathan and his government.
They also painted buhari as a silent messiah who was coming to make things right.
Some of us saw their shenanigans and saw through buhari, who was an open book anyway, but Nigerians were not ready to see what was staring at them. They believed the lie and rejected a good man for the ethno-religious bigot buhari, who was unbelievably empty, bereft of any 21st century idea of governance.
Buhari became President and all I predicted about him came to pass. Nigeria not only wasted eight years under buhari, buhari destroyed the country almost beyond redemption. From the economy to security, Buhari’s legacy was one of missteps and misdeeds. It would be time wasting to regurgitate what I have said in the past about the failures of buhari and how he impoverished Nigerians for eight years.
In the build up to the 2023 Presidential election, I strongly supported Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, but the wiles of Bola Tinubu was too much for him and the rest is history. Regrettably, I supported Tinubu when he became candidate of my then party, choosing loyalty to leader and party over my country, I sincerely convinced myself that Tinubu would build a sound team that would pull Nigeria out of the doldrums buhari threw it into. I was wrong. The Buhari years of the locusts continued under Tinubu, with the locusts having unhindered days to massacre Nigerians without let.
The suffering in the land is unbearable, the hunger is unprecedented. The hope that used to keep Nigerians going is gone. The APC scourge has totally destroyed Nigeria and broke Nigerians.
The way forward is forward ( tell the people to move forward, Exodus 14:15).It is beyond prayer to God. Our destinies lie in our heads and hands,not legs. Nigerians must now take more than a passing interest in the process leading to the selection of who govern her and any part thereof. We can no more afford to allow any bungling incompentent person to find their way into any strata of government in this country. We must make conscious efforts to get away from the APC years of the locust starting with this Edo election.
How to know a candidate is to look at the history of that candidate and what they have done with their lives prior. What is the source of their touted wealth? Where have they worked? What have they achieved in the past? How did they acquaint themselves in their previous private and public engagements?
The next election before Edo people is the 2024 gubernatorial election. Edo people must use this chance to show they have learnt from the past. We cannot afford to resort to primordial sentiments of tribe and political affiliations to choose the next Edo Governor. We also cannot rely on the quest for personal vendetta as this election is about our lives and that of our children. We must think of future: our future and that of our children.
Godwin Obaseki is not on the ballot and cannot be governor again. I have heard people complain that they want to teach Obaseki a lesson by working against his candidate. It was same way our Esan brethren wanted to teach Engr. Clifford Odia a lesson by voting Mr. Say nothing and do nothing, Akpakomiza, thereby emboldening him to seek the Governorship of our dear state,insulting Edo people.
Monday Okpebholo is showing that he is another Buhari and Tinubu all over again. He’s being shielded from the media the way Tinubu and Buhari were shielded. He’s making unbelievable gaffes like Tinubu and Buhari. He’s showing an unbelievable emptiness, intellectual lassitude and tribal bigotry like Buhari. Few days ago, he confessed that he deactivated his WhatsApp to avoid insults,just like Tinubu did before 2023 election.
Edo people must wake up, stand up to reject this Buhari and Tinubu look alike that the APC is once again trying to foist on us. If he resembles Buhari and Tinubu, he would certainly give same results like them.
We must make this conscious efforts to get away from the APC years of the locusts starting with this Edo election.
Daniel Aroren Noah Osa-Ogbegie is a Benin based lawyer and spokesman for Asue Ighodalo and Osarodion Ogie Campaign.
