Author: By Maxwell Okirikpo
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
