Re : Ohakim,2007, 2011, 2027 and how not to appreciate God’s abundant grace or goodness or favour
By Emmanuel Mbah,Ph.D
The piece referenced above and penned by Sam Onwuemedo, the media aide of Rochas Okorocha, the beneficiary of the electoral heist in Imo State in 2011, succinctly captures the fear of adroit historians that history has failed societies”.
“History is not the past but a map of the past, drawn from a particular point of view, to be useful to the modern traveller.” In giving perspective to this enduring quote by Henry Glassie, the utility value of this map to the modern day traveller depends largely on the quality of facts upon which the map is constructed.
Onwuemedo, in his usual satire laced in religious pontifications, clothed Ohakim and indeed his admirers in ashes and sackcloth just to give credence to a historical narrative that strengthens his parochial interest.
Unfortunately, he joined the statistics of the number that strike fear in the hearts and minds of historians from an ignoble position. The events he tried to stridently rewrite the historical facts around occurred a few years ago, and most of the people that were witnesses are still alive and active.
His was a poor job. The bane of history as an instrument of change lies in the manipulation of facts by individuals who relied on doctored oral evidence or those who out of sheer mischief deliberately side step facts and embrace fiction.Except where one feels that all the witnesses are suffering from amnesia or are intellectually lazy, one wonders how any serious minded writer would make the kind of wild deductions as did Onwuemedo in his diatribe.
Even when some of the enforcers of the events of 2011 have openly confessed their roles in the well-funded and structured conspiracies that denied voters the opportunity of determining who governs their state, Onwuemeodo still runs with a jaded and discredited narrative that tries to glorify the absurd.
In civilized societies where the sanctity of voters’ choices are upheld like a code of life, people are called out to account to save the system from being infested with such destructive electoral viruses going forward. There lies the virility and strength of history,and strong democracies are built on such principles.
If people intentionally deployed vicious blackmail and barefaced lies to secure undeserved electoral success, must we glorify such undignified conduct that reads, DECEIT, and DEMAGOGURY?
Nations have been thrown into avoidable wars and social disintegration through such devious and diabolic machinations and someone expects the society to look the other way and continue, “CLAPPING FOR JESUS” (a refrain associated with Sam Onwuemedo).
Ikedi Ohakim nor the followers do not deserve as much apology as the good people of Imo State who are the real victims that were misled into accepting a regime change for clear eight years of total value desecration and despoliation based on falsehood.Should we continue to “Clap for Jesus” that a Rochas Okorocha government happened to Imo State against the wish of the electors, many of who fell to the deception packaged in religious bigotry and military arm-twisting? Jesus obviously wouldn’t buy into such a CLAP because He is Christ, the God son of goodness and righteousness.
Ohakim has moved on,and like the writer rightly observed (or was it a humour?), “Chief Ikedi Ohakim is my man. A jolly good fellow, “No skin pain” politician”. This Onwuemedo’s statement can be captured in a more popular maxim; he plays politics without bitterness.
A man who openly expressed his hurt, pain, and discomfiture (especially with the blackmail that he beat up a Reverend Father which turned out to be barefaced politically orchestrated lies) and openly stated that he has forgiven all the traducers, cannot be demanding apologies from anyone as conjectured by Sam Onwuemedo.
One wonders,too, if he would even demand that his supporters and lovers should place such requests on the table on his behalf. However, if anyone feels sore about the whole incident and demands an apology, no sensible person should begrudge such legitimate demand.
Assuming Ohakim opted to deploy the leverages of a sitting Governor with huge financial war chest, to enlist the services of non-state actors to stop the rage, the casualties would have formed the statistics of an inglorious historical past of the State. But through to character, he took to the path of honour, dignity,and peace.
Arising from the facts and untainted historical realities, would it be considered inappropriate for the people of Okigwe zone who are now listening to the confessions of the agent provocateurs in the 2011 diabolic gang ups against their son to feel hurt? Restitution can assuage the hurt and that, they demand from all the zones of the State as a mark of good faith, justice and good conscience.
If the key political players in the State are sincere about erecting a political climate and culture founded on genuine reconciliation and trust, we must hearken to the cries of Okigwe zone. If they do as they are doing, why should any sensible person who understands the imperative of peace and harmony feel too entitled to shut them out?
Vilification would further deepen mistrust and convey a bad signal that whatever healing which any power shift intends to achieve is a mere smoke screen.
We must be deliberate in building a future that would be beneficial to the entire State, not one that addresses the immediate power quest of the present political players who struggle to secure a bait before age catches up with them.Great men of history think about group good and not personal interests. If Okigwe zone’s quest secures a State wide acceptance based on the superior arguments they have raised and they consider Ohakim the proper and credible person to fit into the lot, what is wrong about that?
Truth be told, Ohakim had a good run in governance. Even his greatest critics accept that fact. He may not be the corn eating, children’s running nose cleaner, keke riding or market visitation political dramatist but give it to him that he had good governance compass. Strong economics are not built on theatrics, infantile populism or packaged ordinariness.Governance is a serious business, measured in creative and regenerative policies and programs that create opportunities for citizens to leverage and be self-sustaining through their individual endeavours.
Transformative leadership springs from the fountain of knowledge acquired through learning, experience, exposure, pedigree, and character.
When will the hounding of Chief Ikedi Ohakim end? A shot had been put on his image and even his life, yet the God that knows the heart of men continues to avail him. The good news that his traducers would be uncomfortable with is that God has not finished with him.
Anyone familiar with Ohakim (including his ‘good friend’, Sam Onwuemedo) would testify that when gratitude to God and man is in issue, you can’t find him wanting.When Chief Ikedi Ohakim (in his first public outing and subsequently, thanksgiving after his inauguration) openly declared that, “IMO IS IN THE HANDS OF GOD” and made same the sign off line in all his public speeches, he was not engaging in semantic sophistry but a total and absolute submission of self and government in the hands of God.There can never be a better way of showing gratitude to God.
He did not only voice it, he served with the fear of God. It couldn’t have been accidental that after all the investigations into the finances of the State under his watch by the anti-graft agencies and the successor government, nothing was found on him.
Transparency, due process, and fidelity to governance in line with best practices underlined the management principle of the government.
Did Ohakim not perform? His re-election was given and earned, and that was why many till date accept that Imo people were not allowed to speak through their votes. The confessions, expositions, and revelations of today confirm the fact that what happened in 2011 was UNUSUAL.
If we run a system where people are held to account, the conspirators in the 2011 electoral heist should hide their faces in shame.
Whatever made analysts and political watchers to label the so called Ohakim ‘defeat’ in 2011 elections as, “Unusual”, suppose to wrankle the sensitivities of all the people that participated in soiling our democratic credentials in Imo State. Their roles were not noble and must be condemned in unmistakable terms.
The issue on the table for now and which is the talking point of political conversation is how to address the water tight pleading of Okigwe zone, that Equity not founded on justice and good conscience, walks on thin legs.Targeting Ohakim for a second round of image destruction through manipulation of facts, amounts to an assault on the imperatives and essence of history. We study the past to define the future, and that must be done with strong fidelity to truth and facts untainted and without manipulations.
Those who do not remember the past with accuracy and fecundity of mind are condemned to repeat it, and the society and systems are worse for that.
We had a full dose of cocktail of lies in 2011; mistakes and misjudgments arising therefrom exposed the State to avoidable governance experiences. Let the Sam Onwuemedos spare us further mental assaults through self-serving narratives. Lessons have been learnt, and history will avail us.
Sir Emmanuel Okwudiri Mbah,Ph.D,
Writes from Azaraubo,Emekuku,
Owerri North LGA,Imo State.
