EDO NORTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT: THE IMPERATIVES FOR THE AKOKO - EDO PEOPLE

EDO NORTH SENATORIAL DISTRICT: THE IMPERATIVES FOR THE AKOKO - EDO PEOPLE

INTRODUCTION

POLITICS, ECONOMICS AND LAW

A great political publicist defined politics as the authoritative allocation of values and another defined it as who gets what, when and how. Yet another defined it as war without guns and the great Franklin Delano Roosevelt let it known that nothing ever happens in politics by chance or accident and that if it happens you can be sure it was programmed to be so.

From the above exposition, it should become apparent that there is something to be gained from participation in politics. If this is the case, it therefore means that whoever occupies the position of power or authority in any political system has enormous influence to peddle as he is the arrow head dispensing political favour as he wills.

Another important factor which cannot be discountenanced is the economic factor. So long as political decisions and actions affect the economic wellbeing of persons, so long will the fierce struggle for political power and sometimes domination continue.

The third important concept in the equation is the law. The law zeroes in to bring some order and set minimum rules of engagement in the struggle and competition for political and economic power even though some commentators have been circumspect and suspicious of the role law plays in society.

KARL MARX & THE ROLE OF LAW IN SOCIETY

One of the best known exponents of this skepticism is Karl Marx and his thinking runs through the entire gamut of communist philosophy. He famously defined law as a super structure upon an economic base. By this, Marx meant and sought to show how the law is a powerful tool in the hands of the bourgeois (that is the owners of capital) to perpetually put down the proletariat (that is the poor majority who are suppliers of labour) and to maintain their strangle – hold on the means of production in order to maintain the class society so they can forever keep their privileges.

Marx envisaged a time when the proletariat (labour) will overthrow the bourgeoisie (capital) in the industrial complex of developed Europe, abolishing class, establishing a society organized on a classless basis and by the dictatorship of the proletariat an eternal fair and equitable order of “from every man according to his ability and to every man according to his needs” will be established. Ironically though, it was in Russia, the European industrial back waters of the time that any semblance of communism was eventually established after the Bolsheviks outwitted the Mensheviks in what is today known as ‘Red October’ in 1917. The Great Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, the intellectual powerhouse of the revolution unfortunately died early in 1924 before intellectual Communism had opportunity to take root and his right hand man, Leon Trotsky was driven into exile and subsequently assassinated in Mexico by a Soviet state agent. The coast was clear as Joseph Stalin, one of the most powerful and murderous dictators in history unleashed a reign of terror and bloody putsches on the Russian people for over two decades.

THE FALL OF COMMUNISM AND THE RISE OF CAPITALISM

The end of the second world war and the emergence of two super powers and the consequent cold war and the arms race that ensued, the cry of oppressed people’s of the world and the internal contradictions and decay within the Soviet Empire itself eventually led to the demise of Communism and the Soviet State in 1990 when the Berlin wall fell. The Soviet Union at the height of its powers sprawled over most of Eastern Europe and with the mammoth red army behind it; it seemed that its relentless march across frontiers could not be halted. A real scepter of what Sir Winston Churchill first saw at the end of World War II and captured succinctly thus: “from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across the continent” stared the rest of the free world in the face.

But eventually, with Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost and perestroika adopted in the 1980s, Communism died and it is capitalism that lives on. Capitalism has endured; Communism never really took root and with the demise of the old Soviet Union in 1990 and the overthrow of communist vestiges and outposts around the world Communism as we know it at least has ceased to exist.

THOUGHTS ON NIGERIAN AND AMERICAN POLITICS

Capitalism, American style supposedly thrives best in a democratic atmosphere. Nigeria in the run up to the second republic in 1979 fashioned and adopted an American Executive type Presidency and has continued to operate such a Constitution in the present political dispensation and our economy and market is supposedly organized on the laissez faire American model Capitalism.

In Nigeria, the Executive President, State Governor, Local Council Chairman occupies a very powerful office and is a very powerful and influential person that is. Perceptibly, a Nigerian President is more powerful than the President of the United States of America. Witness the imperial Presidency of General Olusegun Obasanjo, his ‘can do and undo’ attitude, the unspeakable Constitutional breaches ho got away with. Any American President who tried what “baba Iyabo” got away with here would long be history. It will be blue murder.
Elected officials in Nigeria are very powerful; they hold the purse strings and have enormous influence to peddle. If politics is the authoritative allocation of values and if it determines who gets what, when and how, then we ought to be interested in who controls the levers of power, holds the purse strings and peddle influence in our local communities which in the peculiar circumstances of Nigeria is enormous.

Away from the urban centres, Nigeria’s local communities are desperately underdeveloped and as they say, see the poverty in some of these places and die. I have carefully avoided to say anything ever since the raging debate on the suitability of the candidates who are angling to represent my local community (Edo North Senatorial District) in the senate or otherwise but not anymore bearing in mind what I have earlier observed. I have seen all the comments for and against the candidates on the revolutionary social networking site, face book, the new fad in town and at other forums and I am hugely disappointed that no one is considering the real issues.

Yes, I mean those for and against the leading candidates. Every one seems to be fixated with the ideal when we should go the way of practicability. No one will deny that one of the corner stones of any serious polity is fairness and equity. Politics every where in the world is an expensive venture. The cost of running Governments – a democratic one at that is enormous and many have questioned the utility of such governments in poor countries.

The United States of America is a prime example of this culture. At the last campaigns that brought President Barack Obama to power for example, both candidates of the dominant parties (the GOP and the Democrats) raised tens of millions of dollars to fund the campaign and the elections. Without funds no one can come close to the Presidency of the United States. Nigeria is therefore no exception. Those who tell you otherwise are either ignorant or are outright mischievous. They should tell you there are institutions called Political Action Committees (PACs) of diverse interests who raise money to support candidates for various causes. The problem we have in this part of the world is that we usually do not have well entrenched institutions to do most of these things that are done abroad properly and legitimately. What is Lobbying for example? Money does change hands, in a legitimate manner albeit though; but in our part of the world we know it only as corruption because we have not found an ethical and acceptable way to do it within the rules with transparency. For example Donors are required to disclose to the necessary authorities how much they are donating. Candidates likewise disclose money raised and received from donors and appropriate taxes are paid on the sums. Certain donors and sums are prohibited. Some entities, e.g. Companies cannot donate to political causes unless they have PACs. This no doubt is meant to curb the corruptive influence of big businesses but just what do you have here?

During the run up to the 2003 General Elections, all manner of businesses and businessmen under the amorphous umbrella of Corporate Nigeria unabashedly raised billions of Naira for the electoral conquest of the then incumbent President, General Olusegun Obasanjo in violent disregard of Section 38 (2) of the Companies and Allied Matters Act. For clarity of purpose, the section provides under Corporate powers and capacity and I copiously quote “a company shall not have or exercise power either directly or indirectly to make a donation or gift of any of its property or funds to a political party or political association, or for any political purpose; and if any company, in breach of this subsection makes any donation or gift of its property to a political party or political association, or for any political purpose, the officers in default and any member who voted for the breach shall jointly and severally be liable to refund to the company the sum or value of the donation or gift and in addition, the company and every such officer or member shall be guilty of an offence and liable to a fine equal to the amount or value of the donation or gift”.

We did not hear that any one tried to enforce this law, the monies were not accounted for, no taxes were paid and we all have since carried on as if nothing was amiss.

Nigerian politics replete with cronyism is such that if the so called power brokers and ‘godfathers’ do not sanction a candidate, nine times out of ten, the candidate is doomed to fail. If you will call the bluff of the ‘godfathers’, you must either have other powerful backers or you have very deep pockets. Definitely it is not right, volumes have been written on this point but unfortunately that is where we are. Ignoring these variables amounts to burying our heads in the sands the proverbial way of the ostrich.

ISSUES IN EDO, EDO - NORTH AND AKOKO – EDO LGA POLITICS

Now to the real issues to which I earlier alluded in this piece.

The issues as I see them are these: No Akoko - Edo person nay Igarra has ever been senator in the history of the senatorial district and that is serious; conservatively you need at least the sum of Three Hundred Million Naira to get to the Senate unfortunately again; the hard work begins after you are elected senator; you need men of influence and power to get things done for your constituency at whatever level how much more the senate in a country where the already scarce resources are surreptitiously deployed to build personal empires and fiefdoms; the only thing constant in life is change and men do change for good or for worse; Victor Hugo wrote "a man is not idle because he is absorbed in thought. There is a visible labour and there is an invisible labour"; no privileged class ever lets power go on a platter; it must be wrestled from their grip; Akoko - Edo is the oldest Local Government Area in Nigeria today; other local divisions in the old Midwest State are now 2 - 3 Local Government Areas.

Akoko – Edo Local Government Area was one of the original divisions created in the old Midwest State for administrative convenience in 1963. It is disheartening that all other divisions have since metamorphosed into two or three Local Government Areas, even the State has since become two, with the Deltans taking their fate in their own hands when history beckoned in 1992 and today they have the “big heart” where their dreams and aspirations in the old Bendel State find expression, while Akoko – Edo remains one.

Akoko – Edo has only undergone change once, when in 1967 the Midwest became Bendel State it was re christened Akoko – Edo Local Government Area from the earlier nomenclature (Akoko – Edo Local Division) with which it was known. Apart from this Akoko – Edo remains the only Local Government Area in the federation that has remained pristine since independence. The consequence of this is that Akoko – Edo has been much marginalized. A clear example of this marginalization is this Senatorial seat issue.
The mosaic I will paint now is a model of what has happened to the Akoko – Edo people in every facet of their existence in a State and Nation they call their own.

The senatorial district is a tripod-like structure, made up of Akoko-Edo, Etsako and Owan Local Government Areas. The Constitution has made the three components heirs to the Edo North senatorial seat. The seemingly lacklustre performance of the present senator from Edo North, Hon. Yisa Braimoh, from Owan East LGA, who is perceived more as a bench warmer, appears to have thrown the doors wide open for other interested stakeholders particularly candidates from the ruling Action Congress in the state as it does not appear on the face of it and there is nothing on the ground to suggest that Senator Yisa Braimoh of the Peoples Democratic Party can muster a second win.

Historically, the battle for the Senatorial seat has always been a straight fight between the contending forces from the three Etsako LGAs and the two Owan LGAs, leaving out the third leg of the tripod, Akoko Edo LGA from the race. The Edo North people who are also referred to as the Afenmai people comprise of Owan (2 LGAs), Akoko Edo (1 LGA) and Etsako (3 LGAs). Please note that in 1963, you only had Owan Division, Etsako Division and Akoko – Edo Division. How the Etsako people and the Owan people now have 3 and 2 LGAs respectively while Akoko - Edo remains one big entity beats one silly.

Before now, at the advent of Executive type Presidency in Nigeria, in the second republic, in the 1979 general elections to be precise, Senator John Umolu from Agenebode, now Etsako East LGA was elected the Senator to represent the district. In 1983, Senator (Mrs.) Franca Afegbua from Etsako East LGA occupied the office all be it for a short while.
During the aborted third republic; before General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida threw away the opportunity to be the Charles de Gaulle of modern Nigeria by annulling what was generally acclaimed the freest and fairest elections in Nigeria’s political history, Senator Albert Legogie from Etsako East LGA represented the Edo North people in the senate until 1993. In the days of the dark goggled General, Sanni Abacha, Senator Remi Agbowu from Owan East LGA was elected to represent the senatorial district. At the return of democratic rule in 1999, Senator Victor Oyoifo from Etsako West LGA was elected to represent the district and he served out two terms which ended in 2007, before the Owan people took their turn again in 2007. In all these Akoko – Edo which is the third leg, the third arm of the tripod if you like has been ignored with ignominy/disdain.

More compelling facts and nearer home even; On March 19, 1964 when the then Midwest State House of Assembly was inaugurated, Hon. P.K. Tabiowo, an Urhobo man was Speaker until 1966 when the Military led by Kaduna Nzeogwu struck. Hon. Benson Anthony Alegbe from Owan East was Speaker of the old Bendel State House of Assembly from 1979 to 1983. Hon. Louis Ijeoma took over and was Speaker from October to December, 1983 before the second republic administration of President Shehu Shagari was truncated and consigned to the dustbin of history by the then fiery military junta led by the draconian laws loving General Muhammadu Buhari (Rtd). In the course of the aborted third republic, Hon. Matthew Egbadon from Esan Central was Speaker from January 1992 to August 1993 and when he was removed Hon. Joe Ekpenkhio from Etsako Central was sworn in (in his stead) meanwhile Reverend Peter Obadan, also from Owan East, was Deputy Governor of Edo State at the relevant time.

In the same vein, at the return of democratic governance in 1999, Hon. Thomas Okosun another Esan man was elected Speaker in October 1999 and when he was impeached in February 2000, Hon. Matthew Egbadon in what was his second coming was elected Speaker of the House. In the year 2003, after the elections of that year, Hon. Friday Itulah from Esan North East, who is now a member of the Federal House of Representatives, was elected Speaker but after a short while, he was impeached and Hon. David Iyoha from Esan Central emerged Speaker in October, 2003. In the year 2007, Zakawanu Garuba of Etsako West Constituency was elected Speaker of the Edo State House of Assembly until recently when crisis erupted in the house between the contending forces of the evenly matched Peoples Democratic Party and the Action Congress in what many saw as a fight for supremacy between the incumbent Governor elected on the platform of the Action Congress and the ‘eternal godfather’ of Edo politics and a King pin of the Peoples Democratic Party. Hon. Bright Omokhodion from Esan West Constituency, elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party but who defected to the Action Congress in the heat of the crisis has since emerged Speaker of the House though the crisis lingers.

Hmmm, how instructive, what manner of marginalization? Is it not Criminal neglect to discover that in this impressive long list of Speakers, Akoko Edo LGA with two Constituencies has never produced any? It is simply unfathomable. What has the Akoko – Edo people done to the rest of Nigeria? Though some say it is a self inflicted injury and they have questioned the quality of representatives sent to the Assembly by the Akoko – Edo people in recent years. Even at that, nothing justifies this kind of neglect. Our Comrade Governor must hear this, the elders of Edo state must hear this and we will take our legitimate case to the Federal Government and all well meaning Nigerians.

Stretching it further, George Agbazika Innih from Agenebode, Etsako East LGA was at a time the Military Governor of the old Bendel State, Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe (Rtd) from Fugar, Etsako Central LGA was in recent memory Chief of General Staff and effectively second in command to the then Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (Rtd). Today, the highest ranking member of the President Jonathan Goodluck kitchen cabinet from Edo State is Chief Mike Oghiadome, the Chief of Staff to the President, who was also Deputy Governor of Edo state from 1999 to 2007; he is also from Etsako Central LGA.

The Governorship of the State? Do not even go there. How will a People who have never produced a Deputy Governor, A Speaker of the State House of Assembly and A Senator ever hope to produce the Governor of such a State. Infact other than George Agbazika Innih, who was a Military Governor, the whole of Edo North is only now producing a Governor in the person of the incumbent Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. You can now see why it is a no go area for the Akoko – Edo people.

Twenty men have governed the State in its chequered history. Seven of these twenty men are relevant to our present discourse. Jereton Mariere, a Deltan was the first Governor at the inauguration of the old Midwest State from February 1964 to January 1966. Lt. Colonel David Ejoor, another Deltan, became Administrator of the State at the onset of Military rule in Nigeria from January 1966 to August 1967. Brigadier General Samuel Ogbemudia from Uhunmwonde LGA, who is still active in contemporary Nigerian politics succeeded him and was Military Administrator and later Governor from September 1967 to July 1975. For the Brigadier General history came full circle again when as Dr. Samuel Ogbemudia he was elected Governor of the old Bendel State from October 1983 to December 1983 in the fading moments of the ill fated second republic. Colonel George Agbazika Innih from Etsako East succeeded Ogbemudia as Military Governor from July 1975 to March 1976. At the onset of the second republic, Professor Ambrose Folorunsho Alli from Esan West was elected the first Executive Governor of the old Bendel State from October 1979 to October 1983. John E. K. Odigie Oyegun from Uhunmwonde LGA again was Governor of the new Edo State from January 1992 to November 1993. As democracy returned to our shores in 1999, Chief Lucky Igbinedion from Oredo LGA was elected Executive Governor of the State from May 1999 to May 2007. Professor Osarheimen Osunbor of the Peoples Democratic Party from Esan West yet again was purportedly elected Governor from May 2007 before his pyrrhic election victory was overturned by the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin on November 12, 2008 and in the process declared Comrade Adams Oshiomhole from Etsako West of the Action Congress validly elected as Governor of Edo State as he scored more of the lawful votes cast at the April 14 2007 Gubernatorial elections.

Again an impressive cast of former Governors of the State and yet again the Akoko – Edo’s are conspicuous by their absence.

So our cause is just. It will take sheer insensitivity and monumental wickedness for any one to say that our cause is false. All men of good will recognize that something must be done about the privations the Akoko – Edo people have suffered for so long.

Fairness and equity demands that an Akoko – Edo person must be senator now. The Etsako and Owan people have had more than their fair share of the largesse of office.

That Akoko-Edo is a complementary part of the tripod is not disputed by anyone. That we have been much maligned and marginalized is also not in issue. That as a result of this marginalization, development has eluded the LGA is crystal clear for all to see.

THE WAY FORWARD FOR THE AKOKO –EDO PEOPLE

Now to the possible solutions I now turn my attention.

On the basis of equity, justice and fair play, an Akoko - Edo person must be senator now.

If that is true then this senator with all sense of fairness and responsibility must be an Igarra person. Even in the LGA, the Igarra people have always held the short end of the stick. In recent memory, between 1999 and now, Dr. Tunde Lakoju, who incidentally is also a Commissioner in the present administration of the Comrade Governor and Colonel Tunde Akogun (Rtd) who currently represents the Akoko – Edo people in the House of Representatives have been elected to the House of Representatives. Chief Paul Kehinde Udofe was also Commissioner in the Administration of Chief Lucky Igbinedion. The Late Chief Samson Ekhabafe before his unfortunate demise was Commissioner in 1983, He was Attorney General in the administration of Chief Lucky Igbinedion, He was again Commissioner for Water Resources in the administration of Professor Oserhiemen Osunbor and was factional Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party in Edo State. My point is by now obvious. Telling you none of these men hails from Igarra and that in all that time no Igarra man has been elected or appointed to any of these posts will be merely begging the question. So our next senator must be an Igarra person.

Politics is not cheap. As earlier noted, the cost of successfully campaigning and winning elections, the cost of running democratic Governments is enormous. In the absence of proper institutions as we have in saner climes, then anyone who will run for a senatorial seat has to be well heeled or have powerful backers. Conservatively, to successfully run a senate race, you at least need Three Hundred Million Naira. Now will anyone tell me if they know any Igarra man who has three hundred million naira or is willing to spend such a mind boggling sum to get to the senate? We know those who have marginalised us and they have enormous resources. If we agree on an ideal Igarra candidate and we are to raise funds for him, does anyone sincerely believe that the Igarra people can raise fifty million naira for such a project? So left for us and those who will perpetually subjugate us, without any Igarra man of means who is personally interested we will perpetually be marginalised. These people do not care about us so we must find a way to get the senatorial slot first however imperfect. We can always return home to sort out issues of concern. Let the man who can go, go for us.

At the senate, a senator must be able to work across party lines and divide. He must be able to call on the external influence of men of power and means if he will be able to attract meaningful projects to his constituency. Tell me who will be able to do this as Igarra is today? There is visible and invisible labour and as the bible tells us that which is unseen is more important than that which we can see. Has anyone heard of the ongoing Constituency delimitation/delineation stuff? Who is making sure it is done to the advantage of the Akoko – Edo people? If we get this sorted out properly, it will solve 75% of our political problems. We should not concern ourselves with what we will eat alone. Why worry if someone gives you a job or not when with God and smart work, everything is possible. Let us concern ourselves with what will benefit all. What will outlast all. The common good.

I know and I am sure and I severally contemplate it in the innermost recesses of my heart. If Akoko – Edo always had a man of means and power who was interested enough, Akoko – Edo would not have remained a single LGA till date. Does anyone remember the circumstances that led to the creation of Etsako Central LGA and how Fugar became a Local Government headquarters? That is what you get when you have a man of means and power at the top who is interested enough.

I am pragmatic enough to see, comprehend, accept and agree that mistakes have been made in the past and on the part of all but if we continue to see the negatives, then we will miss the positives, we are saying that men cannot change. People do change and we must see what today is and stop living in the past - whatever anyone has done in the past is past. What is past is past; never go back, not for excuses and certainly not for justification. But if we insist on stoning others for their past lives, I will simply say as Christ did in his time "let he who is without sin be the first to cast a stone". The question now really is what are you doing for Akoko – Edo and Igarra today?

As I canvassed elsewhere, in whatever we say or do, we must know that we have only one place to call home, whatever heights we attain in life, we can never, ever divest ourselves from Akoko – Edo nay Igarra. Let these words of Martin Luther King Jnr. be a constant reminder of what you owe yourself, others and Igarra as an Igarra man, “every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment; life’s most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?” And for Akoko – Edo and Igarra permit me to add if we shall come through these dark years of privation together.

And I end this treatise as I did elsewhere by asking you to call to mind the immortal words of Frantz Fanon thus, “every generation must discover its mission which it either fulfills or betrays”. We have and you have discovered yours, it is Akoko –Edo, it is Igarra, we must fulfill it.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA is a Partner at the Lagos Law firm of Fountain Court Partners.


FOUNTAIN COURT PARTNERS
No. 36B, Ogudu Road
Ojota
Lagos.
08052066172Kingjaja_j@yahoo.com or obaoni@yahoo.co.uk