Ekiti Candidates, Nyesom Wike And Needle In Their Pomposity

The Ekiti State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) on Tuesday successfully organised the state rally for Atiku/Okowa presidential campaign, despite fierce attempts, both internal and external, by the enemies of the party to sabotage the rally. 

The state government and some groups in the PDP instigated commercial drivers and Okada riders to withdraw their services in the state in order to frustrate the mobilization of the party faithful to the rally. These Lily-livered enemies were, however, put to shame by the resilient spirit of the Ekiti people. 

Majority of the National and State Assembly candidates of the PDP who had earlier called for the dissolution of the state Presidential Campaign Council, (PCC ) also boycotted their official presentation as the party flag-bearers. 

Their actions cannot but surprise anybody. These are the people who, with other followers of former Ekiti State governor, Ayodele Fayose and Nyesom Wike of Rivers State, had rejected their membership of the council from the first day of its composition. 

Their rejection of the PCC was, without a doubt, instigated by some external forces. Evidently, a clear case of pedagogic ventriloquism, (hands of  Esau and voice of Jacob) was playing out.

Even as candidates, the Oyo State governor, Seyi Makinde, Benue State governor, Samuel Ortorm and all PDP candidates in Rivers, Oyo and Benue states are not working for the national presidential campaign council. They are all working for Wike and his Integrity Group made up of five rebellious governors and other rabble-rousers. 

Keen observers of the political adventure (or misadventure) of the G -String Governors will agree that their last outing in Ibadan was truly a misadventure. Wike, in his characteristic magisterial posture, while addressing the party faithful stood before them like a secondary school principal dishing out instructions to his pupils.

He ordered the crowd  to vote for Governor Seyi Makinde, vote for PDP senatorial candidates, vote for PDP House of Representative candidates, vote for PDP House of Assembly candidates and 

“The other one, Makinde will tell you” 

I am sure, the other one is no other than the PDP presidential candidate, Abubarkar Atiku.

A typical American will exclaim, “Are you kidding me? So sad!  An assembly of well) -enlightened electorate and party supporters were being told that somebody, somewhere must decide for them whether to vote for their presidential candidate or not. What an insult and crash display of pomposity! The shout of Atiku! Atiku! Atiku!  that rented the air after the speech must have deflated Wike’s over-bloated ego a lot.

I had once attended one of Professor Wole Soyinka’s lectures where he described “Esu Laalu as a needle in pomposity “. Esu and Ogun Lakaaye are the favourites of Soyinka among the gods in the Yoruba pantheon. Ogun, the Yoruba god of iron and creativity is the god of retributive justice. 

He is the shield of the orphan, a god of seven parts; oil, wine, blood, spring, rain, sap and sperm. Ogun is not just a vindictive god, but he is the divine embodiment of creative and destructive, positive and negative forces of nature whose seasons are rain and harvests. 

In Yoruba cosmology, Esu Laalu is not the damned Satan portrayed in Christendom. Esu,  like Ogun, is a revolutionary archetype. He is an advocate and enforcer of the principles of Ogundabeji, the Ifa Corpus which dictates: “Ogbe fohun fun olohun. Ki a fi ti Ogbe fun Ogbe”, meaning that Ogbe must relinquish property to the rightful owners while Ogbe is also given his dues. 

Esu, also called the trickster god, had always provided enough checks on the excesses of many powerful gods like Orunmila, Obatata, Ogun and Iku,(the spirit of death). This is why Soyinka opts to describe Esu Laalu as the needle in their pomposity.

Esu’s exploits could be seen in the mythical account that has been dramatized by Ulli Beier, ( Obotunde Ijimere ) in his play, “The Imprisonment of Obatala”.In the play, Obatala, the Yoruba god of creation, had to suffer imprisonment through  Esu’s machinations as a punishment for not heeding a warning. As a needle,  Esu is easily available to puncture and deflate the over-bloated egos of many arrogant gods.

In a democracy, power resides with the people and in party politics, the party is supreme. But in our PDP today, there are many tin gods with clay feet claiming to be leader generals. Candidates that have not won election pontificate and arrogate powers to themselves at will.

Wike and his co-travellers had gone to Ibadan with their usual arrogance to play gods like they have been doing in River State and other places, where they had organised their separate campaigns without recourse to the party leadership.

The rejection of Wike and his cohorts in Ibadan is sending a very clear message that the electorate can not be taken for granted. In Ekiti State, while the party was expecting the presidential candidate on Tuesday, all candidates were expected to mobilise their supporters to a campaign rally organised by the state PCC. But in Ekiti State, our all-powerful candidates plotted against the party at their peril.

My only candid warning is that any candidate working against the interest of the party will only have himself or herself to blame. Enough is enough, let’s give the people their due respect.”  Ogbe fi ohun fun olohun”  If they take the people for granted, the electorate will not hesitate to serve as needles in their pomposity.

How •By Raphael ‘ Wumi Adeyanju