Ebonyi: There Should Be Showers Of Blessings, Not Showers Of Terror – By Jerry Uhuo
Loading ...There is one significant thing about the 2015 governorship and other elections in Ebonyi that we could not forget easily. That one significant thing is the fact that Ebonyi people were united as one and spoke with one voice to defeat the power of incumbency under the umbrella of the Divine Mandate Campaign which transformed to the present ‘’Divine Mandate administration’’. That unity and sense of purpose was a clear departure from the 2003 political issues which occasioned Abuja Group and led to the loss of innocent lives and property.
As the 2019 general election draws nearer and nearer with every passing hour, we ought to expect a consolidation of such peace and unity demonstrated in 2015 and not a return to the days of ‘’irrevocable and irreversible’’ orders. But unfortunately, it seems this is not going to be the case. It seems from the various utterances and statements associated with the political leaders and gladiators in the state, that we have not learnt any good lessons from our political ugly past going by recent developments in the state.
It could be recalled that the Anthem of the Divine Mandate Campaign in Ebonyi in 2015 was a popular Christian song composed by James McGranhan who lived from 1840 to 1907. The song was ‘’There shall be showers of blessings: This is the promise of love; There shall be seasons of refreshing, Sent from the Saviour above. Refrain: Showers of blessings, Showers of blessings we need: Mercy-drops round us are falling, But for the showers we plead’’ etc.
One would have expected that with such rich and divinely inspired song the actors in the current political space in Ebonyi would be guided by the Divine Grace cultivated during the campaign because politics without morality is void. Unfortunately, the utterances of political leaders in the state especially the ones attributed to the State Governor Chief David Umahi appear to be setting the political space on fire even before the elections. This is highly regrettable, going by the promises, the meekness and ‘holier than thou’ mien the governor displayed throughout that 2015 election.
It was Chief David Umahi himself who said that ‘’the beauty of democracy is that it is a triumph of the majority’’. This should be the disposition of a democrat and good leader. This perhaps informed the story Chief Umahi himself told in 2015 when he responded to Chief Martin Elechi’s press conference on the state of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Ebonyi state during the heat of the campaign.
In that response, Chief Umahi said: “My declaration of intention to run for the governorship of Ebonyi State was anchored on two main pillars – the supreme pillar is Divine and the other pillar is the word of honour given to me by my boss, Chief Elechi. For nearly four years, I relied on his solemn promise to hand over to me at the expiration of his second tenure. When I expressed the very ambition that he fired up in me, he quickly doused the flames of that ambition and sought to humiliate and destroy me in the process. I relied on a man that I thought had integrity. Thank God that my supreme anchor was not man but Divine. For the past three and half years as a Deputy Governor, I have remained a loyal and obedient servant who always stood by my master and delivered on the duties entrusted to me. I have never relented in helping the PDP in Ebonyi State to deliver on its manifestos and commitments to the people. My dedication to duty and unwavering obedience made Chief Elechi to insist that I should succeed him in office in 2015 and he made these promises in private and public places. We kept working together in harmony till the time for party primaries and I approached him to inform him of my desire to contest for the governorship of the state. He declared his opposition to my candidature. My insistence on presenting myself for election into the office of the governor of the state was the beginning of the misunderstanding between us. Trusting in God’s promise, I proceeded to purchase the Expression of interest and Nominations forms for the governorship of the state under the PDP. This sparked off controversy but because I know that democracy is a game of choice, I was not discouraged in presenting myself to the people of Ebonyi who are the only people to choose who leads them on 11th April, 2015. The sequence of other events followed from that point”- (See David Umahi, 2015 (‘’The State of the People’s Democratic Party in Ebonyi, A Response to Elechi’s Press Conference: Crisis of the People’s Democratic Party in Ebonyi: Who is Working Against Who)?’’
The underlining message is in the concluding part of the statement by Umahi that ‘’… I know that democracy is a game of choice, I was not discouraged in presenting myself to the people of Ebonyi who are the only people to choose who leads them on 11th April, 2015’’. The import of this message is very clear even to the undiscerning!
In 2018, barely 13 months to the next election, after averring that “democracy is a game of choice”, the same Chief Umahi was reported to have said: “…anyone who tries us would be crushed because if the person falls on us, he will be grinded into granite and if we fall on him, he will be grinded into ashes…I and my Deputy have accepted to continue this divine work and anyone who tries to terminate it would face God’s anger and might not be there during our swearing-in ceremony’’ (See Daily Post Online 21 January, 2018).
While many Ebonyians were still debating whether such utterances could have come from their ‘’wonder’’ working Governor, few days ago, as if to demonstrate to the people that he meant what he said, another report came and detailed in a gruesome manner how a member of the opposition was brutalised by youths allegedly paid by the state government. The essence of the beating , needless to say, was to send a signal to the opposition that the “Iron Gate” was in no mood to tolerate opposition, hence there should be no meeting of any group of people apart from that of Divine Mandate’s PDP. In both allegations, one had expected the Governor’s media managers to refute them or state the true position of things. Since then, no official statement has been issued in that respect and people would naturally assume that the allegations were true. But even then, we are appalled at the level of insecurity in the state. Ebonyi has suddenly become a fiefdom where no voice apart from that of the emperor should be heard. For those that espouse views that are not in sync with the prevailing norm, their lives are in danger. A state that is just barely 21 years old has become so politically militarized and charged that a sitting governor can have the audacity to vow publicly that anyone and everyone that wants to contest the position against him will not live to see his swearing-in!
No matter how highly placed we may be, we must learn to moderate our words. The fate that befell Abacha who had thought that Nigeria was his oyster should be enough to humble us. It cannot be over emphasized that democracy is a game of choice as the governor rightly said. In democratic societies, the tickets that keep leaders in office are evidence of their performance and hard work. The people who are the governed understand the difference between performance, grandstanding, self-glorification and coated promises. When a leader is sure of his performance and relationship with the people, it is the people that would naturally push for him/her to remain in office, the leader does not need to use his vantage position to intimidate opponents or create fear in the mind of people. Indeed, if there is no opposition to compete with, it cannot be said to be a competition and it cannot be a democracy if there are no competing choices. There must be Ebonyi State after 2019. Ebonyi people may seem to be silent in the face of all the threats, and the most dangerous of people to deal with is a silent group/opposition. No one should be taken for granted. I recall Chief Martin Elechi’s opening quotation in his press conference of 2015 where he said that ‘’When an elephant stands quietly and closes its eyes, flies and other insects perch around its nose, eyes and ears. It remains motionless and the flies presume the elephant is dead. But when, suddenly the elephant turns its head swiftly, onlookers around complain that the elephant is too hard on the insects’’. Chief Umahi also retorted in his response quoting Anon that: “For whenever the anger of divine spirits is charged against someone, it first does this: it steals away his mind and good sense, and turns his thought to foolishness, so that he should know nothing of his mistakes.”
While it is not the wish of Ebonyi people that the elephant would suddenly turn and onlookers complain, we also pray that nothing steals away the mind of our leaders as to turn their thoughts to foolishness and to not recognize when they are making mistakes. Let the era of ‘’irreversibility’’ and ‘’irrevocability’’ end in Ebonyi. No person should play God. When one prays that his opponent would not live to witness his swearing in or see him taking the oath of office, has the person known the mind of God for his own life? We have said that endorsement which is another form of imposition is not part of democracy. Let the people make their choice on who leads them.
Every leader is a servant. Charlie Chaplin was emphatic in talking to leaders. He said: ‘’I don’t want to be an emperor. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, and has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed…More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost…The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish…Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security…’’
Need I say more? Let us eschew utterances that will lead to violence. The youths must know that when it is said that the future belong to them it is not the future of violence, death or injury, it is the future of leadership. After 2019, there shall still be Ebonyi. Power is transient and ephemeral. It is an illusion, we only recover from it when it is gone. Like a relay race, we should endeavor to play our part well in such a manner that posterity will remember us for the good we did here, not for the evil we spewed when it was our turn to steer humanity away from the path of perdition. There should be showers of blessings in Ebonyi, not showers of terror.
