In the office of Deputy Governor Philip Shaibu is a group of individuals who have suddenly made themselves experts on all things Akoko Edo, and the defenders of the people’s aspirations. Call them the emergency Akoko-Edo Avengers if you like. Leading the line is Philip Shaibu himself whose love for Akoko-Edo is so great, he requires the assistance of a litany of aides to locate the place on a map of Edo State, let alone find the direction to Igarra from Benin City or Jattu.
Similar to him, his aides too do not know the next thing about Akoko Edo, Igarra or any of the constituent parts that make up the Local Government Area. But that has not stopped them from pontificating with great confidence, dictating to the people whose political career they must prop or end, and who they must elect and not elect.
It matters not to them that the people they’ve made the subject of their attacks have spent their lives rebuilding several communities in the area and directly impacting lives, earning for themselves widespread admiration, love and recognition.
On a personal note as John Mayaki, there is no doubt that Philip Shaibu, despite all his years in elevated political office and present position as the Deputy Governor, has not and will never match my personal contributions to the development of my birthplace and the resting place of my ancestors. Not to mention his talkative aides who are merely trying to nick a living by writing their hands sore, projecting the products of their warped minds on a people who are fiercely independent in thought and do not need the ignorant musings of interlopers to make any decision, including electoral choices.
One would have been deceived by their sudden love and concern for Akoko Edo were it not that every statement and article from their corner always end with vain praise of Philip Shaibu. If this man has done as well as they claim, we wouldn’t need a daily reminder of his supposed achievements from this group of bored and uninventive media minders whose tedious prose is as dull as their single-phase careers. But I digress.
If indeed this whole contrived anger from Philip Shaibu and his band of dullards is about the people of Akoko Edo and a construction gone wrong, why must every statement end with a shameful insertion of the Deputy Governor and blabber about all the political offices he has occupied? Of what relevance is that to, say, a man in Igarra who is wondering why the Deputy Governor’s caravan did not stop at the Orere Primary School to also announce a takeover?
Of course it is obvious to every discerning mind that the Deputy Governor has made it about himself for political gain. He after all wants to replace his principal as the next Governor. And this is why his aides, slow-witted and self-absorbed like the man they hold brief for, equate any attempt to elevate the conversation and guide the people’s credible displeasure to the appropriate quarters as a defense of the representative of the constituency.
One of them whose entire life is governed by a relentless hustle for appointments and whose name I will no longer mention because I’m not interested in bringing relevance to fading entities, went further to project his sad, unambitious state on me with the absurd accusation that I work as an aide. Do you have to work as an aide to lay out the facts of a controversial issue? If money has exchanged hands, is it not important to obtain evidence of who received what to ensure full accountability and mete out justice to defaulting parties? None of this can happen without the full disclosure that investigations by relevant agencies will present, and this is why I and other true sons of Akoko Edo insist on it.
From history, we have learned not to trust people who claim to love us more than we love ourselves. If Philip Shaibu and his little boys are in search of heroism, we are certain their own people could do with some. The people of Akoko Edo will not be told who to elect and how they must act. Such insolence has long been rejected. In attempting to return it, Shaibu and these weeping boys are calling for hard lessons. It will not be fun.