Herdsmen attacks in Edo and the tales moustachioed men tell

By Idemudia Oviosun (PhD)

 Well-groomed and full-looking moustaches make people look serious, even when they are telling lies. It therefore is no surprise that one anonymous fellow, sporting a particularly intimidating upper lip adorned with the most delightful crop of moustache this side of the hemisphere, painted the town red with a video of terrible lamentations, and was ultimately taken seriously.

 This inciteful fellow, whose identity remains to the public as much a mystery as that one-shoed belle of fairy tales, Cinderella’s identity remains a mystery to the equally fairy tale Prince Charming, directed an unpolitical and impolitic address to Governor Obaseki of Edo State, via the social media, accusing him of black negligence and lack of a father’s compassion.

 In his address, he claimed that he was encouraged by the governor’s campaigns in both the United States and Europe to relocate to Edo, his alleged state of origin, and set up a farm to feed the people of the state, whom he believes are bedevilled by a malicious reality of hunger. Upon arriving in Nigeria, he alleged also that he was at the governor’s agriculture workshop where he sat attentively behind the governor and proffered what should have been wise solutions to the herdsmen conundrum. More on the proposed solutions in subsequent paragraphs.

He also claimed to have invested some N50m in agriculture by setting up a farm at an undisclosed location and by training some 80 locals in agriculture, but that this investment had been trampled underfoot or underhoof by insolent herdsmen and their hungry cattle one year later.

Now, here is the thing; the Godwin Obaseki-led administration is less than a year old. In fact, it only just clocked seven months in office. If, as our Anonymous friend says, he was inspired to come to Nigeria with his family after watching Obaseki campaign somewhere beyond the shores of Nigeria, then he has divorced his blarney tale from the all-important element of believability; verisimilitude.

Godwin Obaseki started campaigning July last year. It was not until August that he held this overseas campaign, which Mr Anonymous claimed he attended and was ‘convinced’. He could not have relocated with his family overnight. He must have taken at least two weeks to migrate his family to Nigeria, and at least another month to set up a farm, of which he could dedicate 500 hectares to plantain production alone. He, alleged also, to have a section for watermelon and cassava.

Of course, he could not have moved down to Nigeria until he was sure Governor Obaseki had the victory. So, if he did move, he must have moved after September 26. The likely thing is that he moved sometime early October, if he did move at all.

The grim fellow claimed to have set up such an established business in one year, and in that one year, the business had come to undeserved doom. There is no unity of time, place and action in the yarn Mr Anonymous has artfully spun for the public, especially as Governor Obaseki has not used up to that time in office.

Meanwhile, at the Agric workshop organised by Governor Obaseki, he, perhaps inspired by the late Oba Oguola and Oba Ewuare (Ogidigan), suggested that moats and trenches should be built around farms to protect them from herdsmen. Why did he not do it, and if he did do it and it failed, then it clearly was not the needed solution, and he should never have brought it up?

However, despite his airing this moustachioed complaint, we need to ask him some questions. Where is his farm located and when exactly was it ravaged? Why did he come out only after herdsmen, uninvited, paid a visit to the classrooms of Ihovbe Primary School and was it not wiser for him to have just told his story independent of the classroom incident? What did he hope to achieve with this video? Has he sent a letter personally? Why are the details of this his business nebulous? Why did he resort to the social media to reach the governor on such a sensitive issue if not to satisfy ulterior motives? How can he be reached?

 This bespectacled middle-aged man is clearly out to scare would-be investors, who are already considering setting up a business in Edo. It may also be an attempt to sabotage the imminent economic boon in the state by saboteurs, who want to be clogs in the wheel.

 Is his wise appearance just a façade – a sham, hiding an irrecoverably simplistic mind? This cock and bull story, juxtaposed with pictures exhumed from the devil knows where, is at variance with the well-meaning position he needlessly claimed to occupy. He repeatedly claimed to be speaking without political bias, but that is absolutely unbelievable. Has he tried to call a press conference after that contrived incarceration at the State Criminal Investigative Department?

 Right-thinking Edo people should encourage Governor Obaseki to continue the good work he has started in the state. Even the National Bureau of Statistics recently released a report on security and declared Edo a safe place for investing and conducting business. If we, the observant public, must take Mr Anonymous seriously, he must help us by first showing some modicum of seriousness.