Obaseki: A merchant of failure and violence
Obaseki: A merchant of failure and violence
By John Mayaki
Sometime in the Civil Rights Movement in America, specifically between 1956 and 1965, Martin Luther King had to resolve the differences in peoples and organizations involved in the movement. The main conflict arose from the ideas and concept of the Black Power, and for this, King had to redefine leadership and who a leader is. A true leader, King finally wrote, is not a person who seeks consensus, but one who molded consensus; such a person is not a conformist, but someone who stood out, a person of conviction, a believer in God, one who refuses hate and is opposed to violence.
In Governor Godwin Obaseki, none of this character is seen; in this failure of a person masquerading as a leader, no true virtue of leadership is found. At his best, Obaseki is an uninspiring debris who lacks the strength of character to forge new and improved experience of life for his people, a man incapable of forming a progressive ideology and convincing the people to follow him on this path.
Having led for four years, Edo State has witnessed its most uncharismatic tenure in the hands of Obaseki, a man who is a respecter of no man, a man who does not fear God, a man who is in love with violence, intimidation, and terror. The terror of Benin, Obaseki, has squandered his first term on aimless engagements, therefore achieving nothing for the people of Edo State.
If he is not signing unproductive MoU's, then he is globetrotting or sleeping in important meetings. He is just a vain man with no achievements on his hands. That is why he is spending public resources on propaganda. Had he been an achiever, he would have leveraged on his achievements, selling the rightfulness of his candidacy to the good people of Edo State. But he is just a failure, a man without spine, without vision, and without competence.
And so like all embittered failures, Obaseki begins smearing and bullying and victimizing people who are opposed to his tasteless administration. He has demolished people's properties, sent thugs after people, ordered people to close their spaces and venues from citizens who want to use it for harmless meetings. He threatens to revoke the landlords' right of occupancy, he threatens fire and brimstone, he threatens to let hell loose on who doesn't worship his empty ambition.
Most recently, he has used an official instrument of public governance for the pursuit of personal ambition. He has compelled the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, against his will, to use his office for the production and distribution of videos vilifying his perceived opponents. But it is Obaseki nonetheless, a man who has fallen so deep below the bar that nothing good is expected out of him. It is no longer surprising, this is what failures do.
But Governor Godwin Obaseki is the real Barabbas and the evidence lies in his appalling one-term administration. Obaseki is the true notorious arsonist, a man who under his one-term administration, Edo State has experienced countless fire outbreaks and yet the fire service remains dead. Obaseki is the real bandit, the real insurrectionist who commands violence through a cult of youth his administration rendered unemployed.
In all ramifications, as evidenced in his despicable one-term administration, Obaseki is nothing but a colossal failure, a new-era Barabbas who is trying to appeal the emotion of people in order to shore up support for his ailing and collapsing administration. But, well, that is what failures do - clinching to emotion when logic is pointing to the disaster they are.
It is true that there is a decision, a choice for the people of Edo State to make. But this choice, fortunately, does not include Godwin Obaseki, the merchant of violence and failure, the King Saul who is merely a headfigure whose anointing and ordination have been stripped. At best, Obaseki is merely occupying space and staying out the time before he is finally removed for the establishment and enthronement of the people's David.
The good people of Edo, like Samuel, are collectively telling Obaseki: "why do you disturb us with your lies? By this time December, you shall be with us in the streets as a mere citizen."
By John Mayaki
Sometime in the Civil Rights Movement in America, specifically between 1956 and 1965, Martin Luther King had to resolve the differences in peoples and organizations involved in the movement. The main conflict arose from the ideas and concept of the Black Power, and for this, King had to redefine leadership and who a leader is. A true leader, King finally wrote, is not a person who seeks consensus, but one who molded consensus; such a person is not a conformist, but someone who stood out, a person of conviction, a believer in God, one who refuses hate and is opposed to violence.
Having led for four years, Edo State has witnessed its most uncharismatic tenure in the hands of Obaseki, a man who is a respecter of no man, a man who does not fear God, a man who is in love with violence, intimidation, and terror. The terror of Benin, Obaseki, has squandered his first term on aimless engagements, therefore achieving nothing for the people of Edo State.
If he is not signing unproductive MoU's, then he is globetrotting or sleeping in important meetings. He is just a vain man with no achievements on his hands. That is why he is spending public resources on propaganda. Had he been an achiever, he would have leveraged on his achievements, selling the rightfulness of his candidacy to the good people of Edo State. But he is just a failure, a man without spine, without vision, and without competence.
And so like all embittered failures, Obaseki begins smearing and bullying and victimizing people who are opposed to his tasteless administration. He has demolished people's properties, sent thugs after people, ordered people to close their spaces and venues from citizens who want to use it for harmless meetings. He threatens to revoke the landlords' right of occupancy, he threatens fire and brimstone, he threatens to let hell loose on who doesn't worship his empty ambition.
Most recently, he has used an official instrument of public governance for the pursuit of personal ambition. He has compelled the Commissioner for Information and Orientation, against his will, to use his office for the production and distribution of videos vilifying his perceived opponents. But it is Obaseki nonetheless, a man who has fallen so deep below the bar that nothing good is expected out of him. It is no longer surprising, this is what failures do.
But Governor Godwin Obaseki is the real Barabbas and the evidence lies in his appalling one-term administration. Obaseki is the true notorious arsonist, a man who under his one-term administration, Edo State has experienced countless fire outbreaks and yet the fire service remains dead. Obaseki is the real bandit, the real insurrectionist who commands violence through a cult of youth his administration rendered unemployed.
In all ramifications, as evidenced in his despicable one-term administration, Obaseki is nothing but a colossal failure, a new-era Barabbas who is trying to appeal the emotion of people in order to shore up support for his ailing and collapsing administration. But, well, that is what failures do - clinching to emotion when logic is pointing to the disaster they are.
It is true that there is a decision, a choice for the people of Edo State to make. But this choice, fortunately, does not include Godwin Obaseki, the merchant of violence and failure, the King Saul who is merely a headfigure whose anointing and ordination have been stripped. At best, Obaseki is merely occupying space and staying out the time before he is finally removed for the establishment and enthronement of the people's David.
The good people of Edo, like Samuel, are collectively telling Obaseki: "why do you disturb us with your lies? By this time December, you shall be with us in the streets as a mere citizen."
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