TIME TO HALT THE WAR

By Dan Owegie

An old man cannot be at home and a pregnant goat gives birth with the rope tied round its neck—African Proverb

I can hear the sound

Yes, the drumbeat.

The drumbeat of war is sounding loud.

Oh! yes, I can see the drummers, the drums and the drum stick.

I can see the merchants of war smiling to the banks

But who will bell the Cat? The big fat cat.

And they are coming. Coming fast like Absalom and Jonathan

They slaughtered them, in their thousands

The men, women and children died, and the weapons of war perished!

IT is no longer what is said in hush tones, it has become very obvious that the All Progressives Congress, APC, which we toiled and laboured to put in place in Edo State is going through a major challenge which appears to have polarized its vast membership along two divides as we approach the year of our Lord 2020. The poem above tells the story and should guide us in our utterances and actions as party men, women and youth, including those with one form of Physical challenge or the other.

It is about our Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his predecessor in office, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. It appears as though; a war has been declared by supporters of both illustrious sons of Edo State. I see and read some unguarded comments by supporters of both men. This has been taken too far. In fact, the social media is now daily being served with all sorts of political delicacies from Edo State, real and imagined. To put it mildly, it is even more of a cyber war and Edo people wonder; why?

Perhaps, our colleagues would need to learn more from history, this time around. The history of wars reveal that it blows no one any good.

There is always huge, significant price to pay for war. Adolf Hitler plunged the whole world into a needless world war II. Hitler was a German politician and leader of the Nazi Party. He rose to power as Chancellor of Germany in 1933. During his dictatorship from 1933 to 1945, he initiated World War II in Europe by invading Poland in September 1939. The war claimed hundreds of thousands of lives when the world’s population was just around a billion people or less. When he commenced the war, his permutations and calculations was that he would emerge victorious. Failure was completely out of his Rader.

Unknown to him, Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, a British statesman, army officer, and writer will not want him to have his way in Poland. Churchill was then, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and governed them from 1940 to 1945. He ratcheted up some allies and led Britain to victory in the Second World War. But even in victory, Winston Churchill and other world leaders met at the White House luncheon in June 26, 1954 to review the World War. His exact words are not known, because the meetings and the luncheon that day were closed to reporters, but he was quoted to have said that “it is better to jaw-jaw, than to war-war.” He considered the cost of the war, the many lives lost, the flora and fauna that were destroyed, the environmental prolusion and degradation and so many others. In fact, an outcome of the meeting in Washington was the establishment of the United Nations.

What about the Nigeria Civil War that lasted for about 30 months? The Ibos in July 1967 wanted a break-away from the rest of Nigeria. Chief Odumegu Ojukwu led the Ibos on this tragic mission. General Yakubu Gowon, a young soldier led the Federal troops of Nigeria to defend the geographical territory called Nigeria. Gowon insisted on one, indivisible and united Nigeria. But anyhow, the war still claimed several lives. Lives of soldiers on both sides, civilians, infants, youths, women and even animals perished!

At the end of the Biafra war on 15 Jan 1970, General Yakubu Gowon, declared “No victor, No vanquished” and announced the commencement of the three “Rs”– Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reintegration.” What lessons can be learnt from these two scenarios in our political life today? What about the Boko Haram war in North East Nigeria? Has it blown any one any good since its commencement? The answer remains a big Nay!

Now, back to the Nigerian politics. What led to the demise of the PDP in Edo State? Certain persons felt the party was their sole property and they can do and undo. They chased party faithful away with brazen impunity for selfish reasons, even a serving Governor, Lucky Igbinedion at that time was eased out of the party. This gave birth to the grace group and the rest is history today.

Not learning from that, the same PDP used the same old tricks to continue to de-register its members across the country during the build up to the 2015 elections. They opened their eyes and watched seven serving governors move out of the party in one day. Those behind the melodrama thought they were wining. But alas! What happened? The sun came, the rain came, and the PDP was swept way from power at the centre.

In juxtaposing the above four scenarios into the Edo APC raging war, methinks it is a war or a challenge that no one should thump his chest of going to win tomorrow. It is an evil wind that will not help the APC as a party in Edo State. It might lead to an implosion of some sorts if not properly managed at this stage and the consequences are dire. Don’t forget, we have a shameless and decimated PDP in the wings watching and plotting to take undue advantage of the ongoing war.

But I call on all APC members, whether supporting Governor Obaseki or Oshiomhole to sheath their swords now. It was time we ended the needless war within. I suggest that some Leaders and Founding members need to weigh in quickly. I suggest: Prince Anslem Ojezua, Hon Charles Idahosa, Capt. Hosa Okunbo, and Senator Alimikhena should come together and weigh-in on this issue in the interest of APC and Edo State. The Party chairman, Anslem Ojezua should lead this process given his office. He should reach out to these leaders and others considered useful to bring an amicable end to the internal issues. The crack team should then reach out to our respected Governor, Godwin Obaseki and his Predecessor in office/National Chairman of our party and of course, other party faithful in the state to bring a quick and amicable end to the internal challenge. This is needed for the obvious reason. The APC is in power and we cannot afford to trade it away to those who ruined the state for nearly a decade.

This respected team should then take steps to restrain our party men and women, especially our active youths from continuing the war at the cyber space. They should also look into issues that led us to this situation and come up with measures to address them amicably, so that it will be a win-win for all APC members in Edo State and a prove to our distractors and foes that we are better than them, anytime, any day.

Edo people deserve and need peace. Edo people want more progress and development from the APC-led government. The time to halt the war is now!