Calling Calumniators Of Ize-Iyamu To Order Through Edo Proverbs -By Isaac Asabor

There is an Edo proverb that says “God created every child with the ability to cry but when a spoilt child cries he is bound to forget to stop crying and close his or her mouth”. This proverb, no doubt, holds true in the case of supporters of the gubernatorial flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and incumbent governor of Edo State, Mr. Godwin Obaseki. Recall that 14 political were cleared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to participate in the upcoming governorship election Edo State.

But like the child that knows how to close his or mouth after crying, 12 of the political parties that proverbially started crying after realizing that Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu will be flying the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the gubernatorial election, have all closed their mouths while the contextually PDP and its members in the State have refused to close its mouth.
A closely related Edo proverb also says “When the eyes of a weeping child are filled with tears it would be difficult for such child to recognize the gift that would placate him or her. Little wonder members of the PDP in Edo have failed to recognize the fact that issue-based campaign would go a long way in helping the party and its candidate gain support from the people. I believe that the case of members of the PDP in the State would not have been different. Rather than seizing the opportunities that would have been inherent in issue-based campaign, members of the PDP, like the child that could not see clearly as a result of the tears in his or her eyes, failed to take the advantages that are inherent in engaging in issue-based campaign that does not require name calling and campaign of calumny.

Given the somewhat freestyle manner in which calumniators, mostly affiliated to Edo PDP, are campaigning against Ize-Iyamu by calling him all sorts of names with unverifiable allegations, and their undeniably irascible campaigns on social media platforms, it cannot be erroneous to say that their mischievous activities find expression in another Edo proverb nay African proverb that says “An empty pot makes the loudest noise”. In a similar vein, the tough talk which Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State who is the chairman of the PDP Edo State Governorship Campaign Council have being credited with that Obaseki does not have an opponent in the upcoming election equally finds expression in an Edo proverb that says, “It is difficult for anyone to deny that he is not a hunter when he is visibly carrying a Dane gun”.

Interpretatively put, if Obaseki does not have an opponent as Wike toughly said, why is he literarily having sleepless nights over the election? Without any iota of exaggeration, he has been visibly engrossed with the ongoing campaign electioneering. Put differently, why can’t Wike go to sleep since Obaseki does not have an opponent to face in the election?
Since governor Wike was appointed to chair the PDP Edo State Governorship Campaign Council, there is nothing that can be considered to be pleasant that he has said about Ize-Iyamu. Rather than engage him on issue-based campaign, he has all along being kept busy assassinating the character of Ize-Iyamu and the former governor of Edo State, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole. If I may ask, has Wike forgotten an Edo proverb that says, “One camel does not make fun of the other camel’s hump?”

At this juncture, Wike’s obsession for always seeing Ize-Iyamu as inconsequential in the upcoming election would make anyone to reflect on an Edo proverb that says “If a blind man says let’s throw stones, be assured that he has stepped on one.” In my view, before Wike and his co-travellers in the PDP begin to boast that Ize Iyamu is not a candidate, and not a threat in the forthcoming election, it is suspicious to say that they may have concluded a sinister plan. Permit me to buttress the foregoing with two Edo proverbs that say “When the pigeon begins to walk and nod its head rhythmically, be rest assured that its behind-the-scene drummers are at work. In other words, the pigeon is perhaps responding to the staccato rhythm of the drumbeats. The second proverb says it is the eagerness of the drumsticks that quicken the pace of dancers. So, who are those pushing Wike and other PDP members and supporters in Edo State that they have become so credulous that they now think Obaseki does not have an opponent?

Still in the same nexus, not few political observers are unanimously of the view that the APC in the ongoing electioneering campaign in Edo State appears to be more confident ahead of the election. In a similar vein, many political observers and Journalists are not in any way taken aback that APC has not been replying the PDP campaign team on some of their spurious allegations as another Edo proverb says, “If a donkey kicks you and you kick back, you are both donkeys”. To put it bluntly, members of the APC do not want to be like those in Edo PDP.

I must confess that I deliberately chose the proverbial format in expressing my views on the issue of calumniators that are affiliated to the PDP as the issue of their resort to campaign of calumny has been addressed from almost all imaginable perspectives. But alas, they have remained adamant and relish in literarily feasting on the footages of Comrade Oshiomhole campaign for Obaseki in 2016. In their bid to exploit the seeming reservoir of footages, they have turned some of them to Memes and lampooning cartoons forgetting that those footages came about when their gubernatorial candidate was undeservedly marketed in 2016 to the detriment of Ize-Iyamu’s in that electoral dispensation.

At this juncture, it is germane to advise key decision makers in Edo PDP’s campaign team that “The tortoise decided to be moving about with its roof (its shell) for it not to be destroyed by the enemies. In the same spirit, it would have been better if the gubernatorial contestant in the State PDP who is invariably the incumbent governor of the State to call his supporters to order. The reason for the foregoing advice cannot be farfetched as it is expedient for all right thinking Edolites to be thinking of how a peaceful election would be conducted in the State come September 19, rather than making inflammatory statements. But ironically, rather than doing that, Ize-Iyamu’s calumniator are busy saying whatever they feel like saying without thinking of the consequences. To my view, if peradventure Edo State goes up in flame as a result of misguided statements been made by politicians, God forbid, Governor Wike will no doubt run to Rivers State, and we Edolites will remain in Edo to face the consequence. On this note, I am using this piece to urge all Edolites; irrespective of party and ethnic affiliations to ensure that the upcoming election in the State is peaceful.

Furthermore, the PDP gubernatorial aspirant in the State, and who is invariably the governor, should learn to accord respect to other candidates that are in the race with him without resorting to campaign of calumny and name calling. In the same vein, Edo PDP members should realize that the existing democratic system of government in the country was achieved at the expense of the lives of many patriotic Nigerians.