Faulty ideology and the lies in your Truth – A letter to ASCOM AAPOLY -By Caleb Ijioma

Effervescent greetings to comrades of the Pen. I have long anticipated a time to pen down my thoughts, after my last open letter, some years back.

As you know, I have always expressed my thoughts -through different channels- on delicate issues, because I believe that evil reigns supreme when good people keep mute.

I have always been a player in our association’s growth. It’s an obvious fact that I have taken some major steps to ensure that our institution and our department get due recognition beyond its four walls. I’m sure you know my challenging moments, and I don’t want to take us through the lane of history.

I know that you’re aware that the truth I once preached some years ago brought enemies to my doorstep. Some disguised themselves under the clothing of friendship, while others were confident to show their skin. Regardless, I saw the need to speak more, write more, and dare more. It is in this I find strength.

I’m happy, now is the perfect time to express my concerns and fears over some inconsiderate steps taken by some actors in this period of our association’s history.

The last election came with different drama, quite laughable. I held a view, which I confidently expressed and was tagged with different names.

I lost friends, because of my stance and the notion I upheld. Perhaps, they thought I would shift my stance and swap my convictions, but it was disappointing that it didn’t play out according to their script.

Discrimination was conspicuous, they preached lies and tagged it as truth, their truth fraught with danger, and capable of leaving a bad precedent if consumed by the student populace. A woman can lead, but not at the top. This was their truth, and so, was preached.

Their truth gained momentum and sat well with some electorates, who have over time held a similar ideology. Interestingly, the results currently are a product of decisions taken from a faulty ideology.

In all of these, I didn’t stop speaking, I didn’t lose my voice, like some few persons who feel friendship is equivalent to leadership positions.

This is another period in our association’s history and surprisingly, the truth which they once preached, is being recycled and sent to the populace, this time garnished by people with no leadership antecedent.

This I know, but they feel higher because of the masculine traits which recently have failed. The yardstick for any leadership position isn’t gendered, and this is not found in their truth.

I thought our institution is meant to shape our ideology and perspective toward leadership and by doing so, make us better people in society. Involvement in activities should give us the leverage to be better people, and purge the same values into society, which have strongly created a stance against women’s participation in top leadership positions. It is disgusting to hear and see that seclusion is being used in campaigns, at the grassroots level, even in our schools.

Your actions have long been held. It is a reaction to your ideology, carved for many years. I understand, however, “to err is Human, to persist in error is diabolical”, in the words of Georges Canguilhem.

I have always opined that women and men should be given equal opportunities to lead and one’s gender shouldn’t be used as a weapon against their aspirations. Tag it whatsoever, we cannot be creators of Truth, it can only be revealed.

Leveraging gender exposes your weakness and incapacity to lead an association I once served in 2017 and 2018. One of the best in the institution. An association/department that has built strong people in mind, will, and capacity, to do well in their different life choices. It is an insult to our collective intelligence.

It is pertinent to know that bad choices produce bad results, it has been proved over time. Electorates should cast their votes freely without having to preach hate because of an opponent’s gender. Your distasteful assertions attached to gender have only produced incapable hands.

Vote for people who have a clear laid-down plan. A student who can serve, walk and work with a clear vision, an idealistic individual; the growth of ASCOM depends on this.

Placing your decisions on gender will not only result in disunity but a failed administration. The future isn’t just male, it is male and female.

Just like Robert Louis Stevenson, a Scottish novelist said, “Sooner or later, everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.”

I will be here, in this corner of the world to remind you when the consequences of your actions come to hunt you.

Just so you know, my pen has never been laid to rest, it bleeds, and it bleeds Truth.

May we never know a better yesterday.

Caleb Ijioma writes from Ogun State, Nigeria.

Calebijioma@gmail.com