Oshiomole And His Igueben Show.

By Osazua IVBAZE 

If a man slapped or insulted your father last year and came  back this year, when your anger had not ebbed, and tried to justify his act, what would be your response/ reaction?

When he came to your house, you thought he was around to render apology and ask for forgiveness. No, he didn’t do that but instead defecated on your floor.

What did Chinua Achebe in his Things Fall Apart advise you to do?

For those, who have no regard for their fathers , this additional insults will mean nothing to them. And so, they would stand and watch and even applaud him.

This imaginary scenario happened in reality and in a more disquieting dimension at Igueben on Monday when Oshiomole  stood before Esan Royal fathers to try and justify his dethronement of Uromi Monarch.

The video, which is already going viral, shows Oshiomole boasting that if he is still Governor tomorrow and “same thing happens” he will take the same action .  This was greeted with angry disapproval by a cross section of the audience in the Enogie of Igueben’s palace , the venue of the unfortunate event.

In all fairness, Ize- Iyamu has nurtured and built his own formidable political reputation over the years. I do not know how he is coping with the deficiencies of Oshiomole , who is more of a liability than asset to his gubernatorial pursuit.

Even though Oshiomole’s contempt and hatred for Esan is all well known, his latest display shouldn’t have been part of Ize-Iyamu’s electioneering program in Esanland.

The best thing Oshiomole should have done was to keep quiet and allow Ize- Iyamu market himself. Or if he must talk, because he likes talking,should have tactically avoided reopening old wounds or humbly tender unreserved apology to the Royal fathers for humiliating one of them.

Rather than do that, he sought to prove that he is a tough guy.

I know there are some Esan guys out there, who for partisan reasons, will not see anything distasteful in  Oshiomole’s misbehavior .

Or even when they know what he did was wrong, will not condemn it.

But  the truth is that Oshiomole’s latest show is a desecration of and disrespect to Esan traditional institution, and by extension and necessary implications to the entire self-respecting and dynamic Esan Race.