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Pot pourri of happenings from late 2024 to this moment has left me befuddled as I ruminate on one issue to the other.
The first thing that struck me was the budget speech of the amiable, humility personified Governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo where he stumbled through the very monumental figures.
Okpebholo is becoming a dictator,
What happened to him that day was something that could happen and infact has happened to so many high networth personalities around the globe so it was not a big deal.
My concern here is that at that point when he was having issues with pronouncing the figures there were hordes of his aides watching the scene but none of them could summon the courage to quickly scribble the confusing figures on a sheet of paper and pass it to him.
Secondly, I guess he was not made to revise the speech the previous night so that he would have gotten accustomed to it. Also why was the figure not written in words to save the man from uncalled for harassment and mockery from different fronts.
In sane climes some elements in his backroom office would have honorably handed in their resignation to atone for their horrendous mistake. It would then be left for the governor to turn down their letter of resignation as a show of empathy and a display of the spirit of forgiveness.
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Barely had that gone down when the shocking news of the death of General Godwin Osagie Abbe(rtd) hit the airwaves. General Abbe was a man imbued with a huge dose of simplicity. The former governor of Akwa Ibom and Rivers State was a man who never hanged his personality on his shoulders. He had the ability to relate with just about anyone that knows how not to go beyond certain boundaries (what in local parlance is called see finish).
I recall vividly some time in 2010, during the administration of the late Alhaji Umaru Yaradua as President of Nigeria when General Abbe was the Minister of Defence. I was one of a group of Journalists who joined the environmental rights action(ERA) on a tour of some oil facilities in Delta State. Before the tour was embarked on a member of the community where the facilities were located was sent forth to secure an easy passage for the group made up of about twenty individuals but somehow he did not get the job done the proper way.
We ended up being tagged as terrorists and the company unknown to us had contacted the nearest military formation. In no time battle ready soldiers arrived the facility with armoured vehicles encircling “the enemies.” At that moment, as we were being led to Golgotha, what came to my mind on the spur of the moment was to call General Abbe who was in a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting presided over by President Yaradua.
He responded to my call promptly, listened attentively to my narration and passed the message to the gathering in the NEC meeting wherein the military high command passed a “stop the harassment of those innocent people” message to the military officers encircling us. We were left off with profound apologies. The report of our experience was captured by the Guardian Newspaper on its front page the next day.
General Abbe on many occasions will invite me and others to his palatial home in Benin to join him in taking pap and akara a delicacy which we all savoured. The last time I saw him was at a gathering a few months before he passed on. “Isaac, it has been such a long time I saw you. I hope all is well?” He told me in recognition.
Another issue that readily comes to my mind is the sudden passage of the wife of a colleague early this year. The woman from all indications would have survived if she had been given the right medical attention. A situation where she was taken to five different “reputable” hospitals with the medical personnel not showing much empathy to her case speaks volumes.
The management of the last hospital that she was taken to, the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), will have to explain why they don’t have enough of the equipment needed to keep her alive while they spent hundreds of millions to construct a mini stadium not minding that the University of Benin just next door also has a similar sports facility. Of what value is the mini stadium in saving lives?
In the days of yore, Motel Benin Plaza, was highly rated in the hospitality sector. Situated opposite the Secretariat of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). The hotel is a stone throw to the Edo State Government House and also within the Benin City Centre.
Its strategic location gave it a lot of advantage over its competitors. Back in the days if you don’t lodge there then you have not lodged in Benin.
The hotel which commenced operation in 1969 started reclining in its services in later years. By mid 2024 the facility was finally shut down and the staff laid off. Soon the grapevine was awash with tales that the owners of the hotel have been unable to get buyers who are held back by the whooping sum of N600 million been asked for.
Now, as you’re reading this, criminal elements have reportedly looted just about everything of value in the abandoned hotel. Learnt their modus operandi is to scale the fence and loot whatever they desire without any hindrance. That the state Police Command Headquarters is less than a five minutes walk to the hotel and the hoodlums operate freely is what is surprising many people.
Things do happen. There’s said to be cab driver plying between Ezoti Junction and Osadebey Avenue(Edo State Government House) who is a person of interest. Of course, cab driving is not a sin so no big deal.
But what is interesting about this cab driver is that the car that he is using for his business is battered. Considering that just barely two months ago his sibling reigned supreme in the Government House and he was said to be a beneficiary of this good fortune you begin to wonder what is really happening. Some “pastors” do have them!
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