WHEN HISTORY BECOMES WITNESS.

Prince Kelly O. Udebhulu

By Prince Kelly O. Udebhulu.

I shall continue to have a running gun-less battle with some Esan writers and opinion builders both at home and abroad on the choice of words they throw to the public space. I often reminded them that they are creating millions of enemies for our people and not fighting the war of marginalization from a strategic angle. Let ask ourselves these pertinent questions.

Where are our leading political parties' leaders that sit and dine with parties' state and federal stakeholders in this country? Have they made any collective press release titled for or against the marginalization of Esan people?

Some days ago, a friend reminded me of the tragedy of keeping quiet by men who should know better in times of crisis. He reminded me of the calamity that will befall a society when real men choose to be neutral and complacent in times of great moral crisis. He reminded me that evil triumph in every nation when good and thinking men do nothing. In the history book;

“The story is usually told of how years after the devastation of Germany in WW2. There was a meeting of German Egg Heads. And the question was how did it come to past that a nation that produced Great Thinkers like Friederich Niettzshe.. Karl Max …Albert Einstein….Bruno Bauer. Friederich Engels… Etc ..etc…get seized and goaded into ultimate destruction by a loony like Hitler… Who was not even originally German but Austrian! The thinkers came up with the conclusion that complacency and indifference until it became too late … Was the main cause!”

The blame was put squarely on the inability of the German political class and the elite to rise up to the challenges of Hitler and his collaborators. The consequences of their inability to call a spade a spade resulted in the death of 20 million people and the massive destruction of property worth several billions of dollars. The rest is now history!

Let me resist the temptation of harping on the missed opportunities before the present day marginalization of Esan people. In Nigeria politics, the Esan persons are the mathematical political Jews of Nigeria —gifted, aggressive, outspoken and intelligent. These attributes are more than enough to enable the Esan people to enjoy steady political power and development in Nigeria. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. The tragedy, regrettably, is that there is no tangible development in Esan land besides primitive accumulation of wealth by the individual politicians themselves.

In fact, it’s better to declare here, instead of begging the issue that the blowing wind has exposed the anus of the fowl for all to see- The neutral status of our political leaders in the face of Esan marginalization.

The free play ground exhibited by our political leaders for the perpetrators of the present day marginalization of Esan people especially the alarming disunity among Esan political leaders in all political parties across Edo state caused the continued oppression and intimidation that the Esan people swallow daily.

However, the Edo North and Edo South can rejoice today and dance to the "kukuruku music". A bad seed has been planted today and the Esan people is hard punched. Whoever orchestrated this plot should not rejoice for too long. Trust, Esan people has learnt their lessons and wiser now. When the tide change, prosperity will definitely remember this era in history. Oh! yes, "History is my witness."

...to be continued.