The recently concluded governorship election in Edo state remains one of the great occurrences in Nigeria in the year 2020 which has been tagged “the year of Covid-19”. While some political pundits have described it as the revival of political integrity, others say it was the final collapse of our “locally made” political technique known as godfatherism. In his published reaction to the outcome of the election, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, the former chairman of the ruling All Progressives’ Congress stated that it was not out of place for man to win some battles and also loose others. In his opinion, life is not about winning all the time. While this assertion may be debatably accepted to be true, the former leader did not give any clues as to why APC lost the election that governor Ganduje had boasted would send Governor Obaseki to an Isolation centre.
Meanwhile, going by all the known laws that govern creation, it would have been injurious to the spiritually-minded persons in the society for Ize-Iyamu to have won the election. Many persons would have been discouraged from taking God for His laws as stated in books of religion, including even the undocumented traditional ones.
Oshiomhole and his party violated these laws and attracted to themselves the consequences thereof. For example, there is the law of sowing and reaping. According to the Bible, it states that God is not mocked, whatever a man soweth, that he shall also reap. In some other religions it is known as the law of Kama. Perhaps in an attempt to simplify the law, the bible further states;”give and it shall be given unto you, good measure; pressed down and shaking together shall men give unto your bosom”. Stating further, the Holy book also adds;“he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully…”The “sow” in the these laws is
all-encompassing and therefore not restricted to money and agricultural crops, but includes strife, false allegation, unwarranted hatred for fellow humans, abuse, disrespect, lying, harassment, evil thoughts, disgrace, insult, good deeds of many kinds. This is the most violated law by men, including the former governor of Edo state.
In an attempt to carve a niche for himself, he disrespectfully humiliated and bullied the political leaders he met in Edo state out of relevance in the name of fighting godfatherism.
Without settling down to begin his assignment as the APC chairman, Adams boasted that he was going to ensure that PDP was wiped out of existence as a political party in Nigeria. He further boasted that he was going to ensure that Okowa was humiliated out of Delta state government house at all cost, including the use of federal might. These were unjust postulations of a supposed leader of a national political party, especially in a nation that is in dire need of peace and unity. Leaders are expected to lead by example.
In 1987, the late Chief Emeka Odimegwu Ojukwu was asked by a team of journalists from one of the Nigerian magazines why he consistently attended the Catholic Sunday mass despite his tight schedules. He responded by telling them that he made it a point of duty to be in church every Sunday because it is the right thing to do and that there were some persons in his community who may not go to church because he (Ojukwu) did the same. That is leadership by example!
Judging from Oshiomhole’s humble beginning and God’s abundant grace on him, he appeared to have violated the law of humility when he started acting god in Edo State. He openly told the people that he “sold” a bad product to them in 2015 by asking them to vote for Mr. Godwin Obaseki as governor instead of Pastor Ize-Iyamu. He arrogantly ‘begged’ them to vote for Iyamu in 2020. The law says; “pride goes before a fall” and that God resists the proud and uplifts the humble.
At the time he was giving Iyamu all sorts of names in trying to ensure that he lost the election in 2015, he ignored the law that says ‘touch not my anointed and do my prophet no harm’ by the unkind words he spoke concerning God’s anointed, Pastor Iyamu. Even when he openly apologized to his people, he did not rigorously apologize to Iyamu in the same manner he “murdered” his (Iyamu) character. Neither Iyamu nor Oshiomhole made any attempt to “untalk” all the previous negative talks. Spoken words are in conformity with natural laws. It does not matter whether the words are positive or negative. According to the law, life and death are in the power of the tongue. It goes on to say that whatever man says shall come to pass, including asking the mountain to move from one place to the other. This is perhaps why man should do all he can to “overtalk” his adversaries at the realm of the spirit concerning issues of life.
The law on love would have persuaded the “senior” politician to forgive Obaseki of his shortcomings, particularly after the intervention of many well meaning politicians like Chief John Oyegun. Instead, he influenced his party’s National working committee to disqualify Godwin from contesting the election over trivial issues. And he danced joyfully on the day the disqualification judgment was passed on Obaseki. Even if Obaseki was rightly disqualified, it is wrong for man to rejoice over the fall of a fellow human being. The law of love is so powerful. “For God so loved the world…” In doing likewise, this law expects man to love his neighbour as himself.
Pastor Ize-Iyamu, the man at the centre of it all did not help matters. He virtually handed over his campaign structure to a man who only converted to Christianity a few years back, unlike himself who has risen to the position of “pastor” of many years standing. When compared with pastor Ize-Iyamu, Oshiomhole can be described as a babe in Christ. Yet, he (Oshiomole) was able to lure him into taking a Muslim title in his desperation to win an election that will only guarantee a temporary stay in Edo state government house. This is contrast to the ambition of the followers of Jesus Christ whose ultimate goal is to win the race to heaven. Iyanu would be easily ignored if he was a nominal Christian, not pastor. He thus went against the law that prohibits Christians from sitting on the fence, being neither cold nor hot. And God says He will spit out any one caught in that position. The law further states that God is a jealous God who will not tolerate any person serving God and mammon at the same time.
The violation of any or all of the natural laws is evil. Whereas man-made laws can be upturn by money and influence, nothing stops natural laws from taking its course at the fullness of time. According to late Dele Giwa, “No evil deed can go unpunished. Any evil done by man will be redressed. If not now, then, certainly later. If not by man, then certainly by God, for the victory of evil over good can only be temporary”.
In the mean time, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is a mortal man. Like many other fellows, he is prone to mistakes. It is the nature of man. Bishop W. C. Magge states that “the man who does not make mistakes does not usually make anything”.
The one-time number one labour leader in Nigeria must therefore do all he can to correct his mistakes in humility and bounce back to reckoning. Failing to do so will amount to denying Nigerians of his political sagacity embedded in his campaign styles often mixed with speech eloquence, drama, comedy and hilarious dancing steps
WRITTEN BY AUGUSTINE OMILO