Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right.
Get up, stand up
Stand up for your right.
BOB MARLEY
Introduction
Just as one is about to retire COMPLETELY from commenting on issues affecting our land, things happen, that compel one to put a halt to the retirement process. I am sure that the stomachs of some of our people are turning on account of the bad news. For reasons of patriotism, I find it difficult to cease discussing Ukwuani – Ndosumili matters. Sorry, I have since decided to avoid the use of the word, NDOKWA, because it connotes gross historical distortion. I am now allergic to the word. No apologies. Somehow, when suggestions are made for the good of our land, a number of our people are either deaf or pretend to be – thus missing the important messages.
Our problem
We have a serious problem: our youths are mainly our problem. These are young men and women, who have no respect for their parents, let alone other elders. In many of our communities, the youths have usurped the powers and functions of the elders. They decide what happens, while the elders grumble and grind their teeth in silence. They collect the relevant community royalties and remunerations, and live like supermen. A good number of them are not well schooled. Some have genuine certificates from tertiary institutions, while many have “mama-put” first, masters and PhD degrees from known and unknown universities. The Dutch courage of some of the youths is drug-induced, which places them above other people.
The latter-day hungry, jobless, shameless, rude, semiliterate and sycophantic journalists and media men and women are a big menace in our land. To say it bluntly, they are praise-singers, and have misled the political class considerably. Many of these young men and women are a disgrace..
Our land has produced some respectable citizen or community journalists such as: Alaska Ekele, Cyprian Eboagu and Mercy Akuba.
The born-again journalists praise our politicians excessively and unnecessarily. Let me cite one incident. Our current Representative [Hon Nnamdi Ezechi] in the Federal House of Representatives, in his contribution to the matters of urgent national importance, announced last year, the death of Chief Emeke Ukpe, a one-term chairman of Ndokwa LGA. The announcement was uncalled for. The man did not play politics at the national level, nor was he a national figure. But Ezechi was eulogised by his team of praise singers for an excellent outing. I was ashamed. I pray, however, for Ukpe’s soul to rest in peace.
The Ndokwa – Ukwuani Students’ Unions in various tertiary institutions constitute another bunch of blackmailers, beggars and extortionists. Those days, the university students’ unions from our land were focused and genuinely patriotic.
In 1982, John IIoh [now a retired principal manager of Union Bank], then in the University of Benin, and other Ukwuani-Ndosumili undergraduates invited me from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, to give them a talk on how to move our land forward.
When I was the Provost of the Bendel State University, Abraka Campus, the Ndokwa undergraduates in the University of Lagos, led by late Barr Christopher Agidy [then, a law student] invited me to deliver the keynote address in their convention. I honoured their invitation because they were sincere.
Jude Dike [now a university lecturer in Canada] was once the President of the Ndokwa Students’ Union at the Delta State University, Abraka. They invited me to have a chat with them in one of their annual events.
I remember, that I went from Edo State to attend the function.
One or two years later, Chuks Azaka now, a biochemistry graduate, was the leader of Ndokwa students in UNIBEN. He once invited me to one of their activities in Benin to chat and fraternise with their union. The interaction was quite fruitful.
Today, Ukwuani-Ndosumili staudents’ unions are praise singers. Many members of their Executives crawl from one politician to another soliciting funds to organise cultural shows. These youths are gromless, and do not bother about the future of our land. Monies obtained from harassing politicians and prominent persons, and the “equnje” collected as well, usually end up in the private pockets of the union leaders. Our present union members are a big failure.
Let the political class breathe
Some people have read severally my comments on our political class: their lukewarmness, their nonchalance, their insensitivity, their selfishness, their docility, and many more. My views have been expressed in invited lectures, books and public utterances.
After a deep reflection, however, and having now realised that, what is being practised in Nigeria and some African countries is santa claus democracy, I have decided to soft-pedal on my release of missile to our political class.
Our people – the youths in particular – overpraise the elected politicians, and those offered government appointments, whether they perform well or not. Of course, you know why – we practise bowl-in-hand or almajiri democracy. There is hunger in the land. Some of our politicians have no sound education; they are, thus, unable to participate effectively in parliamentary debates. Because they lack confidence, they are unable to request for amenities for our land from the appropriate quarters. We hardly call them to give account of their stewardship in town hall meetings. They are generally snobbish, because they serve as ATMs.
In spite of the shortcomings of our non-performing representatives and chairmen of the LGAs, I wish, in my status as an elder, to suggest, that all those political office holders be pardoned. They should henceforth turn a new leaf, and start briefing us regularly about what they are doing or intend to do to move our land forward. Some suggestions;
We should respect our political class, and desist from insulting them.
We should stop going daily to their houses begging for money; we need to respect ourselves.
They should create a room for our people to have access to them.
They should cease being unnecessarily arrogant.
We should, for now, not contemplate recalling any of them.
Let us realise that tomorrow is another day.
We should accord due respect to the
Deputy Governor [our son]
Managing Directors from our land
Member/members of Federal statutory board/boardies.
LGA chairmen and their vice chairmen.
Ladies and gentlemen, please, allow the political class to breathe. By now, they must have gauged the degree of anger boiling in us. They should realise that a volcano of resentment will build up in us, when they start toying with us again.
Let me say one or two things about the office of the Deputy Governor, DG. The present DG of Delta State, Sir Monday Onyeme, is our son. I have read some uncharitable remarks about him by our people — very ignorant people. No one should really blame a DG for nonperformance. A DG is clearly incapacitated by the Constitution. I am yet to see a DG that has performed wonders for his people. Three friends of mine had served as DGs: one, a Professor of Law [Delta State]; another one, a Professor of Agriculture, who had been a vice chancellor in a federal university [Imo State]; and yet another one, a PhD holder in Law [Ebonyi State]. I could not see any wonders done by them in their communities, after 8 years in government. A DG may influence some appointments or attract a few structural developments, but not significant, usually. This is not to say that we do not want a DG from Ukwuani-Ndosumili land.
The June 16 electricity protest
The June 16, 2025, electricity protest in Kwale has come and gone. Was it a huge success? Yes or No? The protest was planned to take place throughout Ukwuani-Ndosumili land. In other climes, such an important protest is first, thoroughly discussed and planned by elders and youths, not by the youths alone. During any protest proper, the known elders are in the forefront, followed by the youths. But, in our case, the youths were the leaders. When elders participate in community protests, they will be held accountable in the case of any mishap as things go awry, out of control.
I read the contents of some of the placards, the inscriptions on two of them were:
LIGHT UP KWALE
GIVE NDOKWA FREE ELECTRICITY
The June 16 protest was legitimate, but in my view, it was not a huge success. There were, however, some minimal gains.
Why was the protest a Kwale affair? Why was there no protest in a strategic town such as Ndemili? No protest at Umutu, Ashaka, Aboh, Obiaruku, Ogume, Utagba-Uno, Amai, Umukwata, Ebedei, Umuebu, Abbi, Ossissa and Emu-Uno.
The real champions of the protest were: OJJY OKPE [our daughter] and RUFAI OSENI, both of Arise TV. The value of sound education was readily discernible from their performance. Our youths should, please, go to proper schools.
During the protest, our youths, who were in charge, abused hell out of our key politicians. Now, they have realised, that insulting people is not the solution to our problems.
2027 is our year
In 2027, the Deputy Governor position, and the Delta North senate slot will be up for grabs. I have dreamt that both vacancies will be filled by Ukwuani-Ndosumili people.
We must fight to ensure that Sir Monday Onyeme retains his office: “oba no dey go transfer.” Now is the time to start preparing the ground for his retension by the Governor.
The next Senator for Delta North come 2027, MUST be our son or daughter. We have formidable men and women of robust character, who can represent us effectively. We need to identify and encourage them to show interest. They are well educated, and are NOT poor.
We need a senator, who will be concerned about the plight of our people, not the one, who will chase mosquitoes for eradication throughout the entire continent of Africa. We need a senator, who will not pursue elusive and unattainable state creation, when many Nigerians feel that some of the existing states should, indeed, be merged, as they are not viable. Take it or leave it, Anioma state WILL NOT be created, based on the dictates of the Nigerian Constitution. I have said so repeatedly to the discomfort of the shortsighted disciples of the principal protagonist. We want a senator that is straightforward and reliable. We do not want a senator, who will spend precious man hours, proposing the motion for the adoption of a common currency and common lingua franca for Africa, when our land is insecure [our people cannot go to their farms any more.] We cannot be hoodwinked. We are not DAFT.
Our generation will not be forgiven if we fail to produce BOTH the Deputy Governor and Senator in 2027. We should not panic, fear or entertain self-doubt. All that is required is to play good politics. Governor Sheriff Oborevwori is an OKPE, so is Ede Dafinone, also an OKPE, the senator representing Delta Central.
Conclusion
Ours is a land of enviable potentials: endowed with ample natural and human resources. The truth be told, we will not make much progress, as a people, unless our youths are called to order. They are extremely rude and insulting, and are largely responsible for our self-relegation [not marginalisation.]
The world has become a knowledge society. This stresses the need for our people to send ALL their children to school. Many of them have no respect for their parents and elders. One cannot comprehend what they say or write, even with all the fanciful, so-called “university” degrees in their possession. Some of them are downright beggars – going, bowl in hand, from one politician to another, or from one wealthy person to another, eulogising them in several ways. They are full-time parasites.
I do hope that patriotic individuals and Ukwuani-Ndosumili unions will circulate this article maximally. We need salvation.
God bless our land.
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