Justice And Posterity

[Pedants Magazine]

Amaechi, Justice And Posterity By Odimegwu Onwumere (Published Saturday 10th Nov. 2007- Saturday Tribune Nigeria)   THOSE in enmity with justice and democracy would now agree that no matter how dark the night, the ant would know its hole. No man teaches the lizard how to climb the tree. Now, we know the true voice of Jacob, though he might be wearing Esau’s skin. Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State represents the mythical child who is not afraid of any big objects because his father (not Amaechi) has elephantine scrotum. Amaechi was only scared of the injustice of the High and Appeal Courts he took a matter between him and the PDP to, which ruled against him.   In that vein, many Nigerians were not pleased with that kind of judgment. They cried foul and blue murder. But Amaechi remained steadfast and trudged to the Supreme Court. PDP was controversial! They caused all the rofo-rofo in Rivers State by the substitution they made after Amaechi had won the primaries in December 2006. PDP brought the ousted Governor Celestine Omehia as a replacement when the untrue indictment of the EFCC was rumouring. All these hassles were because President Olusegun Obasanjo then was not respecting or following the rule of law and due process. Everything he was doing was “do-or-die”.   Notwithstanding, before victory came the way of Amaechi on Thursday, 25th October, our ears were filled with the air of the traducers’ whirlwind. The air was all because Amaechi took to the court.   The whirlwind was not ordinary. It was blowing out words thus: traitor, impostor, prodigal son, a rude child, betrayer of his master, and so on. These were read on the pages of our newspapers. They were nothing more than words from leeches, yes-men and traducers who surrounded the government of Omehia.   But as if that was not enough, a fortnight before the Supreme Court’s judgment, the villifiers carried their mischievous trade to various national dailies, claiming that the Ikwerre community had banished Amaechi from entering any part of Ikwerreland, his homeland. While a lot of commentators, who neither stood for Omehia nor Amaechi but for justice, were busy writing to rephrase that comment, the traducers returned to their former strategy. Now, it was not the old wind from the whirlwind. They said that Amaechi had bought all the pages of the national dailies only to be insulting the respected judiciary. All, lies! Perhaps, the calumnists orchestrated such to make sure that the ebullient and justifiable spirit of the judiciary was dampened or hampered for Amaechi. But the judiciary instead rose to the occasion, which saw all the efforts of the evil men in futility. Now, we know that the thought of man is not the same as that of God! One significant thing with Amaechi was that he was not loquacious throughout the period; he was wearing an armour of prudence and justice to reel blows on injustice that had eaten deep into the deeper flesh of our citizenry.   Amaechi bridled the tongue, no matter the magnanimity of temptations and trials germinating from the embers of the traducers. The traducers meant evil, to the extent that their principal followed. Anyway, Rivers people, and indeed Nigerians, should not forget Omehia in a hurry, because (perhaps) Omehia meant well for the state. At least, he started some programmes befitting to humanity. He loved and proved that he was performance-oriented. Don’t mind the crisis that cropped-up in the State!   Omehia carried some developmental projects like rebuilding of the ramshackle Mile One and Creek Road markets; the erection of an ultra-modern shopping complex at Isaac Boro Park; the rehabilitation exercise of cult members, the scholarship programme for Rivers indigenes to study abroad, just to mention but a few. In a nutshell, this victory for Amaechi is not only his own victory but also a victory to liberate Rivers State and her people from the age-long feud and internal-slavery perpetrated by a set of goons who hid under the pretext of godfathers and fomented mischief. This victory is a roadmap to the Canaan, where every Rivers person and the visitors would drink from the brook of life and abhor the brook of death. This victory is for all to understand that everything happeneth for good for those who believe in the Lord.   Examples of a people who are drinking from the brook of life are Ndi-Anambra. It is no longer news that the people-oriented ex-governor, Chris Ngige, pledged his life on the altar of a shrine in Okija to make sure that his people were saved from the locusts of Emeka Offors and Chris Ubas – the then self-acclaimed godfathers in the State.   However, it might not be interesting to take revenge; he should learn that now. Because while washing the clothes of an older woman, there would be many things that could be seen. Let him take everything that bites in the night as mosquito. The paramount thing is that here is the victory. Those who were saying he should withdraw from the court are now proved wrong. Because, you cannot collect a child’s gift to console another kid, no matter how hard the second child is crying. Onwumere, an author and poet, writes from Oyigbo Rivers State Nigeria.

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