By Osakue Aiyevbekpen
Interestingly, those who did not give Obaseki a chance, those who fought against us with their might, those who were thousands of kilometers away from the battlefield and those who did not even vote for Obaseki are the ones on the corridors of power or on the social media ventilating hot gas.
Suddenly, complex and highly risky political operations have become mere patriotic acts for which no commensurate reward should be expected. For the information of the vociferous novices, campaign and election are two related operations that are comparable to war operations. The strategies are similar except that one does not include the use of guns and killings of enemies.
In politics, we have opponents and not enemies. In both political and military operations, when a little slip occurs, like it did occur on the side of our then opponents, the consequences could be devastating and irreversible. We took full advantage of their slip to overtake them at the last lap! That’s how the result was delivered! Your entirety must be at alert, think on your feet and respond to situations in split seconds!
For the horde of ingratiating manumits and hallelujah choristers, who celebrate outright ingratitude and legendary insensitivity, we pray for them to come face to face with such acts that they now glorify in every facet of their lives! May they commit their intellect and talents and put their lives on line for a cause and at the point of success, may they be so neglected, abandoned, dumped and blackmailed!
I plead with you all, friends and foes, to strive to be a bit kinder, a bit more charitable and considerate in our comments and remarks on matters to which all facts are not available to us. As citizens, our first responsibility is to hold government accountable for its actions. In this regard, how many of us have asked the right questions? How many of us have a copy of the Governor’s manifesto? On what basis can anyone realistically engage government if you don’t have the very basic tools for such engagement? And how can anyone expect real growth and development to occur out of a rigged system? We gloat, hype and celebrate tokenism.
The present political tempest should have been long nipped in its bud without much cost, just by exhibiting social reflexes and interactions, if my memos and discussions with his close aides during which I articulated practical ways of avoiding the looming crisis had yielded fruits. Mind you, the strategies did not include the sharing of money. It is about closing up relationships and patronage extension to those qualified. The humongous waste of time and resources of today would have been avoided by little gestures of goodwill yesterday!
* Mr. Osakue, a strategist and the first DG of Godwin Obaseki Campaign Organisation 2015/16, writes from Benin.
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