We know that it is obviously more comforting to be confidently adorned in the attire of a role model and exemplar, rather than one playing to the gallery and pontificating strange precepts that instantly belie your visibly contrarian persona. Now just imagine a scenario where an inverterate and unrepentant chain smoker is invited as guest Speaker in a forum on the ravages of lung cancer. He begins by admirably ventilating these hard facts from Google on lung cancer:
“Lung cancer essentially originates from the lungs. Its rising incidence world-wide is associated with smoking and increasing levels of air pollution”
Now take one step further, by keenly observing the ensuing mood when our brilliant guest Speaker reaches out for a minty fresh stick of Marlboro cigarette right in front of his audience before re-ascending the rostrum to continue his lecture.
Still on the essence of desirable exemplarity or otherwise in inter-human relations, I will further illustrate my brief essay with these captivating lines from Our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt 7:1-5:
“Judge not that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged and with what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in your brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in your own eye. Or how will thou say to thy brother, let me pull out the mote in thine eye, and behold a beam is in thine own eye”
At this juncture, I would like to draw your attention to the unfortunate tantrums of the PDP Chairman, Mr. Uche Secondus, during his party’s presumably grand rally recently held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State. Hear him:
“The leader of the APC wants a man he can control. Are there no professors in APC? The APC and its leaders must apologise for bringing such a gubernatorial candidate”
And I ask, when has it become the acclaimed prescription of our grund norm that academic professorship must be regarded as the foremost criterion for aspiring to the governorship of a State. I firmly believe with no iota of doubt that the PDP Chairman, Uche Secondus, is the least qualified to assess the suitability, scope of work and academic content inherent in an NCE programme in Mathematics and Chemistry, which the youthful gubernatorial candidate of the APC, Chief (Hon) David Lyon proudly possesses. For instance, Secondus is certainly in no position to appreciate the knowledge and brilliancy implied in resolving the Physical Chemistry equation in Dalton’s Atomic theory, nor the intricacies of applied Calculus and Trigonometry that constitute the fulcrum of Post-secondary Mathematics. The mere fact that the young man decided to choose the oft avoided combination of Mathematics and Chemistry at a post-secondary level, in a reputable Institution like the Rivers State College of Education, now the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education unambiguously defines David Lyon’s razor-sharp intelligence and vantage academic integrity. And if I may ask the PDP Chairman, what are his academic “appurtenances” that warrant him to venture into this strange role of an academic assessor. We were all in one Rivers State before the creation of Bayelsa State. I had never in those long years been acquainted with the barely minimum academic accomplishment of Uche Secondus. Where now lies his audacity and deplorable temerity to mouth inanities in the area of the academic attainments of Chief (Hon) David Lyon. His party in their warped wisdom preferred him to a more refined and accomplished Gbenga Daniel, the one-time Governor of Ogun State. But that is the business of the PDP.
We can guess the Naira worth of a Secondus today as the Chairman of “ Africa’s largest party” hitherto destined to rule Nigeria for eternity, and more so, having birthed PDP’s dollar magnate of a disappointed presidential candidate. Let us hereby re-echo our late literary colossus Chinua Achebe, who in his world renowned classic “Things fall apart”, advised that those like the PDP Chairman for whom the gods have graciously cracked their palm kernels must learn to jettison abhorrent and bogus arrogance.
And where was the PDP Chairman Uche Secondus, when his dear party fielded one Ademola Adeleke, nick-named the “gyrating and dancing Senator” as the gubernatorial candidate for Osun State during the last elections. Permit me to reel out the only undisputed segment of Ademola’s academic profile:
“He attended a primary school in Lagos and later went on to attend another PRIMARY school, the Narwarudeen primary school in Ikire” I will not bore you any further with his CV, but only to add that his claim to possessing a valid WASC credential was the major contention in a long drawn legal battle that saw him running from pillar to post. Even all that availed him nothing, as the Appeal Court ultimately terminated his vaulting ambition.
Nothing can today stop Chief (Hon) David Lyon from triumphantly riding into Bayelsa’s Creek Haven. We as Bayelsans are no fools to deprive ourselves of
the enormous advantage derivable from belonging to the main stream, which will see our Governor stroll into Aso Rock to discuss our problems in a serene and fraternal atmosphere devoid of the sterile and lexical jingoism of a Metuh. Today, an illustrious son of Bayelsa is the Oil Minister in the person of our amiable Timipre Silva. Would Bayelsans not desire a boisterous campus of the Oil and Gas University in Effurun? What of modular refineries etc? What can President Buhari not do for us with his unchallengeable Federal Might?
Bayelsans must arise in unison to grab this unique opportunity with both hands. Our leading lights like the two-term Speaker and former Deputy Governor of the State, The Right Honourable Peremowei Ebebi and several others have shown the way by abandoning the static and non-performing bunch of the PDP. They all want to make history by heralding Bayelsa’s moment of glory come November, 16, 2019. We were later informed that the campaign train of the PDP waited in vain for former President Goodluck Jonathan to join them in their rally of deceitful propaganda, but our Gentle man Jonathan would not be part of it, realizing what the federal might means to our dear State.
We as BAYELSANS must all rise to collectively write in letters of gold, this beckoning glorious chapter of our State’s history.
•Toinpre Alfred writes in from FOROPA in Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
