GOVERNOR SAMUEL ORTOM AND THE JUDGEMENT OF TIME:
Mike Utsaha –
Yesterday, the governor of my state HE Samuel Ortom was, in my view, needlessly; in the news yet again.
I think it is an incontestable fact that Ortom is a news maker of some sort, and it is immaterial what exactly the news is all about!
What I find regrettable, and at the same time intriguing too, is the manner in which opposition elements in the state went to town in celebration and wild jubilation, that Ortom had once again been humiliated.
How this seeming act of humiliation of the Governor holds value adding prospects to the opposition, or an increase in its fortunes, is what remains quite confounding to me.
This is not the first time opposition elements will roll out the drums to celebrate what might seem like the humiliation of Governor Ortom.
Just a few days ago, Ortom was caught right at the centre of an intense and lopsided social media exchange between Prof. Pita Agbese and Iorliam Shija, an aide to Ortom, leaving the later with a badly bruised nose.
This outcome provided an opportunity for celebration by opposition elements.
Before this incident, Ortom had granted a media interview in which he made comments considered disparaging on the person of President Buhari.
A rather scathing response by Garba Shehu, a presidential spokesperson, provided yet another opportunity for celebration.
Since leaving the APC, the platform upon which he was first elected Governor in 2015, the battle line between Ortom and his former political party has been drawn.
This intense and relentless battle has been characterised by caustic and acerbic social media reviews, targeted press conferences, leaked telephone conversations and, relatively recently, cross carpeting of prominent political players on both sides of the divide.
I suspect that there is grand strategy, on the part of the opposition, to ensure that Ortom ends up as the most vilified and the most caricatured Governor since the creation of Benue in 1976.
Every step or misstep, every move he makes, good or bad, is fair game for the opposition and, with a pliant and gullible social media audience, this grand strategy seems to be succeeding, sadly.
The most consistent launch pad for attack is usually the refusal, failure or inability of the Ortom administration to pay salary and pension of civil servants as and when due.
When in December 1983 some military officers, led by the current President, then a Major-General, decided to oust the Shagari led democratically elected government, it was largely on account of, amongst other ills of the day, failure of the various state governments of the time, to pay pension and salary of civil servants as and when due.
Invariably, refusal to pay wages due to civil servants is a grave political crime with potentially grave consequences too.
In Benue, not only did we welcome the ouster of Governor Aper Aku, we rolled out the drums in celebration of the great misfortune that had been visited on this man whom we all considered the greatest evil of our time.
Fast forward to almost forty years after the ouster of Aku, he remains the subject of excellent positive reviews about governance of Benue since it was created. Indeed, Aku is a masterpiece and a constant source of reference in any assessment of good governance in Benue since 1976.
Aku was Governor in relatively peaceful times, in an atmosphere of predictability, some level of tranquillity, mutual respect and tolerance across ethno-religious divides.
Fast forward to almost forty years since Aku emerged, and it is clear to see that Nigeria has evolved and has transformed into a significantly divided country characterised by tension, mutual distrust, nepotism, greed, crime, criminality, heightened ethno-religious consciousness, and all the other vices that one can ever imagine.
Specifically for us the people of the middle belt, we have been confronted with an existential threat, both to livelihoods and to a familiar way of life, especially as members of an agrarian community, and we were, and continue to remain, in dire need of a courageous, fearless and outspoken mouthpiece to challenge this grave act of injustice and, Ortom rose to the occasion, not minding the consequences.
He has effectively, in my view, used the influential office of Governor, to raise national and international attention to this existential threat posed to his people.
Today, almost all of Nigeria, including neighbouring Plateau, whose governor made very disparaging remarks about the Open Grazing Prohibition Law of Benue State, and Katsina, the home state of the President, and several other states controlled by the rival APC, are headed in the direction of prohibition of open grazing.
One may be correct to accuse Ortom of exploiting a bad situation to make necessary political gain, but isn’t that what all politicians do?
Ortom has become a conscience of some sorts for the nation, and is now considered, rightly in my view, in addition to his identity as a politician, as a minority rights crusader, perhaps following in the footsteps of the Late JS Tarka and of course the Late Aper Aku.
Ortom has become so influential amongst his peers that he is now courted by almost all the most influential political figures, particularly in his party the PDP.
This, I suspect strongly, is the reason why he was able to make a case for Benue to be afforded the third opportunity, within a space of twenty two years, to produce a national Chairman of the PDP.
So, is posterity likely to be fair to Ortom in judgement, I honestly have no idea save to say, like I stated earlier on, only time will tell.
In November 2000, just a little over a year since the return of Nigeria to civil and democratic rule, an Irish singer, songwriter and musician, Enya Patricia Brennan, released one of the most celebrated musical tunes in contemporary times, she calls it “only time”.
Enya forcefully makes the point, in that song, about the uncertainty of life, and how difficult it is to tell the future from the present. Hear her:
“who can say where the road goes, where the day flows, only time”.
So, for Governor Samuel Ioraer Ortom, it is only time.
