Oshiomhole and politics of debate

“To avoid giving an Edo gubernatorial ticket to an emergency Esan man, the election debate must be conducted in Esan dialect by eminent Esan men in Esan land.” ~ Sen. Adams Oshiomhole.

I should have titled this piece “Adams Oshiomhole’s Double Standard on Language in Politics” for his banal revisionism as a man of duality and a double-faced character “who engages his mouth before engaging his brain.” Apologies to Patriot Chief John Odigie Oyegun.

Oshiomhole’s major undoing is that either he has his memories to forget or he chooses to play on the people’s intelligence to the bargain while aping and playing the ostrich. He may have forgotten that there was a similar debate conducted in English in 2012 between himself, General Charles Ariavbere, Solomon Edebiri and a host of other contenders for the Edo gubernatorial race in Benin City.

Regardless of what naysayers may say, Oshiomhole has no other mortal enemies other than himself for choosing to do violence to his own personal history. Edo electorates would have been in shock if Oshiomhole had spoken differently. Now, he has unleashed unremitting criticism upon himself over his proposal that his party’s governorship candidate, Monday Okpevbolo, should debate in his native language due to his disgraceful deficiency in spoken English.

What further conviction do Edo people need to completely reject Oshiomhole’s self-serving, defeatist and asphyxiating proposal and his laid-back Monday Okpevhbolo, who has no mind of his own other than being a surrogate clown seeking to be governor of Edo State? The question is: if Oshiomhole didn’t debate in his native Afemai language during his 2012 gubernatorial debate with General Ariavbere — why propose a debate in Esan language when the language is not generally understood by everyone in the state?

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It’s not new that Oshiomhole has different tactics for avoiding the same truth he has been part of. While he was rooting for Dennis Idahosa as the governorship candidate of the APC, Oshiomhole told the world in a press conference at the State House, captured in a virile video, that the Esan are in minority with only 15% of the voting population in Edo State. It is no surprise that Oshiomhole now wants the language of a 15% population — in a state where seventeen languages are spoken — to be used to debate in an election in the entire state.

Unfortunately for Oshiomhole, the electorate is already debating the debate he wants his candidate to avoid. Many electorates in Edo view Oshiomhole’s proposition as a double standard and aberration. They argue that if Oshiomhole could debate in English during his time, why should his party’s candidate be allowed to debate in a native language now? This perceived hypocrisy has sparked unremitting anger against Oshiomhole and Monday Okpevhbolo in the politics of language in the state.

Oshiomhole’s cast of politics goes beyond being a turncoat and a retrogressive opportunist; he has committed class suicide. His stone age style of politics is called lameness and political banditry, to say the least. If his proposal is allowed to scale through, it would unleash a new era of collective endorsement of politics of vacillation and decision that serves the greed of people like Oshiomhole only.

Erasmus Ikhide contributed this piece via: [email protected]