34 ISSUES
Thursday, July 31, 2014
Re: Emeka Offor Versus His Oraifite People By Jude C. Agu
It was by chance that I came across the above article written by someone who goes by the name, Mike Ofiaeli and who also claimed that he was an indigene of Oraifite, the same town with the subject of his vituperations, Sir Emeka Offor. What really beat my imagination about the write up and made me to waste my precious time and energy to write a rejoinder to this, was not the love I have for Sir Emeka Offor, whom I only know by reputation, because I have never seen him in flesh except his photographs. Secondly, it was not to defend his “perfidies and atrocities” (if I may paraphrase Ofiaeli’s gutter and uncouth language) against the people of Oraifite and our beloved Nigeria. What a ‘patriotic spirit!’ No, it was neither of the above; but while I was going through whatever anybody chooses to call that write up, which to my mind should be garbage, I kept on asking myself what actually was the motive of the author? What does he really set out to accomplish other than to ridicule, embarrass, vilify, denigrate, and diminish the status or the esteem of Sir Emeka Offor. In the same vein, I asked myself as a member of Anya-Igbo Organisation, (sentiment apart); would a son of Kano State put down such obscenity against Dangote and publish it in the web, or a Yoruba man do the same to Adenuga? “Igbo Enwe Eze” syndrome! Is Ofiaeli telling the whole world that the Igbos and
particularly the people of Oraifite have become the Nazarenes of Nigeria in this 21st Century world? I hope Mike Ofiaeli is educated enough to know what I mean by being the Nazarenes of Nigeria. Issues raised by Ofialeli The first sin, according to Ofiaeli, Sir Emeka Offor committed against humanity and the people of Oraifite (if it was true) was that he changed his name from “Wilson Orakwue Offor” to Sir Emeka Offor. If one may ask, since when has it become a crime for anybody to change his name assuming Sir Emeka Offor did that? Before I proceed further, let me educate Mr. Ofiaeli on what is a name and what is in a name. A name is a word, term, phrase by which somebody is known, identified with and distinguished from other people or things. Our names are our passport to eternity; it is what will be remembered or what will outlive us when this flesh finally returned to dust. Change of name has always been as old as humanity. There is no crime in one choosing a name he/she wants to be known and addressed with, whether millions of people had answered it before or still answering it now, is of little consequence. In the Bible, Abraham’s name was changed from Abram; Jacob was change to Israel just to mention but a few. Back home in Nigeria, Dr. Benjamin Nnamdi Azikiwe and Chief Jeremiah Obafemi Awolowo had to drop their foreign names from
Offor
their identities. It was no crime. Murtala Mohammed changed his name from Muritala Mohammed when he became the head of state. Beyond our shores, the initial S. appearing in Harry Truman’s name has no meaning beyond the letter
five years of experience, I have never heard that any court in Nigeria or the police had declared Sir Emeka Offor or the mythical Wilson Orakwue Offor wanted in connection with any crime so far. It is the inalienable right of Sir Emeka Offor to change his name and make it public in accordance with the law. Even now Sir Emeka Offor still has a right to change his name even to Ofiaeli, if he so desires. What about the hundreds of people who on a daily basis publish in virtually all the dailies their change of names? The absurdity in Mr. Ofiaeli’s claim on the change of name which gave him out as simply dishing out brazen white lies and which exposes its utter illogicality can be found in the allegation that a man who is running away from the long arm of the law turned round to adopt his brother’s name - with the same surname! Of course he could
would a son of Kano State put down such obscenity against Dangote and publish it in the web, or a Yoruba man do the same to Adenuga? S. It was not an abbreviation. Pray, Mr. Ofiaeli, did all these great men commit a crime with their former names since you want the world to believe that once a person changed his name to another, he must have committed crime with the former? At least, as of today, as a journalist of more than twenty
not run far, because all the police needed to do was pick his brother and his race would have been aborted long ago. But is Sir Emeka Offor, with his reputed business savvy, unintelligent to engage in such name adoption. It is quite a pity that Mr. Ofiaeli and his sponsors are quite ignorant
about the paradox of life. Let me correct their jaundiced minds about life. The winners of the life game are not those who never tasted failure, but those who have tasted failure again and again, but never gave up. A man who has never failed never ventured. Sir Emeka Offor, perhaps, belongs to this second category like most great achievers. They have tasted failure again and the again but refused to quit. That Sir Emeka Offor was once a driver with Julius Berger Construction Firm (assuming it was correct), so what? That he never shared the last position in class with anybody - yes what about it?: that he did not pass his school certificate, so what? So because of these alleged instances Ofiaeli feels that he should remain in the valley and never to aspire to ascend the peak of the mountain. Who does not know that Thomas Edison’s formal education lasted for only three months, after he started schooling? His teacher wrote to his parents that he should be sent to school of mentally retarded children because he couldn’t cope in the class. Yet Thomas Eva Edison grew up against many odds to become one of the greatest inventors the world had ever known. Mr. Ofiaeli, do you also know that Steve Job dropped out of college (University)? His highest qualification was high school - Nigeria’s equivalent to Senior Secondary School Certificate. Jude C. Agu, wrote from Enugu
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Too Many Cooks Spoil The Broth
we have critics of all sorts, including professors who are in the third chance of running a family, having broken two previous families
Since our independence in October 1960 we cannot say for sure that we have had any government that ruled the country to the satisfaction of all – agreed no government can please everybody. Before the military terminated the First Republic, we cannot say we were quite satisfied with the leadership. Each time the military terminated a democracy we hailed it, which meant that we had grudges against the government kicked out by the military. But somewhere along the line we found that the military we hailed did not give us the desired satisfaction in the end. One very big problem I see with us is that Nigeria has too many egg-heads, too many brilliant people, too many wise people and every wise person must show that he is wiser than the rest, wants to be heard and his views accepted. In the game of football, every Nigerian, including those who never stepped into a football pitch is a coach and thinks he can do better than the coach on whose shoulders the responsibility to take decisions lie. In politics, a politician who cannot win election in his ward, and the one who emerges from nowhere
or from a Church, sees himself as the only one who knows Nigeria’s problems and can rule the country effectively and most successfully. In the art of criticism against government, we have critics of all sorts, including professors who are in the third chance of running a family, having broken two previous families. They see themselves as having the monopoly of wisdom and must be obeyed as every other person has but, sawdust in his head. And the country begins from the homes, the families where they have twice woefully failed to show leadership, tolerance and care. All these “wise people” abound, they give the rest of us problems one way or the other with their “wise” pronouncements. They are our problems while they claim to have solutions to our problems. They know too, too much but lack common morals. In all we have too many wise people. An adage in Yoruba says “Ti ogbon ba poju, o’pa olo’gbon lara,” which means – “if one has too much of over-flowing wisdom, it becomes detrimental to him.” That is the problem of Nigeria. We have far too many wise people. None believes
that another man’s opinion is superior to his. This has been made unbearable by freedom of expression. Yes everybody has a right to express his opinion but, must we distort and heat up the polity with obnoxious expressions that come from people who seem to be mentally unbalanced. Some mentally deranged people are in employment, they go to work, earn wages and have families, some are in politics. It is only when they make outrageously negative pronouncements and decisions that one can suspect their mental imbalance. We must isolate these people whose ambition it is to create confusion, trouble, instability, tension and hate in the polity and not give prominence to their expressions. A citizen who brazenly accuses the president of murder has gone beyond the borders of freedom of expression, likewise those who overtly say the country would be made ungovernable if they lose elections. It is only appropriate to blacklist them. We are suffering from too much of freedom of expression and we lack the wherewithal to contain the adverse effects of this destructive freedom of
expression. A cleric sometime ago on television, described democracy as a system in which everybody was free to do whatever he likes. It did not matter to him if his kind of freedom was rather negative. Ask the average Nigerian a question, he will most likely than not, reply with another question not giving an answer to the question he was asked. To put it succinctly in a most common language, we “too know.” It is the cause of friction, misunderstanding, negligence, intolerance, distrust, defiance and social retrogression which in fact gives birth to our refusal to obey common laws. Regretfully it is at all levels and politically, has made us allergic to elections. There seems to be hope in the distant future – and a great man of honour, Fayemi the outgoing governor of Ekiti State has brought that distant future closer by doing what one of our founding fathers of politics, Zik of Africa said, “Show the light and the people shall find the way.” Governor Fayemi of Ekiti State has shown the light towards an amazingly descent political tolerance in character and pronouncement.