As the storm unleashed by Elder
Ehikwe’s open letter lambasting Caro Ojougbo for his politics of
underveloping Ika South continues to rage, followers of Caro Ojougbo
have themselves replied Elder Ehikwe with their own version of
events. The leter5 starts below:
—
According to President Jonathan, in his
reply to Obasanjo “This letter may appear in biographic and other
books when political commentators on Nigeria contemporary politics
may write. It is only proper for such publications to include my
comment, on the issues raised in your letter”. We therefore have
to reply to comments on the issue you raised in your letter to Dr.
Cairo Ojougboh must especially when it has to do with a group of
people facing the challenges of nation building and the anger and
frustration therein.
Dear self assumed leader, before we
pick your point one after the other, let us make some points very
clear as it affect Ika Nation in general and Agbor Kingdom in
particular. Analyzing your letter in details shows that you belong
to a class of the so called elder (not leaders) who enjoy bringing
the great people down for selfish purposes. We remember the great
Orikeze of Agbor land who exploited significantly in politics in
1970s. After much of dirty local politics like the one you are
playing today, he lost his life right there in the field of politics.
Some elders (not you in particular) were happy because they saw it as
an opportunity to be relevant. The big question is what is the
benefit of their relevancy to the development of Ika South? Chief
Orikeze was a great man who dined and wined with the first executive
president of Nigeria, Alhaji Shehu Shagari. He grew in politics to
the extent that the seat of power in Dodan Barrack was his second
home. He died as a result of local politics and his death caused a
great set back to Agbor Kingdom. He was not allowed the expected
maturity time to attract development to Ika Nation. Behold they
murdered our fortune and weakened our stronghold. For a long time,
nobody could step into his shoes.
From 1979, when Chief Orikeze died till
the emergence of Dr. Cairo Ojougboh, no other Ika South person has
been able to get to that height. Yes, there were (are) great
politicians but none has attracted so much federal reorganization
like Dr. Cairo. None can have access to a sitting president more
easier than Dr. Cairo. All our political activities ended at Asaba.
In his infinite mercy, the Almighty God
brought Dr. Cairo Ojoughoh to replace Chief Orikeze. He grew so high
to the extent that he could see the sitting president without much
stress. The opponent can attest to this. He became so connected that
no known leader in Nigeria would deny knowing him. Some persons in
other local governments are jealous of what we have but right here,
some persons are planning Chief Orikeze fate for him. They want him
to resign so that their pay master from our sister local government
could take over. They pretend to love Ika South but always planning
to destroy all emerging leaders from Ika South. How will the local
government grow then? Who speaks for the local government at power
base? Oh! Ben Obuh, may your soul rest in perfect peace. Your death
come like a flash and behold it was mysterious. Dr. Cairo as human
has his own weak point which can be corrected with time, prayers and
continuous advice from people who could be classified as real
leaders. We don’t mean people like you who are tired of giving advice
as your age demands and take to writing wicked open letters. Even
the leaders you are working for have their own weak point too, except
you want to prove God wrong by saying that your pay master is
perfect. Infact, we are not comfortable with elders who go about
writing open letters with wicked intention of inciting people against
their leaders. Chief MKO Abiola blessed memory ones said “When you
see a child licking a wound, there is no problem but when you see an
elder licking wound, you know it is an evil” Let us keep watching
and praying for the days are evil.
Dear self assumed leader, it is now
very necessary to comment on the point you raised in your letter.
Firstly, you stated that all your effort and activities to reconcile
warring parties and to bring peace to Ika South PDP was completely
ignored and unappreciated by Dr. Cairo Ojougboh and Hon. Isaac
Ulebor. What you said was that they refused to accept your
settlement terms. You even reported to Barr. Peter Nwaobushi and
other stakeholders and according to you “yet noting seems to be
happening”. You therefore cried to the public. But self assumed
leader sir, it is quite unfortunate that you brought your weak and
poor political status to the door post of the public. You made us
know that you are not a leader because you were completely treated
with ignominy not only by the power that be at Agbor but at Asaba.
Infact, your misfired by even telling us that you also complained to
Asaba and they ignored you. Don’t you think they do not regard you
as a leader? It is wrong to blame Dr. Cairo and Ulebor again because
the state treated you the same way. The state is aware that you are
always writing open letters and insulting every office both high and
low without respect and regard. We remember one of the open letters
you wrote against the appointment of the Queen mother as a
commissioner by governor Uduaghan. The offcomplice of the governor
was harshly touched by your biro. I remember you asking the governor
if he can appoint the mother of the Olu of Warri a Commissioner.
Yes, self assumed leader, you may have your point but you are too
erratic in writing. You should give respect to who respect is due
and have courtesy when you talk to some personalities. You may not
respect the governor in person but try to respect his office. You
even stated that the state PDP chairman Peter Nwaobushi has failed
because he did not interfere the way you wanted him to do in Ika
South. What a great disservice to the people who look up to you as a
leader!
In your second point, you accused Dr.
Cairo for non-performance and empoweringpeople to represent Ika
South. You also chronicled the names of those who were empowered by
Dr. Cairo Ojougboh and you still stated that they failed to deliver.
Unfortunately, self assumed leader, you accused a man for empowering
some people who according to you failed. What of a man who failed to
empower at all even with all the opportunities available? You have
forgotten that you were ones a state secretary of NPN and up till
now, you have not being able to empower a single individual from Ika
South. People who started with you in other local government areas
have made names and built other persons politically but here you are
standing alone and condemning those who did what you could not do.
Your secretary-ship was a waste to Ika Nation. You occupy a position
made for Ika Nation and failed to use it for the development of the
nation.
For those who were empowered by Dr.
Cairo and failed to deliver, let them carry their own cross. The
unfortunate thing is that you only see the negative part of Dr.
Cairo. When Sunny Ogwu resigned from teaching to contest and the
transition was shifted, I hope you knew that Dr. Cairo paid him
monthly salary throughout the time he was waiting for election
without doing anything for him. He only stop paying when Sunny Ogwu
was sworn in as council chairman. The same Ogwu you accused Dr.
Cairo of is today working with you and he could be part of the open
letter you wrote. This could be the reason you did not state in the
letter that he failed. Since he is working with you, he has committed
no offence at all. You also talked of Hon. Martins Okonta that Dr.
Cairo prevented him from giving the people the dividend of democracy.
Unfortunately, you remain blind to the fact that since 2011, Okonta
got the so called independence; he has not done anything for his
people (Abavo) talk more of Ika South as a whole. Although, you
stated that Okonta failed unlike Sunny Ogwu but we know that if
Okonta had attended your last birthday party (just as Dr. Cairo and
Ulebor did not attend) with strong gift, you may not have stated his
failure. Oh, what a pity! Hon. Okonta, you were not informed. Please
take heart.
On Fada Ibude’s tenure, you called it a
disaster. You also exposed yourself as a self assumed leader who is
not at home in politics. You should have known how Fada came into
power. You should have known that the man you are destroying your
people for brought Fada Ibude to power against Dr. Cairo wishes. Ah,
you are very funny Chief Ehikwe, a chief who left his cherish kingdom
to take chieftaincy title from another community. If you do not hear
or see clearly in politics, you should ask question so that you can
make statement of fact. You called Engr. Obiazi emergence, a disaster
also but if you were the one who nominated him, he wouldn’t have been
a disaster. From reliable source, the same Obiazi had greased your
palm with gift items and other dividend of democracy without you
rejecting it. In the last SURE-P programme, you were given Keke
(motor bike), grinding and sewing machines; yet you keep complaining.
The people you are deceiving may not know all these. Leaders are
supposed to protect the interest of the followers before their own
personal interest. Prof. Wale Soyinka rejected a federal award
because he felt the right thing was not done. His action was a mark
of protest. Late play writer Prof. Chinua Achebe rejected a federal
gift (award) also for the same reason. They feel that the people
should have first before their personal interest. Here you are,
collecting without your people having theirs first. With your
academic position and exposure, one would have expected that you
behave like the two professors. Furthermore, in trying to rubbish
Obiazi, you ended up accusing the Delta State House of Assembly of
corruption. You stated and I quote “again like his predecessors,
his greed earned him a threatened suspension by the State House of
Assembly and of course a pardon AFTER A LOT OF WATER HAS PASSED UNDER
THE BRIDGE”. Do you see your perception about life? It could be
that the House of Assembly after investigation, allowed him to
continue with no string attached. We want you to be scientific and
write with fact, not with assumption.
Self assumed leader sir, you also
accused Dr. Cairo of not allowing others to grow. You stated that no
Ika South person has been able to aspire for the position of a
governor because of Dr. Cairo Ojougboh. Ha! What a mighty power you
give to Dr. Cairo. So, he can single handedly stop everybody from Ika
South both politicians and non-politicians? Can’t you contest as a
governor? Is Cairo stopping you? Since 1999 till date, Dr. Cairo has
not been in the state. Infact, they call him Abuja politician. Those
who grow in Ika North East are all Asaba politicians. They did very
well at Asaba and they found the favour of the governor. We have Dr.
Okubor, Dr. Okowa and others. They all got it by merit. Here you are
placing all the problems on one man instead of saying we have all
failed. Infact, Ehikwe, you are not helping us. You may have started
with Chief Ogidi who took time to mentor these people, and made them
what they are today, but you are only an open letter writer and an
agent. Dr. Cairo should be jealously protected since he has been the
only one from Ika South who had the courage to contest for senatorial
and the governorship position from 2003 till date. On the failed
reconciliation exercise you carried out as the chairman, we say
congratulation for failing. We discovered that most times social
critics see on the surface. Infact, they may know what to do but do
not know how to do it. You failed because you were too strict and
lack the leadership ability to properly understand human nature.
Leadership has to do with tact and intelligence. See what Justice
Kutigi is doing at the national conference even with complex
situation? You would have succeeded if you were sincere. There is no
demon in Ika South and if you say there is one, then you could be the
second demon because two captains cannot be in the same ship. The
truth is that you could not reconcile because you took side in the
matter.
In your effort to confuse issues and
deceive the good people of Ika South, you accused Dr. Cairo of
dominating the politics of Ika South especially as it affects the
election and appointment of the council executive members. To guide
you properly in your future writing since you have decided that the
only way you can address community problem is to take to writing open
letters in the dailies, we hereby present the following statistical
information on the composition of the Ika South Local Government
Council members elected or appointed from 2003 till date:
Analyzing your letter in details
shows that you belong to a class of the so called elders (not
leaders) who enjoy bringing the great down for selfish purposes. We
remember the great Orikeze of Agbor land who exploited significantly
in politics in 1970s. After much of dirty local politics like the
one you are playing today, he lost his life right there in the field
of politics. Some elders (not you in particular) were happy because
they saw it as an opportunity to be relevant
The State is aware that you are
always writing open letters and insulting every office both high and
low without regard . We remember one of the open letters you wrote
against the appointment of the Queen Mother as a commissioner by
Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan. The office of the governor was harshly
touched by your biro. I remember you asking the governor if he can
appoint the mother of the Olu of Warri as a commissioner. Yes, self
assumed leader, you may have your point but you are too erratic in
writing.
In his infinite mercy, the
Almighty God brought Dr. Cairo Ojoughoh to replace Chief Vincent
West Egbarin Orikeze. He grew so high to the extent that he could
meet with a sitting Nigeria president without stress. Elder Ehikwe
can attest to this. He became so popular that no great politician in
Nigeria would deny knowing him
We wish to formally
acknowledge your letter dated May 24th, 2014. In your letter you
stated that it took you since January, 2014 contemplating if you were
going to write Dr. Cairo Ojougboh an open letter or not. Finally,
you decided to write. The decision you took was a very good one since
your conscience is in line with it. It is also very good so that we
can as well reply you with an open letter. We would have decided not
to reply in this way in order to preserve the small credibility left
with you after the open letter you wrote as a mark of respect. But
we felt obliged to reply your letter for the reason that your letter
both in content and context is geared towards destroying a human
being with flesh and blood like you. A man who has contributed
greatly, risked his life and that of his family to write the name of
Ika South in the walls of Aso Rock. A man who was shot several times
and hated by neighbours for standing on the ground that Agbor Kingdom
and Ika South local government in general should not be relegated to
the background no matter the challenges we are facing today. And
most especially a man, who still have the prospect to grow higher
than where he is today, having the hope that the mistakes of
yesterday and today can be corrected tomorrow.
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