…By Prof. Nathan Protus Uzorma…
The great sage, Baltasar Gracian, while advising men fighting for just course once urged then to “always set to work without misgivings on the score of impudence. Fear of failure in the mind of a performer is, for an onlooker, already evidence of failure…. Actions are dangerous when there is doubt as to their wisdom; it would be safer to do nothing. This admonition was surely addressed to Chief Ikedi Ohakim, on his just-curse-fight for his gubernatorial triumph that was manipulated and denied. Such fight for Baltasar must be focused, determined and impudent in approach, and as Ausbeth Ajagun would say, “very many planned projects end in grand successes”.
Grand planning often goes in tandem with grand success, just as practising makes progress, especially when fitness is engendered by reality and truth. Anthony de Mello while discussing on realism and authenticity that accompany reactions, once narrated “the Master was asked by what criterion he selected his disciples. He said, ‘I act in a submissive and humble manner. Those who become haughty in response to my humility I immediately reject. Those who revere me because of my humble demeanour I reject with equal speed.” This advice is replete with meanings, reflections and possibilities of varied interpretations. One wonders at this, which disposition would qualify one for being a disciple, based on the Master’s criterion for selection, and since the criterion is indeterminate, the wondering becomes possibilities that have but two probabilities: Being chosen and being rejected.
The Master in the gubernatorial case between Rochas and Ohakim, is nothing but probability, which the Grand Master of truth grants as serendipity to the favoured. Probability is chancy and founded on what Soren Kierkegaard called Either/Or. It is best seen in football competition, where of necessity one team must win.
This probability is the basis of my wondering, ‘what if Ohakim wins? How would he feel? What would be the fate of the million lies and boasts of Okorocha? Where will he go- To Afghanistan or Mozambique? Or would he impose on himself self exile? What will be the fate of his CGC, will it still remain functional as Ohakim’s Development Centres remained in the hands of Okorocha? Will Imolites employed by Rochas’ people oriented programmes still remain as he did to the 10,000 youths employed by Ohakim? The autonomous communities created, granted and revalidated, will they remain such as Rochas accorded to the 106 autonomous communities that Ohakim created and had their Traditional Rulers recognized?
The “if-ing” is unending as it rests on the powers of probability. If mistakenly chance favours Ohakim, certainly a work shall stand on Stolen Legacy, his highly celebrated victory would turn to sulking and anguish. Just as all his sly political moves and mudslinging orations on Ohakim’s regime would be turned to accolades.
What if Ohakim wins, will Okorocha not have the obligation to account for all the expenditures he has blatantly refused to grant? What if this supposition mistakenly realizes, will he not bless the EFCC net and darkroom as tenant, or can he disguise himself as a woman at the Airport and fly overseas? What if this imagination turns to reality, will the fugitive lawmakers that decamped from the PDP to the APGA in order to form falsified majority in the House, not find their ways back home? Will Ohakim recall the elected Local Government functionaries that were dissolved by Rochas, even though they were little less than toothless bulldogs during the 2011 gubernatorial election in Imo State? Will Eze Cletus Ilomuanya laugh as Eze Samuel Ohiri? Will Ohakim not move to relocate IMSU to his father’s backyard? Will Ohakim be pilloried for demolitions of people’s properties and criticised by the public worse than Okorocha by the Catholics in Owerri Archdiocese? Who would they vouch for- The “abortionist” or the “hot-tempered assaulter?”
This supposition is very fascinating. It is an assumption that should as well be at the back of Okorocha’s mind, preparing him “for better, for worse.” It is an imagination that ought to compel him for provisional readiness to quit; in fact, it is a peremptory alert and heralding quit-notice. Just like every human being that prays, longs and prepares for good-living conditions, should at the same time reflect on the reality of death, on what Martin Heidegger called the “end of my own-ward possibilities,” Gov Okorocha should reflect as well on the “what if Ohakim wins?”
As a supposition and possibility that hovers in the dicey hands of probability, it is a certainty that may or may not realize. If it does, it will be really cataclysmic. It would be like dragging out suddenly the teat of the breast from a very hungry and thirsty child’s mouth. The resultant cry is as imaginable as ‘what if Ohakim win;’ just as the fate of an aborted innocent baby would have been better of. Certainly, the realization of this “what if” will set many households backward in life, unemployment and disengagement will mount as the praise-singers of Okorocha might loose their source of comfort.
When I was discussing this, “what if…” with a friend, he told me that the State would be in mixed feelings and immigration will rise. I asked him, “What of the disciples of Okorocha, what would be their fate?” He said gloomily, “sense of loss, shame, then immigration,” “but although many of them that were blinded by the favours of engagement would see that…”, he added. I could not listen further as my mind from his last words, ruminated on Anthony de Mello’s speech on blindness: “May I become your disciple?”, an aspirant inquired. “You are only a disciple because your eyes are closed. The day you open them you will see there is nothing you can learn from me or anyone, the Master said. “What then is a Master for?”- inquired the aspirant. “To make you see the uselessness of having one”, the Master concludes.
If Ohakim wins, certainly Imolites will see the uselessness of having a deceitful Master and it would be disastrous for Okorocha. That is why Baltasar Gracian said, “Men of great abilities are slow to act, for it is easier to avoid occasions for committing yourself than to come well out of a commitment. Such occasions test your judgment; it is safer to avoid them than to emerge victorious from them. One obligation leads to a greater one, and you come very near to the brink of disaster.”