Is the Devil we know better than the Angel we don’t know?
It is an open secret that most Nigerians are religious. Those who are, subscribe to either the religion of their parents and some, as they grow older and independent of their parents, go further to search out for themselves and chose a different way of having a relationship with their God. The history of how Pentecostal form of Christianity came to push the traditional form of Christianity to the background cannot be written in Nigeria without mentioning the likes of Benson Idahosa, William Kumuyi and later on, the catholic charismatic movement’s Emmanuel Ede.
Before this time Nigerians were content with making simple sacrifices prescribed by the Native doctors in order to ward off Evil spirits. The advent of the Pentecostal form of assembly took most of that role from the Native doctors and placed it squarely on ‘Men Of God’, some of who, I must add, were not and are still not in talking terms with God. Warding off Evil spirits has become a lucrative venture and our ‘Men of God’ are smiling to the banks while those who seek deliverance from God through these men, are still plagued by poverty, disease, ignorance, fear and all sorts of bondage. Nevertheless, Nigerians are taught and shown how to cast out Demons, Devils, Evil spirits and Witches; and it has come to stay! Hallelujah! Amen? No!
Who can, therefore, blame me for being confused whenever I hear our people say, “THE DEVIL YOU KNOW IS BETTER THAN THE ANGEL YOU DON’T KNOW!” How on earth did we get to this pass? How did we get to trusting Devils we know, even though we all are experts in casting them out? Something tells me is about reluctance to embrace CHANGE
This common saying, particularly among Nigerians is the reason and the root why we abhor CHANGE. We are uncomfortable with people who have raped us, murdered us, stolen from us and have accumulated enough wealth for their families to last four or more generations but when it comes to voting them out, we are quick to make excuses for the abominable ways they have treated us; we are reluctant to try new hands. We all do agree that these people, as represented in our local setting by Emmanuel Uduaghan are the ills that have plagued Anioma people, Delta state and Nigeria as a whole, yet we prefer to stick with them and so they carry on meting out excruciating punishment on our people.
It is unimaginable that any right thinking Anioma son or daughter would trust Emmanuel Uduaghan with the destiny of our people for the next four years on a promise that an Anioma son would emerge as his successor. Although I do not really care where a governor comes from as long as he SERVES our people by making good his campaign promises, it would have been a good deal for our people if we were dealing with an Angel but for heavens sakes, this Devil we know, has not honoured his campaign promises! Let us examine some of the things we know about this devil, shall we?
· He was hand-picked and imposed on the people of Delta state;
· He has carried on running the state like a family-owned business, to the ruination of our people;
· He is mentioned in the cases involving Ibori, his wife, sister and mistress in the UK;
· He has continually lied to our people and insulted our intelligence as he did with the farce that is the Asaba Airport;
· Apart from pockets of projects that where executed shoddily, there is nothing to show in the Anioma area that we are in an oil-producing catchment area;
· Now, CONCERNED ELDERS IN DELTA STATE FORUM has rejected the devil they know and believe me, they really know him; Follow this link and you’ll see that this is the devil they know too well.
There is no joy coming from this Devil we know!
“There are official documents of the EFCC which indicate that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State was deeply involved in the illicit transfer of state funds to former governor James Ibori, his wife, mistress and other associates. Some of the documents reveal that Mr. Uduaghan who is Ibori’s cousin ordered the payment of about N2 billion in ‘‘unconventional transactions’’ between Delta State government and Udoamaka Okoronkwo, Mr. Ibori’s Mistress who is serving a 5-year imprisonment in the UK following her conviction on money laundering charges. The EFCC record shows that the transaction took place when Uduaghan was secretary to the Delta State government during Mr. Ibori’s governorship” (DELTA STATE ELDERS, LEADERS AND STAKEHOLDERS FORUM).
This says to me that as he was in the beginning, so shall Emmanuel Uduaghan be till the end, forever and ever. He has perfected the act of siphoning public funds which he began while he was the Secretary to the government under his equally dubious cousin, James Ibori. Those Anioma collaborators of Emmanuel Uduaghan who are pushing for this position, are so blinded by greed they do not see that Uduaghan will not be in a position to decide who succeeds him in 2015; that power would belong to the people. They are still living in the land where elections are unfair and rigged, where politicians are imposed on the people.
The on-going elections, although not perfect, have shown that Nigerians are coming of age in making the right choices and insisting that those choices be respected. Mark my words, “EMMANUEL UDUAGHAN WILL NOT BE THE ONE DECIDING WHO OCCUPIES ASABA STATE HOUSE IN 2015, YOU AND I HAVE THAT ROLE, POWER AND PREROGATIVE.” Again, Uduaghan would be in jail for his thieving, rougeing and kleptomaniac sins against the people of Delta State.
It is necessary to state here that Ibori and his co conspirators are not on trial in the UK for crimes committed against the people of Delta State but for violating money-laundering laws in the UK. This means that we still have the chance to try him and put him away when and if he returns to Nigeria. My desire would be that Emmanuel Uduaghan would already have been tried, sentenced and serving a jail term for what he did to us. Is he going to decide for us from jail? I don’t think so.
Angels on the other hand, are bearers of good news; they guard us, the reason we call them guardian angels. Some of us believe that angels are used by God to guide and protect us from Devils, Demons and Evil spirits. I think the Angel I do not know would definitely be better than the devil I know. The problem here is that, with the passage of time, Angels could fall and become corrupted. We can stem the fall of Angels by making sure we bring Devils to book to serve as a deterrent to Angels that might be tempted to become Devils. This way, we are sure that the Angels we do not know remain Angels for as long as they are in office, serving the purposes for which they were elected.
To those who still believe that Emmanuel Uduaghan is the Messiah that would install an Anioma son in Government House at Asaba, come 2015, I dare say that another four years is too long a time to subject our people to further deprivation and marginalisation. THE CREATION OF ANIOMA STATE remains the only chance we have of self- governance and that should be our occupation at this crucial time. Our collective desire, wish, passion, agitation, energy and focus should be to campaign vigorously for the CREATION OF THE PROPOSED ANIOMA STATE AS THE 37TH STATE OF NIGERIA.
The Devil we know has nothing but pain and heartache to give us. We all agree that the Devil is evil and has nothing good to offer. We all commonly say that the Devil is a liar. Why then do some of us believe that the Devil we know is now telling us the truth about installing an Anioma son as the Governor of Delta state in 2015? As for me and my house, we will always be advocates and supporters of Angels we do not know rather than the Devil we know! CHANGE and taking RISKS are the ways to great achievements. We cannot achieve anything by being afraid to embrace the new and cling to the known that is evil, in spite of massive evidence of abuse. Angels we do not know represent a shot at change. Life is about taking risks. Let us take the bull by the horn and dive in, in faith believing that we now have the power to make sure that Angels we do not know remain Angels even after we have come to know them better.
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