First of all, one must deeply appreciate my editor for accepting the title of this piece. It sounds funny, even to me. But then, it was thoughtfully chosen as the most appropriate way to drive home the point being made. In Ika language (one of the minority languages in the world), it is borne by some people as a name. And can be interpreted to mean; “minimize your talkativeness”, “be careful with words in communication”, “mind your language” and so on.
Though the idea to apply the word for an illustration such as this was muted several months ago, it began to make stronger meaning recently with happenings in Nigerian communication space, especially among politicians, their supporters and critics alike.
According to an American clergy man, Yehuda Berg; “Words are singularly the most powerful force available to humanity. We can choose to use this force constructively with words of encouragement, or destructively using words of despair. Words have energy and power with the ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt, to harm, to humiliate and to humble”. Some time ago, the Governor of Edo State, Senator Monday Okpehbolo was quoted as warning Mr. Peter Obi not to step into Edo state without his permission, stressing that failure so to do will put him (Obi) in danger.
Given the governor’s poor communication skill as was reportedly exhibited during his last governorship campaigns, 2025 annual budget presentation to the house of Assembly and the recent opening ceremonies of the Niger Delta Sports Competition, the senator’s statement may have meant a different thing to him. But the recent attack on the former Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi and other politicians who gathered in former Governor John Odigie-Oyegun’s house for a meeting is now offering a meaning to that statement.
Unfortunately for the governor, a young man, who probably was acting communicatively ignorant when he went to his social media handle to proclaim that what Peter Obi saw in Edo state will be minor compared to what awaits him in Rivers State soon spoke as if the evil perpetuators acted on his (Okpehbolo’s) instruction. He has thereby landed himself in police net for a chance to explain the link between him and Okpehbolo if any. Chances are that whatever statement he gives to the police may never tally with the stance of the originator of the threat.
Still on communication, many politicians who had opportunities to offer clues that could help the police in tracking down the masterminds of the attack as they fielded questions from journalists rather chose to take the path of the lowest level of political campaigns – hammering on what the president of the country has done or failed to do for Nigeria. They chose to criticize President Tinubu for borrowing to run his administration, failing to offer security for Nigerians, particularly in the North (not even in Benin City), removing fuel subsidy, floating of the currency exchange rate and so on.
Even if they were right to have chosen the path of turning the occurrence to a campaign issue, their stance do not automatically translate to how they want to ameliorate the plight of citizens come 2027. Political actors like Dr. Oby Ezekwesili have used similar I-know-better attitudes in the past against President Jonathan who was seen as not being able to rescue the Chibok girls from the Den of the Boko Haram insurgents.
She even defected from the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress, APC and formed her NGO, “Bring Back Our Girls”. Till date what Jonathan did not do have not been done.
When former President Obasanjo was seeking to become a civilian president in 1999, he blamed the military for the poor electricity supply in the country at the time. He followed up with a promise that he would do something that is akin to extracting water from the rocks by getting a ‘capable’ hand to run as power and energy minister. He, indeed appointed a no-nonsense administrator, late Chief Bola Ige to the position. Today, the situation is worse than OBJ met it in 1999.
In a null share, Nigerian politicians have continued to dwell on the simplest levels of irrelevance in their campaigns for elective positions. While those in power struggle to convince the populace on the reasons they want to remain there by explaining away their achievements, no matter how useful they are to the country, those wishing to come in relish on critical objections to what government have done, no matter the necessity of such lines of actions in modern politics and economic thinking.
Therefore, unlike the position of some Nigerians who believe that the 2027 elections will be contests between the people and APC, the contests will be between Nigerians and politicians, not just APC. Their poor communication skills and careless deceitful pronouncements prior to that year will make or mar the chances of many them who rely on ethnicity, family tree, religious bigotry, godfatherism, moneybagism and election manipulations to harmfully adjust the destinies of the people. It is dawning on the citizens that their destinies still rest on their palms.
