By Edherezi Eremutha
I have finally concluded that Onowakpo has pride and a very dislikable-egoistic disdain for the Isoko people which he partly represents at the national assembly as a senator.
And I am not surprised about the Isoko National Youth Assembly (INYA) President’s remarks and personal encounters with him, senator Joel Onowakpo, because after the declaration of the 2023 election results, a very close ally but now distanced friend of Senator Onowakpo made a disturbing comment about the distinguished senator in an exclusively private meeting that I was privileged to be seated-in.
He said “Onowakpo na very ‘proud’ man ooo”; that, this one wen dem come declare am winner so, naim be say na another feather of pride and pomposity dem don add to him shoulders so ooo”.
You may say the above statement came from one of his haters. But deep down, the man in question was one of his greatest supporters and mobilizers.
Ironically, I have personally enjoyed several benefits just because of shouting “Isoko kweke” in a public transit, in 2018, in a faraway land!
For speaking Isoko alone in another man’s land, I was redeployed to a more beffiting office, not that the current office I was featuring in was bad in it’s true sense. But the lady then said, for me to interact in her mother’s tongue in an environment where everyone was busy constructing phonetics of all kinds just to belong, that I deserve better. She was in-charge of one of the leading departments in that organization.
It is good to quickly notice that Nigeria is a highly tribalistic society. We must learn to accommodate ourselves in strange lands no matter what.
Sometimes, just a smile from your tribe’s man in an unusual terrain can make your whole day with good memories and that could also end up meaning a lot to the receiver of your smiling atmosphere.
I never knew that lady from anywhere. She just swung into action because she heard me communicating to my friend on the phone with Isoko language.
Lastly, those of you close to Onowakpo should start talking to him now to turn a new leave because 2027 is not far.
Advise him to forget about all those unnecessary endorsements he is getting here and there and plant his focus on the real deal why he was sent out to represent the senatorial district.
That, come 2027, even a minute may cause him wonders with this ungodly public behaviour that he is already exhibiting.
