Opinion
By Berta Omohinmi
RIDICULING or mocking of women who are yet to have children is not known to any of the cultures in Edo State. Indeed, it is abomination to hold a woman in contempt for not having children because children are believed to be gifts from God or the gods. Children are precious blessings from the supreme being and crowns for every marriage. Couples who are yet to obtain them are to be prayed for and encouraged. That is what our tradition teaches. That is what we all were raised to believe. One wonders then why a man, an old man, a father in his 70s will not know something as fundamental and important as this.
Who raised Adams Oshiomhole and what kind of children has he raised and bestowed on the Nigerian society if as a grandfather, he can call a woman ‘barren” in public. What kind of father sees the pain and agony of a woman as a political weapon to be brandished on a campaign trail? How did Edo state get here? This is truly a sad pass where old men are no longer elders.
Adams Oshiomhole has proved that you can be old and not be an elder, that a man can tower above others and still not be a leader. How exactly has Betsy Obaseki’s lack of biological children part of APC’s manifesto? Or is Mr. Oshiomhole saying that APC will give children to all the women in Edo state who are in the Lord’s waiting room, that the APC will deliver babies in every home where there are none? Come on, wouldn’t that be something, a world record that Nigeria’s current ruling party can deliver babies to every family that needs them?
Just close your eyes and imagine it. APC’s babies everywhere, delivered through courier services on demand. All you need do is to ask and APC in Edo will deliver to your doorstep.
A political party whose government has not been able to deliver free tomatoes or onion is touting baby-making. If the whole story was not so sacrilegious, we would be laughing and rolling on the floor.
If Edo people have fuel to run their generators and bikes, it will be easy to believe that APC will give them water. Once upon a time, they had fuel but now, nothing. The APC government at the center is floundering and struggling. Even APC chieftains are begging President Tinubu to “do something and anything to make life easier for Nigerians”
Trouble has APC by the balls and it is squeezing hard. How did the party end up with an Oshiomhole leading its campaign at this time, seriously?
Come to think of it, Mr. Oshiomhole is not even the APC candidate in Edo State, Monday Okpewholo is. Mr. Oshiomhole is not on the ballot. He’s was once a governor. Maybe this is just an unusual case of withdrawal symptoms and desperation to hug the headlines. Everytime this old man grabs the microphone, my heart skips many beats and he always lives up to the billings. He never disappoints. He always puts his foot in his mouth all the way to his knee. It is also suspicious when you look at the APC Gubernatorial candidate in Edo State, Mr. Okpewholo, a “one minute man” on the rostrum. A man of a few words. Mr. Oshiomhole who has convinced himself he is an orator is a man of many gaffes, talking a-dime-a-dozen. Is it that Mr. Oshiomhole loves the Edo people more than the candidate? Ask yourself, why is Oshiomhole panting so furiously on Okpewholo’s rostrum? Why is he muddling up the water so much just to impress Okpewholo?
Are we sure that it wouldn’t be Oshiomhole’s third term instead of Okpewholo’s first term if APC wins? And if that happens, does Mr. Oshiomhole know, and he should as an old man, that men of few words are usually mean when they are holding the aces. When they wield their axes, nobody’s head or neck is sacred. Politics is a “dumper ” and Adams, as a former “dumpee”, ought to know better.
Edo women have the numbers, they have the voting strength. Mr Oshiomhole has directly taken a swipe at the core of womanhood. He has hit women, womanhood and the family below the belt, Okpewholo and APC may pay the price.
I know there are real old men and elders in the All Progressives Congress. What I don’t understand is why they are all quiet. Should we safely assume that they all think it is okay to deride women who are not yet pregnant? Their silence means consent, right? Shame on all of them then. I thought they would be worried and angry, squirming in their seats as they watched their former Chairman harassing one woman instead of promising Edo people a better life. The Yoruba has a saying that I have always found interesting and apt for Oshiomhole’s gaffe on Okpewholo’s behalf – “the soup does not shake in an elder’s stomach”. Not in Edo, the soup is rumbling in Oshiomhole’s tummy and everybody can hear it.
An old man who says everything on his mind is not an elder. He is just a talkative gumming up the works, spoiling everything for everybody.
13th September, 2024.
C.E.
Tags: Berta Omohinmi
