The Goat is Only Able To Jump Over A House Because it is Fallen

By

Izebhokhae Stanley.

Izebhokhae Stanley

The truth is as Tim Tom said, the goat is only able to jump over a house because it is fallen, Esan and Binis have been at logger heads from time Imo river! At a time, there was even an attempt to label Igbinedion an immigrant from Uromi whose real name is actually Inegbedion, such is the show of shame, of course, I have not read the whole post, I have only gleaned from a few to notice the spite fire. During my time in AAU, my friends were Bini's and Ora, I attended Edo college, so I have alot of Bini friends. Ora because of other reasons, very few Esan friends because we had nothing in common as at that time.

Tribe is not just enough to make friends for me, but after a few years, I started seeing a the differences, I took a script I had wriiten to a Bini producer and the frown that crossed his face left a bad taste in my mouth, I'm sure he also had a bad taste in his mouth when he realized that my Izebhokhae was not Ora, but Esan. I quietly packed my bags and took my script to an Igbo producer, wise choice, I write for Amaka Igwe, AK media, Tajudeen Adepetu and other, they don't know about Bini and Esan, but that did not stop me from marrying my beautiful Bini wife and that did not stop her elder sister from marrying an Igueben man, though I sometimes laugh at her that he is still a Bini man since their dialect is more tilted to the Bini language.

We will always have recalcitrant tribalists, we will always have people who think any Esan man is not qualified to rule the state, it didn't start today, even Ambrose Alli had the issue, Awolowo had to come down to witness the UPN primaries between him and Air Iyare, I don't know his real name. Awolowo wanted Alli and that was his saving grace.

Before the last elections, Senator roland Owie analyzed this issue and he was vilified, some of Oshiomole's antics have been tolerated by most Binis like Rex Ubes Ik because they are sure he will give power to a Bini man when he leaves power and there are some like some like Kelvin Okpebholo who wants to take the issue of ethnicity head on, Oshiomole is gaining from the issue, I don't have anything against Afemai people, some of my greatest friends are from Auchi and beyond and they don't even have any sympathy for Oshiomole, I had to urge them to collect the largess he is dishing out because it is their turn, since after Agbazika Innih, they have been in obscurity.

The Binis have the Oba and the tradition, the Esan have Abuja power, the Ora have a culture that doesn't bow to oba of Bini or remove their cap, Etsako and Afemai are now building their political base, I suggest that everytribe look inward and concentrate on their strength. Like I say to people, there is no state that mirrors Nigeria and its problems like Edo state. One thing we must learn is attack a person and not a tribe, for instance if I say all Binis are stupid, I'm saying my wife, my in-laws and my Bini friends are stupid and that makes me stupid by association.

If someone says an Esan will never rule the state again, maybe Urhobos heard the same thing when they were part of Bendel state, today they are power brokers, we don't know what will happen tomorrow, if i become a governor of Edo state tomorrow, a Bini woman will be the first lady, if U become a governor of Esan state if it can be created, a Bini woman will still be the first lady, but what I believe is, people cannot be forced to live together, maybe the political arrangement can be rearranged, after all, Lagos state is not so big a land mass.

...to be continued