Honor Voting
Honour killing mostly occurs in the Indian Sub-continent. It generally refers to the acts of murderous ventures that are activated to honorific acclaim by relatives of spouses of higher caste against those of the lower ones who dare eloped marriages to members of their caste. For them, nothing called love should amount to such heretic excesses. Communities celebrate honour killers and in extreme circumstances, give additional spouses to them.
2 While honour killing is barbaric and unacceptable in every sense of humanity, in my opinion, and in contrast to the very odious nature of the honour killing enterprise; a 21st century democratic emerging paradigm is notoriously cropping up from the ashes, if not the mould of honour killing, especially in the engaging and entrenching political space of sub-Saharan Africa, I call it honour voting.
3 Honour voting, though coined in consonance from the dastardly honour killing and in clear contrast to it, refers to acts of organised, mobilised and honorific voting for a political leader of a minor minority group nearly permanently schemed and skewed from the political process not due to marginalism but excessive application of marginalisation by the concerted efforts of leaders of opposing ethnicities with an overwhelming population usually opposed to the smaller excluded communities, not necessarily contiguous to themselves, though competition to power access is central and where contiguous, the schism is more antagonistic.
4 It also connotes followership to political figures who are iconic and whose political undertakings border more on the psychological security of the victimised ethnicities, whether the actions of such leaders have the accompaniment of soft/hard infrastructure or not. The leader in other words, is considered as the warrior, democrat/protector and facilitator of both their self and collective esteem in the connotative political space in which the competition is etched. Such leaders are usually vehemently opposed by a few vocal elite from within whose sole driving force is not necessarily the faliable attributes of the honour leader, but cogently their quest for exact belongation, succession, truncation and or a precipitation by external facilitation/collaboration for the ultimate denigration and or mutilation of the beneficiary of honour voting.
5 Reputedly, this few vocal elites are likely to have been beneficiaries of the hunted political games of the leader in question. Their rebellion may never be far from insatiability. For them, the spoils should know no end. If a prolonged break ensue from the political spoils as availed them by the leader, then war becomes total and debilitating. But the overriding conditions of the political characters of the antagonising group against the sole beneficiary of the honour voting is that they lack actual and concrete local or base followership. Their fame and space are usually sustained by media renting, and their tenured rise to power base are inclined by considerations of friendship, camaradierie and or past narcissistic collaborations. Once these relationships are fractured and their dislocation become imminent from the power structure, they become eminently disruptive to the honour leader. All their failings are suddenly directed to the machinations of the honour leader. In this process of vicarious extensions of the blame/hate analysis, the mythical and speculated power of the honour leader expands.
Back to the Basics:
6 In my valid opinion, the above is the background to the dynamics that will shape the forthcoming rerun in the Benue South senatorial district between Senator David Mark of the PDP and the APC and its candidate. Now the facts of the issues:
I The Idoma people will vehemently apply honour voting to Senator David Mark to re-establish the fact that the essential building of the APC candidate is an externally motivated and syndicated enterprise. That without the invading and marauding political push, the APC candidate does not have the steam to steer even the little storm that his cup of tea seem to invoke;
ii That Senator Mark deserves the slot not necessarily because he is infalliable, but despite the fact of his obvious human frailties, he has made the Idoma people to become the most effective minority in Nigeria by providing uninhibited access to federal human and capital indexation in the face of the Benue State skewed public service system. Through the instrumentality of appointments and public service engagements, the Idoma people dominate most of the para-military and public sector middle levels cadre. The forward thinking implication of the above is that in the next 10 years, we would be at the commanding height of these agencies.
iii At the last deliberative analysis and estimation with our experts, we realised that in the last PDP administration, especially the last 8 years, Benue South was second only to Bayelsa in terms of appointments to chairmanship and membership of federal Boards and Parastatals with its attendant ancilliary occupational co-population.
iv That the core of legislative duty is law-making, oversight functions and lobbying developmental infrastructures to your sphere of representation. In so far as these factors are necessary, Senator David Mark has exceedingly performed. He has most times, in view of his national clout, added executive functions to those of his core legislative duties by attracting long term legacy projects like the 19 Billion naira Otobi earth Dam with hydroelectric component with capacity for generating interrupted power to three states of the federation with expansive irrigation potential and abundant water supply. That project is 65% completed. Along this line is the major oweto-Loko-FCT Link road and bridge that would reduce our journey time and open up our towns and communities to commerce. The College of Health Sciences Campus of the Federal University of Agriculture, Otobi Campus located in our vicinity by the efforts of the Distinguished Senator David Mark speaks volumes of his beneficial politics for our people and thus the imperative of honour voting. At the risk of reducing this formidable nationalist and pan Nigerian to a sub-regional bigot, let us spare the others especially high level appointments such as Ministers from his Zone since 2006 long before he became the Senate President;
v Again, we also concede that to whom much is given, much is expected. So the Mark expectations have grown largely in Zone C to unimaginable heights. Otherwise, it is clear that state urban renewal and provision of infrastructure to cities within states are not the constitutionally guaranteed duties of a federal legislator. They are within the purview of State Government’s budgets. Surprisingly, those who demand these projects of the Distinguished Senator deliberately choose not to direct their demands to the appropriate source. It is not Senator Mark’s duty to lobby for the construction of city roads and public works systems in Benue South. The Deputy Governor and Commissioners of Benue South sit in the State Executive Council where funds are approved for the renewal of Makurdi, Gboko and Katsina-Ala townships to the exclusion of Benue South. A situation where a Local Government Councillor fails to construct a culvert for which he has taken money and the blame is directed to the Senator is to say the least a manifestation of ignorance, mischief and deliberate distortion of facts;
vi From its Greco-Roman history, the Senate is reserved for Statesmen and national leaders. Age and longevity is not a barrier. In fact, they are tonic to its sustainability. The older the wine, the better and as a Minority, we cannot predicate our leadership on the mere propaganda of futuristic hope, it must be based on what has been achieved. As such, the Senate, our Senate Seat is not a learning ground, a Senate that parades the likes of Rabiu Kwankwaso, Aliyu Wammako, Ike Ekwerenmadu and Barnabas Gemade, should be complemented by a worthy representation of equal stature from Benue South. The APC candidate is a non-statrter; we cannot reduce our chances to the provocation of a tiny wing of intellectual militia hanging on the social media wave length without PVCs, where indecorum and reality TV mentality has become a norm. If the votes are reduced to PVC holders, the clear choice would be David Mark. I have no doubt.
vii That in-spite of the whole struggle, I challenge the Idoma and Nigerian Public to name a Senator who has done more for his people than Senator David Mark.
viii That in a nation where ethnic nationalities are ranked in terms of population, where our immediate neighbours pride themselves as the 4th largest and the Ijaws claim to be the 6th largest; in this pecking order, where we do not have a number and where in the past, a PRONACO profiling had submerged us under the Igalas, we owe ourselves the duty to give honour to a man whose activities have given us unprecedented acclaim to the extent that his election as Senate President in the 7th Assembly was greeted with a silence of unison agreement by a conclave dominated by super ethnic nationalities and leaders of differing political leanings. It is the single force of unity ever displayed by Nigeria’s ego infested and ethnic clamouring leaders under one roof.
ix That it would be eternally politically retributive for us as a people to contemplate the election of a non- starter to an Assembly that to us means everything in the face of our overwhelming electables and qualified people. The coming re-run election is beyond party lines, honour voting would apply and that means the masses are aware that the election is about the independence, self-identity and sense of dignity of the Idoma people.
x On my part, I must add that I was born in Otukpo, schooled from scratch to Secondary all in otukpo the melting point of the various strands of Idomaland as well as its political, commercial, traditional and spiritual capital. It was only the quest for tertiary education and subsequently postgraduate studies that took me on sojourns to Makurdi and Jos respectively. However, I am a homeboy in all ramifications, till date I maintain a home in Otukpo, I vote in Onyagede, I have held political office in the land I have ran for elective office. My name is Alhaji Musa Shuaibu Omale, I stand on the side of history, I stand for truth, I stand for justice, I stand on the side of posterity. Let it be on the record, I am supporting David Mark and he is poised to win the rerun election for the good of our people.
xi Hey, this is not about yams, except of course, the APC apologists want to suggest that their support for their candidate is based on the rotten yams they have consumed.
7 Alhaji Musa Omale an ardent farmer, Political Scientist and Community Leader is former Secretary to Ohimini Local Government Council. He wrote this piece from Abakpa, Onyagede, in Ohimini Local Government Area of Benue State where he will lead the vanguard of Honour Voting on election duty. He can be reached on musaomale2003@yahoo.com, msomale334@gmail.com 08068894429
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