Ogbeh: A Hireling On The Podium?  

BY SIMON REEF MUSA

The emergence of Chief Audu Innocent Ogbeh as the newly elected Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) did not come to me as a surprise. Considering his footprints on the political sands, the new appointment befits his characterisation as someone who would never miss an opportunity to remain relevant. Not known to be identified with interest of his people and still seeking relevance at 72 years, instead of mentoring younger minds to take over mantle of leadership, Ogbeh, who was appointed a Minister at less than 30 years of age, still runs with the young Turks for political relevance.

 Worried by the rancour and tension ripping cross the North, the need for balancing is best seen in the leadership structure of the ACF that has deployed ethnic minority elements to lead. Before him, Alhaji  Abdurahman Okenne, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Gen Yakubu Gowon, among others, were prominent figures of the ACF. When some months ago I got the news that General Martin Luther Agwai (retd) was set to become the ACF Chairman, I vowed to respond appropriately in the event the General accepts to serve as leader of the body.

For Ogbeh who is never weary to be under the floodlights, his acceptance to lead the group is more premised on maintaining the status quo than addressing issues that have beleaguered the North. The new position bestows on him the privilege to throw some influence around and portray to the world that all is well with the House that Sardauna built. In the coming days, the new ACF Chairman, whose major preoccupation as Minister of Agriculture, was importation of grass from Brazil and the RUGA debacle, Ogbeh has found a platform to display his eloquence to confuse those who want to be confused.

 The ACF’s sole objective is the engagement of Northern leaders for unity in tackling problems confronting the North.  Since its establishment in 2000 after a meeting of prominent leaders of Arewa in the North with the late Sultan, Muhammadu Maccido, can it be said that the body has achieved its objectives? Apart from visiting state governors of the North to solicit funds in carrying out their supposed functions, what concrete achievements are there for the ACF to show? Amidst the interminable crises confronting the North, what radical posturing has the Forum adopted in arresting the bloodshed and destruction of lives and property? Can this be the best of times for Ogbeh to take over leadership of a body that has become moribund and enmeshed in its contradictions?

One thing is clear: As the ACF chairman, Ogbeh will find it easy accessing men and women in power to renegotiate himself into relevance. In spite of his acclaimed numerous achievements as the Minister of Agriculture, it is still a puzzle why he was not re-appointed for a second term. Having been banished into Siberia of political inactivity, the Idoma-born politician desperately needs a platform to reach out to power wielders.

Ogbeh is a worrying metaphor for the selfish leadership that is plaguing ethnic nationalities in the North. After neglecting their people, these leaders have become allies to forces that are opposed to the survival of their own people. As long as they can access the power corridors; they don’t owe their people any moral obligation in defending the collective interest. As it is with men and women that are at home with eloquence, the likes of Ogbehs have come short of their articulatory prowess in providing solutions to problems confronting their people. Little wonder he failed to develop the agricultural sector of the North.   

It is incontrovertible that his emergence as the new ACF Chairman is aimed at weakening the growing agitation by ethnic nationalities to free themselves from the yoke of bondage and local colonialism. More than anytime, the ethnic nationalities in the North are coming out with increasing vigor to expose the underbelly of the horrifying age-long injustices being meted on them in the name of Arewa. Apart from cascading poverty in the North where the incidence of poverty is as high as 87 percent, leaders like Ogbeh are more at home playing the ostrich and pretending that all is well.

In portraying themselves as nationalists, the Ogbehs of this world are too quick to keep silent when injustices are meted on their people. All that matters to them is playing the role of good cronies of a contemptible system that prides in making many people poor for the benefit of the few. These selfish leaders have failed to understand that in refusing to tread the collective path to progress, their chances of making it to the top remains a mirage.

Like the minority-minded leader that Ogbeh is, he is oblivious of a changing world that takes prides in freedom and creating an open door for all to pass through to realise their potentials. When herdsmen turned Idoma land into a flowing stream of blood; Ogbeh kept an embarrassing silence. Like some cowardly leaders of some ethnic nationalities in the North, he embarked on Nicodemus sympathy visits and called for prayers.

After taken the position of the ACF Chairman as a covering, Ogbeh, who is more of a political mannequin, may think his days as a hireling are just about to begin. When one attempts to weaken a reality that exposes injustices meted on a helpless people; divine powers are always at hands to intervene. If Ogbeh’s new position as ACF Chairman is to provide a table for equal partnership and opportunities in remaking the North, then, there is hope for an ablution to cleanse him of his past silence.

It is a fact that Chief Ogbeh can never be innocent in his painful silence over the interminable destruction visited on his people. Exhuming the corpse of Arewa for northern unity cannot atone for his past. It is either he works towards pulling down of the old Arewa altars that have brought us to this appalling condition or face extinction. His new position offers him an opportunity of either remaking the North or continue using the newly acquired platform to gain more ingredients for his soup.