Mbakwe Walks Alone In Suspension... As his kinsmen turn their backs on him

By Dada Ayokhai & Suleiman Ugbokhe

Alhaji Aremiyau Momoh, the suspended chairman of Etsako East local government area

Unlike the Liverpool Football Club - the current UEFA Champions League Champions - who never walk alone - loneliness seems to be the lot of Alhaji Aremiyau Momoh, the suspended  Chairman of Etsako East local government area of Edo state.

The Okpella-born politician, who is popularly known and called Mbakwe, was handed a two-month suspension from office by the state government for alleged corrupt practices running into millions of naira.

But unlike what obtains in other areas of the country where kinsmen rally round their embattled leaders, the Okpella people have chosen to turn their backs on Mbakwe to carry his own cross.

A salient feature of our burgeoning democracy is the  rate at which people quickly extend solidarity to their fellow kinsmen, especially those holding political offices, once they run into troubled waters.

Most times, we have seen how people are mobilised and transported to court venues in buses, all in the name of showing solidarity for no other reason than to drum up support for a fellow kinsman or notable politician who is facing corruption related cases.

It is immaterial whether he or she is guilty or not.

However, the Okpella people chose to behave differently in the case of Mbakwe not because they are stone hearted but because of what some of them termed "the greedy and arrogant" disposition of the suspended council chairman.

When Mbakwe's suspension was announced by the state government over allegations of financial impropriety running into millions of tax payers' money, ordinarily, one would have thought that Momoh's political travails would elicit solidarity from his Okpella kinsmen.

Instead,  the suspended chairman's kinsmen did the unthinkable. They jeered, mocked and booed the man in the  eye of the storm, asking the popular rhetorical question, "Who you help?".

According to some Okpella indigenes who prefer to remain anonymous, the suspended council chairman was in his hey days arrogant and power drunk. They maintained that he never ceased to complain that the Council was cash strapped because the state government denied it of funds to work.

They said it was, therefore,  surprising to hear later that the same Council chairman who had publicly lamented about lack of funds to work would be caught in the middle of charges bordering on abuse of office and corruption, arising from a petition written by the Council Councillors in which they accused him of dubiously expending  7 and 16 millions of naira on Sallah and Christmas gifts respectively, to some unknown persons.

The suspended council chairman is also said and known to live large like an Emperor.

 He is also being accused of sponsoring members of his immediate family, including an underaged child, on holy pilgrimage to Mecca.

 In the days to come, more of the atrocities committed by the suspended council chairman may likely come to light.

To an average Okpella man watching the political scene as  things unfold, Alhaji Momoh has not done justice to those he governed in his short but uneventful tenure.

 The belief is that he did not do enough to deserve sympathy from Okpella, hence they resorted to the appellation, "Who you help?", as a way to express their displeasure with his performance in office.

To add insult to injury, the Okpella people are said to have since paid courtesy and solidarity visit - in a carnival manner - to the acting chairman of the council, Hon. Benedicta Attoh, who, before now, was the vice chairman of the local government area.

Hon. Princess Benedicta Attoh,
Acting Chairman of Etsako East local government area

In a Facebook comment on Mbakwe's suspension, one Peterfree Ugbodaga posted: "Just last week ,on Thursday here, his kinsman from his ward led by barrister hankuri afegbua a notable lawyer ,politician and human rights activist came to the council in convoy of 7 buses to congratulate the acting chairman and publicly display their loyalty. They even came with a cultural dance(pylory) that added color and fanfare to the visit.nta uzairue captured scenes from the historic visit@."