A Reign of Sabre-rattling Demagoguery and Tompolo - Ekanpou

By: Enewaridideke Ekanpou

It appears public discourse has been  polluted like crude oil spill ravaging Odidi and its environs in Warri South-West Council of Delta State, though Governor Oborevwori has recently intervened to stop the environmental pollution. The pollution of public discourse is caused by political and theological demagogues who are currently on rampage to win trophies. Minds on the awaiting trophies, these demagogues are shamelessly driven by drivel disguised as a healthy public discourse vomited incessantly on social media platforms, with verbally muscular grandeur and grandiloquence. High Chief Government Oweizide Ekpemupolo,(Tompolo) is the focal point of this polluted public discourse that has become the breeding ground of theories grandiloquently formulated without believable hypothesis to signal and merit testing and experimentation before moving grandiloquently  to the next stage of  theorisation. 

The identified rabid  demagogues, some of whom pretend to be psychic, theological, philosophical, moral, patriotic, altruistic and statesmanlike in posturing, Tompolo must devise a strategy to run without traces after the electoral debacle of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the 2027 Presidential Election. This theory is based on the fact that Tompolo is a quarry or game to be hunted down after the presidential election because he had enthusiastically supported Tinubu's re-election bid with his Door-to-Door Movement. At what point did support for a presidential candidate  become a contravention when there are no established cases of wrongdoing? This must be the early signs of mental debility far beyond the curative power of conventional medical doctors.

Theories of 'run' for Tompolo emanate from sheer ignorance of why Tompolo is ideologically on the move like a full tide penetrating everywhere with inexorability. Another emanation point is that anyone who fails to follow the convoluted  political, theological, philosophical and ideological prescriptions of these confused political and theological demagogues are the preferred candidates to be cast into the furnace of political and theological  demagoguery. These demagogues are too dim-witted to know that Tompolo is driven by certain developmentally verifiable factors in his Door-to-Door movement for the electoral victory of Tinubu.

Tinubu's approach to pipeline vandalism, crude oil theft, insecurity and the Presidential Amnesty Programme as a deliberate policy in the Niger Delta region has won the heart of Tompolo. Tompolo is also driven by his sacrosanct principle of appreciation, which is rooted in the Ijaw culture of gratitude and relentless defence of any ideals and values believed in and consumed, without a traitorous retreat under any guise. This demands that the so-called political and theological demagogues do a deliberate study on Tompolo and know the rightness of his stand, as it would be eventually situated by any serious researcher in his findings drawn from hypotheses, questionnaires and inferences at his disposal.

Life thrives on perspectives that diverge on current issues. Issues cannot and must not be tied to a single perspective, as variety itself spices up existence on earth. This is the kernel of Chinua Achebe in THINGS FALL APART when he says: 'Let the kite perch and let the eagle perch too. If one says no to the other, let his wing break'. Crucifying a man based on divergent perspectives held on an individual or on an issue when there are no evidentially established acts of reprehensible deeds, no behavioural prevarication,  smacks of abnormality in thought and public pronouncement. There are varied perspectives on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu viewed through different lenses . Everybody is at liberty to market and globalise their perspectives on Tinubu without being verbally heckled, decoupled and exposed to exaggerated sabre-rattling.When acidic words become weapons routinely deployed, they carry the weight of nuclear weapons threateningly dangled before a supposed adversary.

Tompolo unapologetically markets his perspectives on President Tinubu on the Door-to-Door Movement canoe on sail across all parts of Nigeria. The journey of this canoe is premised on the achievements of Tinubu in areas that border on the habitually neglected Niger Delta region and others - which may materially differ from the perspectives of the 'kite' and the eagle' of Achebe's creation. Must this divergence in perspectives be the home of sabre-rattling theories by political and theological demagogues?

One certain attestation unlikely to be denied by any Ijaw man is that Tompolo is not a man given to dissembling when he holds a perspective on any matter however the consequences this may breed. Understandably, Tompolo knows that governance often creates boundaries and borders between the rulers and the ruled no matter the utilitarian colouration intentionally  embedded in the policies formulated and implemented. Sometimes the emerging borders are products of chronic misunderstanding and mischaracterisation; sometimes the borders are products of man's capacity for verbal crucifixion through deliberate closure of eyes to the inspiring components of the policies initiated. Tompolo is only bothered by these emerging borders and the accompanying mischaracterisation weirdly promoted by political and theological  demagogues.

Tompolo views boundaries between people across the states of Nigeria as arbitrary creations provoked by political calculations, mere geographical conceptions and misinterpretation of policies pursued by the rulers. These emerging varied borders cause tensions and imperil ethnic cohabitation and nationhood; so these borders must be tackled intentionally and dismantled through his Door-to-Door movement. Tinubu does not need rising border tensions. For Tompolo these tension-filled borders must be dismantled  so the borders can only be drawn on as a site for meaningful engagement towards the actualisation and continuation of Tinubu's vision for Nigeria. Through the various states of Nigeria the Door-to-Door canoe of Tompolo journeys, patriotically building functional relationships and partnerships bound to close the gap between Tinubu and the masses. 

Ecumenism resides in Tompolo's movement across Nigeria as it boldly envisions the bringing together of all Nigerians however their religious, philosophical and ideological persuasions. An ecumenist does not deserve verbal pulverisation and crucifixion by demagogues no matter their momentary confusion and rabid propagandist dance.

Tompolo does not hide endearment spotted anywhere on earth; neither does he keep hermetically sealed lips over visible endearment spotted. As regards the Niger Delta region, Tinubu has endeared himself to Tompolo by his pragmatic approach to the incubus of pipeline vandalism and crude oil theft; he has also endeared himself to Tompolo through the appointment of High Chief Dr. Dennis Otuaro as the  Amnesty Administrator who has now  brought the PAP to the path of the envisioned ideals of the programme. This informed approach of Mr President to the Niger Delta incubus is the talisman that has cleared the road to Tompolo's heart, now traditionally chalked and unapologetic in his journey to make all the borders in Nigeria - both geographically and socially created by man - friendly as a site for meaningful engagement towards the realisation of President Tinubu's re-election bid. The travelling  thoughts of Tompolo about Tinubu are therefore patriotic and meaningful, devoid of deliberately funded praise-singing for contractual or appointive recognition within the cycle of governance.

It must be repeated here for the purpose of special emphasis that for every Ijaw man the principle of appreciation is sacrosanct. Every Ijaw man feels a moral obligation to reciprocate good deeds graciously extended to him by anyone.Tompolo's Door-to-Door movement for Mr President is a pragmatic echo of the Ijaw principle of appreciation. The Ijaw principle of appreciation goes with an unapologetic  declaration of support and defence for the person for whom resources and energies are appreciatingly deployed. 

God is the ultimate ruler over the political aspirations of man on earth. Every election produces two possibilities: victory or failure. When the 2027 presidential election eventually harvests either victory or failure, Tompolo will not run and hide because he is not a fugitive or felon. Tompolo has no record of transgression in any venture  and so it would be farcical to propagate the anti-Tompolo propaganda that he will be prosecuted when Tinubu loses the presidential election, and to evade prosecution, he must run. Does Nigeria have a precedent of prosecuting those who merely supported a presidential candidate? Where is the precedent?

Habitually, Tompolo is always walking on the widely lauded path  in the society; he is not an ambitious man; he is not a politician; he is not an  aficionado of self-exhibitionism and hedonism. He is a traditional mystic who values moral purity above any other thing and would never walk on a path of landmines. However the amount of envy, vindictiveness and animosity privately incubated against Tompolo, he will not run and hide as a beloved believer of Egbesu even if Mr President loses his election based on divine ruling. Ijaw nation will not allow their highly respected, morally situated and distinguished, philanthropic and  altruistic son to be pursued and humiliated by forces that are merely envious and vindictive towards Tompolo without any verifiable evidence of violation of a known rule in Nigeria  beyond his  unapologetic support for President Tinubu. Tompolo can only be pursued and humiliated after the pulverisation of all the nine EGBESU in their sacred temples in the various kingdoms of the Ijaw nation. Tompolo can only be pursued and humiliated after the entire Ijaw nation has been totally wiped out -  which is an impossibility. 

Let it be known to all readers that those political and theological demagogues who want Tompolo to run and hide after the presidential election are wishful thinkers who are the worst publicly declared haters / enemies of Tompolo. Sworn and implacable enemies of Tompolo they have become  for the very simple reason that  he is unapologetically appreciative, supportive and defensive of President Tinubu's 2027 re-election bid. Tompolo cannot be moved by sabre-rattling theories grandiloquently propounded by theological and political demagogues who don't believe in the peaceful coexistence of Chinua Achebe's 'kite' and 'eagle' irrespective of their differing ideological convictions.

Distilled from the futurologically anchored nihilistic, presumptuous, pretentious and  derogatory exertions of the political and theological demagogues, which do not need any specialist exegesis for clarity, is  that Tompolo's support for President Tinubu is meaningless and baseless because the outcome is preordained in his disfavour; that Tompolo must be prosecuted after the election for unapologetic support and defence of Tinubu; that Tinubu does not merit any support from Tompolo.These misguided exertions are annoying and inflammable  by every standard of measurement, but Africans immersed in traditional ethical codes are always full of forgiveness however their emotions are irrationally inflamed to rise like the crashing crests of oceanic waves.This is where the mystic in Tompolo must learn to forgive the political and theological demagogues whose nihilistic exertions, impulsively seen as a quantum leap in political and theological public discourse by their myopic lenses, are legally and traditionally sacrilegious. In response to this appeal for forgiveness, Tompolo must draw strength from the thoughts of Wole Soyinka captured in his Nobel laureate's lecture of 6 December 1986 entitled 'This past must address its present' : 'There is a deep lesson for the world in the black races' capacity to forgive, one which, I often think, has much to do with ethical precepts which spring from their world view and authentic religions, none of which is ever totally eradicated by the accretions of foreign faiths and their implicit ethnocentricism'.

Dr. Ekanpou writes from Akparemogbene, Delta State