Physician, heal thyself By Terver Akase

Nigerian Concord Newspaper

Yesterday, I did a piece on the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship candidate in Benue State, Rt Hon Titus Uba in which I spotlighted his numerous achievements and why he is the best man for Benue’s top job, come 2023.

The piece generated positive responses and accolades for Engr Uba. Interestingly however, only members of the Labour Party came to the write-up to contest that one of the projects (a bridge in Vandeikya) which I listed was constructed by their guber candidate, Rt Hon Herman Hembe. A healthy debate ensued and the matter was eventually and amicably resolved when Uba’s media aide Wuese Orshi issued a statement clarifying that there are indeed two bridges on the said road and while Uba constructed one, Hembe did the other.

All through the robust and interesting debate, I didn’t see any member of the APC in Benue State also stepping forward to mention at least one project that their governorship candidate had done or just one humanitarian intervention he made for the people before vying for the governorship of the state. I was shocked over their loud silence, to say the least.

But you see, even Jesus Christ, the only true Messiah, before he officially began his ministry, served the society and was involved in development. Jesus was a carpenter. As the son of a carpenter, he learnt the art and practiced it efficiently. Don’t forget that carpentry is a highly technical vocation that is vital to development. Without furniture and other aspects of carpentry, buildings (public or private) will be useless and without comfort.

Whenever we ask our friends in APC to tell us what their guber candidate Hyacinth Alia did for any of the churches where he worked, they lose their cool and go berserk. They tell us that he is a priest, so he should not be asked any questions. They say he is a priest so he should simply be given the governorship of the state.

Haba mallam! I know that in the church, no one raises a hand to ask questions, but in the political arena, we ask questions. Even if you are a bishop, when you leave your priestly calling and jump into politics in a multi-party system, you will be asked questions.

You call yourself a ‘physician’ and claim that you want to come and “heal” Benue State, but you are infected with an ailment which you are unable to treat. We have been asking for just one toilet that you built in any of the several places where you served as a priest before your contumacy, but not even one of your ardent devotees is able to point at any.

You have to first heal yourself before thinking of Benue State, my dear physician.

Terver Akase is the Special Adviser to Governor Samuel Ortom on Media and Publicity.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *