The same Country but Different Expectations: Why the People of Izume in Ewohimi are Trashing their Palliative Gifts From the Government.
A few days ago, a video appeared in social media depicting a scene where the elders of one Izume community were trashing what they allegedly received from the government as part of the Palliative reach out program. Izume, is one of the clans within the Oghu Village. And Oghu Village is one of the villages in Ewohimi Town, Esan South East LGC of Edo State.
In the video, they told the government in Esan dialect that: "The people of Izume are not starving." "We don't need your food. We're trashing your gifts." "Here is the food from the Government, we don't need them, and we're depositing them by the roadside." And this is the same country where some citizens have received N20k from the Federal Government.
Why do I believe this story? Simple.
A few days ago, I saw a video where they were dividing their allocations from the LGC according to the numbers of wards and clans in the village. Watching the video was like a joke, given the numbers of clans within the village, I knew the foodstuff will not go round.
So, seeing the allocations of Izume Community today as seen in the video, I was not surprised at all about the reactions from the elders of the community.
Now, let's take a look at the reality on the ground and do a commonsense analysis on why the LGC is being confronted with enormous challenges.
The first question is, how come we have so many towns and villages in one Esan South East Local Govt Council? Simple. It was the handiwork of General Sani Abacha and Chief Tom Ikimin. General Abacha was the President when the LGC was created along with others in Nigeria. And Chief Tom Ikimin, as the Minister of External Affairs at the time, was the closest the Esanland had to the seat of power at Abuja.
So, it is very difficult to blame the Council Chairman for the show of shame. It can only distribute to the communities its total share from the State Capital.
Ewohimi, for instance, is big enough to have its own local Government council by now. Unfortunately, we do not have prominent men in the position of power like Uromi, Igueben, Irrua, Ubija, or Ekpoma.
The decision to group Ewohimi along with about eight other villages and towns (Ewatto, Okhuesan, Ubiaja, Ujogba, Ilushi, Oriah, Ohordua, Emu, etc) as one local Government is a crime against humanity. There is no other Local Government Council like that in Nigeria.
Before the establishment of Bendel State University at Ekpoma, now Ambrose Ali University, Ewohimi was the second largest town in the whole of Esan land after Uromi. Now, Ewohimi is in the third position following the surge in new businesses and the student population at Ekpoma. While Igueben, Uromi, Irrua, and Ekpoma have their own local govt council with a few other villages added, Ewohimi was left out. Instead, we were integrated with Ubija along with the eight villages mentioned above.
Ubiaja, Irrua, and Igueben, for instance, are not as big as Okaigben. And Okaigben is a village inside of Ewohimi. And Ewohimi remains a town inside of Esan South East LGC.
For Igueben to be considered big enough to form an LGC, Chief Tom Ikimin who is an Igueben native, pulled out Ewossa from its sisters' communities (Ewohimi and Ewatto) and merge it with Igueben. Even if you don't know the history, merely looking at the names - Ewohimi, Ewossa, and Ewatto - you don't need to be told that the three towns are "Ibhiyon" (of the same mother); therefore, ought to have had a local government council of their own. But Chief Tom Ikimin demurred, in spite of the enormous pleadings from His Royal Highness, the Onogie of Ewohimi at the time.
Another downside of the equation that is not easily addressed is the salary to the traditional rulers. Remember, Local Govt Councils, pay the traditional rulers a certain percentage of their monthly allocations from the Federation Account. And that's what they share among the Kings in their LGC. Meaning, the monthly payment to a King in a given LGC is determined by the number of Kings in that particular LGC. For instance, you do not expect His Royal Highness, the Onogie of Ewohimi to earn as much as the Onogie of Irrua or Ekpoma, when Irrue and Ekpoma do not have more than three villages in their respective LGC.
In an ideal world, Ewohimi, Ewatto, Ewossa, Ohordua, and Emu should be one LGC, with headquarter at Ewohimi. While Ubiaja, Okhuesa, Illushi, and Oriah remain one LGC with headquarter at Ubiaja. General Sani Abacha didn't know the makeup of the various communities, towns, and villages in the Esan land. Chief Tom Ikimin did. Sadly, he didn't make that pitch before Abacha, but went ahead, hijacked Ewossa from its sisters' communities, and merge it with Igueben LGC.
Hopefully, one day an Ewohimi son or daughter will be in the position that Chief Tom Ikiimin was - or better - and be able to make a case for the creation of Ibhiyon Local Government Council, having it headquarter at Ewohimi. For now, we have to be content with what we have, knowing that the Government won't be there all the time to satisfy our expectations.
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