By Victor Agusiobo
Popular Anambra Catholic priest, Rev. Fr. Emma Obimma aka Ebube muonso is in a dog/cat relationship with his governor, Charles Soludo.
On the face of this apparently non cordial relationship are issues bordering on the security of the state. But there seems to be more to their rift that gestures at ego.
Doubtlessly, the two personalities have some elevated sense of their own importance. Soludo, a professor, a former CBN governor, a first class graduate of Economics and now a governor of a sophisticated state like Anambra has every reason to be haughty.
Ebube muonso on the other hand is a Catholic priest, very well respected if not adored by many of his congregants. His name alone, the aura of the holy spirit suggest the prowess he has been able to achieve in his vocation of proselytizing. Not a few of his admirers believe that he has the powers to pray with some efficacy, listen to both old and young confess their shadows, recommend absolution and cure different languors. The Padre himself has openly avowed that he is a servant of God who hears regularly from Him. In what language he does that is still not decipherable. But suffice it to say that political candidates aside wanting to tap from the sheer multitude he controls also troop to him to ascertain the mind of God regarding their ambition or simply for him to bless them.
Soludo was once a beneficiary of such spiritual largesse.
So, in ways big and small, the Padre has become powerful. For such a man with these multi-dimensional attributes, real or imagined, arrogance is not likely to be a rare vice in and about him.
So, when few weeks into the Soludo administration, the Padre went upon this communion with the heavens, something dastardly was revealed to him. What was that?
A bunch of blood sucking persons who looked like the Fulani had attacked the governor’s convoy and there was so much blood everywhere resulting from the massacre.
It seems upon hindsight now that Ebube muonso must have miscalculated what was to be Soludo’s response to that dream or call it prophecy. But the response did come with a mischievous and deflating bite.
Soludo simply dismissed what looked a prophecy of doom by reminding the Padre that the power that revealed it to him should as well have revealed where the potential assailants were to aid their easy capture. Keen observers strongly believe that Padre Obimma did not forgive the governor for that seeming assault on the integrity of prophecy that spewed forth from a man of God said to have the ears of God on the affairs of men.
When therefore the government allowed the security situation to slide almost to the point of bedlam and a number of priests became victims of kidnap and occasional death, the ground was set to remind the government of her insufficiency.
That job, beautifully timed was spear headed by Fr. Ebube Muonso. His torrents of criticism against the apparently poor handling of security were very well appreciated and received by the Anambra populace. The aptness of the criticism heightened the hollowness in government attempt to put up a defense or even attack the Padre.
In a twist of pleasurable coincidence, the determination by government to give insecurity a good chase matched with the crescendo of Ebube Muonso’s harangue on the Soludo administration.
Thus far it’s been a win win situation for the two very popular sons of Anambra State. What is left is usually not taught in schools namely a sense of moderation and emotional intelligence. For the Padre, the aggressive criticism which many believe helped to usher in the new security efforts should now be mellowed to enable the citizens distinguish the part of his call that is altruism, vendetta and politics.
For the governor, he must be reminded of the thoughts of a leader in our profession, Joseph Pulitzer who once said: ‘the only position a person can successfully occupy without any form of training is the position of an idiot’. While for now the Agu na eche mba security may be making some progress, the level of training of the members is still of concern. Yes, when one is down, the only place to go is up. Anambra was indeed down, so anything was better than nothing. Usually in situations where a thief is set to catch a thief, if eventually the thief is caught, what happens to the predator thief? The Bakassi experience are still fresh for good lessons on the absence of effective monitoring and supervision.