Peter Agba Kalu writes:
Most times, I found myself pitying Mascot Orji over his political struggles because, over the years, people have refused to listen to him and hear him out. Society judged him before he arrived.
He is suffering and carrying the burden that children from well-off families do carry. Our everlasting leader, Ikemba Ojukwu, carried a burden that made him rebel against his father, one of the richest men in Africa then, and enrolled in the army. The military was being looked down on. He wanted his own badge of honour beyond the father’s image, and he got it.
On a personal note, Mascot, the governorship candidate of Action Peoples Party (APP) for Abia State, is a very smart, intelligent, humble, and easy-going young and dynamic man. No one has ever had an encounter with him and come out disappointed. He’s honest and straightforward to the core. He’s hardworking and someone that gives you his words and keeps to them. But because he has been suffering from the shadow of his not being seen beyond his elder brother and mother, two political bulldozers of Abia, it has been difficult to hear him out and give him a chance.
Taking his family by surprise may look radical, but that’s a step he ought to have taken long ago.
OUK, his most senior brother and former governor of Abia State, did not help matters. He likes his junior brother to a fault, and his pampering and shadowing him over the years has not been to Mascot’s advantage. The influence of his family has made it for people to blind their minds to socio-political reasoning and understand one simple fact: this young man has his own life to live. With that line of thought, the issue of why he will be governor after his senior brother was governor won’t arise.
What people ought to know, which we have been missing, is that politics isn’t made for everyone, and there are families that are cut out for it. Just like in America, we have the John Kennedy, George Bush, Bill Clinton, etc. families holding offices repeatedly. Over here, look at the Yaradua families and some of the people in offices today. Their families held one major office or the other in years past.
What we should be looking out for is the individual’s pedigree to deliver. That’s why Mascot himself ought to have rebelled long ago and taken a radical step like he just did and moved away from the family shadow. In great essence, the young and dynamic Mascot is paying the price of coming from a privileged family. So, no matter what he has to offer, no one wants to listen to him. But in this coming election, he has the opportunity to change that narrative as he has finally stepped out as an independent man of his own.
Look at the Alvan Ikeoku family from Arochukwu in Abia State, there was a time the father and son contested an election against each other. Look at the Shagari family they are always on the ballot. Look at BB Apaugo family they are always running and opposing each other and no one ever used BB Apaugo to judge his children because there’s always that clear opposition within.
One of Mascot’s greatest flaws over the years has been his inability to rebel; people rarely see him for who he is. He never exhibits any behavior. Being naturally a nice, easy-going, and understanding person, those characteristics were reflected in his service to the people. What people are afraid of about him is that they fear he will be remotely controlled by his family if he enters the office. Our people are afraid of a government of godfatherism. He needs to step out and step up his act and show the people that he has a strong and independent mind of his own.
Taking his family by surprise and moving into another house is the first step toward that. He needs to do more.
