Every good leader takes advantage of his leadership position and opportunity to raise independent followers, potential leaders, successors and even greater leaders. A good leader is a sacrificial lamb; he assembles followers, teaches them how to excel and lead, creates opportunities for them, and watches them step into his shoes as he aspires higher and provides mentorship. A leader that cannot produce other leaders especially those that can take his place or greater leadership role is not just a greedy leader but a failed one.
Today, one of the problems that we are currently having in Isoko nation as a minority ethic group, is that of influential leaders that can negotiate on our behalf. In Delta State and Nigeria, other smaller ethnic nationalities have grown the capacity to attract mega development to their land. How did they do it? Some of their powerful leaders created rooms for others within the ethnic nationality to grow powerful and useful to the entire ethnic group, which has greatly increased their power of negotiating, lobbying, influencing and attracting more development to their land.
The Isoko nation is desperately in need of such leaders, who can sacrifice on behalf of the ethnic nationality to raise more leaders with the power to negotiate, attract, lobby and influence development – human capital and infrastructural – to the land.
This cannot be achieved when we become desperate to stay stagnant in a particular leadership position for decades without any reasonable contributions and sacrifices; without aiming higher and allowing others to grow within our ethnic group. It is popularly said that a single tree cannot make a forest neither can a single finger remove lice from the head. These parables will not be upturned in Isokoland for the first time in history.
The spirit of stagnation is a terrible cankerworm that is internally eating up the growth of Isoko nation and destroying its chances to measure up with other ethnic nationalities. This, we must collectively destroy! Do not be deceived, with over 400 ethnic nationalities, there is a great competition in Nigeria; every ethnic group is striving and trying all possible means to gain attention, relevance and secure more opportunities for their people. Partisan politics has not been able to outrun this age-long mentality neither has nationhood outlawed it.
Let us imagine the current Lawmaker that is representing Isoko Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Hon. Leo Ogor, who has occupied the position for 16 years, being in the Senate 8 years ago with another credible and powerful leader representing us at the House of Representatives in those 8 years: today, we may have produced a Ministerial appointee through their power of negotiation and lobbying; we would have successfully made Ozoro Polytechnic a Federal Polytechnic through their joint influence; we would have attracted more mega developmental projects to Isokoland; Isoko youths would have been part of the nonviolence phase of the Niger Delta Amnesty Programme; our youths would have been beneficiaries of NIMASA’s Oversea Scholarship Scheme for Science Students; we would have been expecting a Modular Refinery; Federal appointment into different MDAs, Commissions, Agencies, and Boards would have been overflowing; for the matter of fact, we would have produced the DG of NIMASA or MD of NDDC or something better; power supply would have greatly improved; perhaps, Isoko North would have been boasting of two constituencies; more Isoko people would have been employed and empowered;… Maybe I would have been a major contractor, executing some durable Road Dualization Contracts and other projects in Isoko nation and you would have probably been a Staff of NNPC, CBN, FIRS, TCN, NIMASA, NDDC, etc. You see why this ugly status quo must be changed?
Hon. Leo Ogor has done the Isoko people a great level of disservice by refusing to grow as a leader since 2003. Whatever he has done in the last 16 years can never be commensurate to what the Isoko people have lost through his stagnant leadership. Even as a Principal Officer in the House of Representatives for about a decade now, Leo Ogor has not make one leader with Federal influence or with the power of lobbying in the State. The fact that his aides are still dependent despite working with him for years, speaks volume.
To even be dreaming of returning to thr House of Representatives for another 4 years, when some of his Colleagues are now Governor(s) and Senators, is a terrible slap on our collective will and we must reject such a curse. Now, we ought to be putting our house in order, righting the wrongs of the last 16 years and preparing for the future. This is the time for every well meaning Isoko elite, leader, men, women, youths and teenagers to arise to the occasion and stop this cankerworm from completely eating and destroying our collective patrimony. The general interest of Isoko nation must supersede individual selfish desires.
Thank God that now we have a great developer, a promoter of the Isoko brand, a seasoned strategist, a renowned philanthropist, a builder of men, and above all, a man that has refused to be stagnant in his endeavours, Joel-Onowakpo Thomas in the race of the House of Representatives to speed up Isoko progress. We all know him and can attest to the above facts. Therefore, there is no better time to redirect the path of the Isoko nation except now.
We must shun all personal interest and other parochial sentiments that do easily influence our thoughts and decisions, and for once be patriotic in our actions for the sake of our motherland, a place that we all have called home. Let’s all chest out and support Joel-Onowakpo Thomas bid for the House of Representatives, Isoko Federal Constituency, so that we can destroy this deadly cankerworm together and make Isoko nation great for us all.
Thank you and may God rescue the Isoko nation!!!
Written By: Mc Paul
