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By Godwin Adindu
“Tear him to pieces; he’s a conspirator.”
“I am Cinna, the poet. I am Cinna, the poet”
“Tear him for his bad verses; tear him for his bad verses”
“I am not Cinna, the conspirator”
“It is no matter; his name’s Cinna. Pluck but his name out of his heart and turn him going”
This is a passage from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. I know that a greater number of young people in this blue app may not connect to this passage. Their time is not quite an age of classics. But the older generation would certainly come home with me. Shakespeare and the other classics were the movement of our time.
Today, I draw inspiration from this scene to situate the conversations of the APC men and the remnants of the PDP in Abia State. The scene reflects the irrationality of a mob. It speaks to the impulsive and emotional composition of men when they become victims of brainwashing. This is the picture of the Abia opposition.
The line is the last verdict of a man who is pleading for his life. This man is Lucius Cinna, the poet. As the Roman plebeians (now turned into a violent mob) descend on Cinna on the street, he explains that he is not Cinna, one of the conspirators who killed Caesar, but an innocent poet. The mob goes ahead and condemns him for writing bad verses. His punishment for the bad verses becomes instant death. In that senseless and irrational fury, they lynch Cinna, tearing him to pieces and leaving him in a pool of his own blood.
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When you point the Abia opposition to the world-class Umuahia Bus Terminal, they counter that the air conditioner in the terminal is too cold for good health. When you refer to the way the Abia landscape has changed with the quality roads constructed by Governor Otti, they counter that the roads are either too narrow or too short for the money quoted for their construction. When you commend the healthy environment sustained by the perfect work by ASEPA, they direct you to a compound in Obingwa, overgrown by weeds. When you point to the overhaul in the civil service and the prompt payment of salaries and pensions by Otti’s government, they counter that Abia civil servants are the lowest paid in the country. When you applaud the SMART schools constructed by Otti and the total rehabilitation of secondary and primary schools in the state, as well as the free education granted at the basic education level, they challenge you that they have used torchlights to go everywhere, searching for the schools and that they are non-existent.
When you mention the Nsulu Airport and the Abia Industrial Park and Modular Refinery at Owaza, they counter that these are white elephant projects. When you talk of the Governor’s public personality, with his speeches and presentation, they quickly condemn him for bad grammar, for importing such words as “retrofitting” into the Abia lexicon. When you applaud Otti for lighting up the cities of Aba and Umuahia with solar street lights, they condemn it because it has made the nights lose their natural originality of darkness.
Indeed, followers of the APC and remnants of the fallen PDP behave like the Roman mob. They are displaying how collective frustration in the power struggle can turn irrational and destructive, leading men to descend into the gallows of reckless judgement.
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• Adindu writes from Umuahia.
