IKA CARNIVAL: EGHEBI DARES OKOWA, OTHERS.
CANCELLATION OF CARNIVAL IS A THREAT TO IKA UNITY.
Irrespective of what the apprehensive public was fed concerning the reasons for the cancellation, it is obvious that threat from local competitors, political rivalry and financial support were pivotal. There were side briefings that the Chief Organiser, Mr. Sabastine Okoh, has intention to seek election in 2019 and as such encouraging the carnival further expands his political base. This assumption may not completely be wrong considering that he made attempts to become a state legislator in 2015. It is bad for political permutations to deny the entire people of Ika and environs such pleasure but not abnormal. After all, political contest is a war without guns and bombs. However, in Nigeria, use of lethal weapons has become part of our political acquisition.
The blackmail from hoteliers and owners of rendezvous spots, have also made the organisers to grow goosebumps. Sources hinted that powerful business people in the hospitality industry ganged up against the carnival from the onset. Again, this is not strange. Business competition is war. And in war, all is fair.
The third pierce to the carnival balloon, is lack of sponsorships, endorsements and grants. A reliable source confirmed that in the first year apart from the event ground, there was no financial support from any source. The second edition survived through the whiskers. A major brewery apart from building their collapsible retail outlets, provided a paltry ten million Naira (N10,000,000:00). In addition, a prominent Agbor son, who is a bank executive in Abuja, made fund available for the sedan car which was presented to the winner of the beauty contest.
Whatever the factors that motivated the balloon of Ika Carnival to burst, it is very obvious that an individual was able to provide crime-free Christmas in Ika for two uninterrupted years. And this man, in my opinion, is Ika Man of the Year. The failure of the event to hold this year is not a blow to the people of Ika alone but to fun seekers in the entire Delta North and parts of Edo State. There are very many people overseas that are coming to celebrate Christmas because of the carnival.
The tension brewing due to the cancellation is not good for the unity of Ika which groups such as Ika Village Square , IVS, is working very hard to build. The rumour mongers are busy advertising wrong reasons for the call-off. They seem to be getting converts but we need to stop them with dispatch. We must not fold our hands to destroy the needed unity especially this period leading to elections.
In the next weeks, politicians will begin to ferry bags of rice, vegetable oil, cows and hampers to their supporters. No matter the high number of recipients, the carnival matters more. During the carnival, the criminals drop their guns and cudgels to have fun for free. There is immeasurable rise in local economy. It brought back night economy which is a salient factor for urban development.
We can organise the carnival this year. The political class, business captains and other people of goodwill should make their funds ready. The business outfits where Ika people are chief executives should stimulate sponsorship of the event. They should accept their investments as part of their corporate social responsibility. They need not be reminded that they cannot sleep freely when their poor neighbours are awake, whinging and groaning over their perceived insensitivity to their plights.
Mr. Sabastine Okoh, though knows while he had to pull out but posterity will remember him as a man who brought a project that united his people. Posterity will also record it that he took the same hypertension wiper away from them. It is therefore necessary that he gives professional support to any technical team that may emerge to hold the carnival this year
The most potent danger of allowing the carnival not to hold is that any other community that hosts it in future will be tagged enemy of Agbor, current host. And this mutual distrust is what we can avoid today. This is a time for men to pull on their thinking caps. Those who flaunts that Ika is blessed may have reasons to doubt themselves. Ika Carnival must hold. And we must say it loud to Senator Okowa, Mr. Jim Ovia, Mr. Godwin Emefiele and Prince Nduka Obaigbena. Ika people believe in them. They have been found to have the capacity to extract water from stone. The people need them now more than beforein. There is no Christmas gift better than the carnival. This was what Mr. Sabastine Okoh proved to us. We are not ready to stop licking the candy".
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