Wakirike Reset! By Tokusetima Victor Burubo.

 

CHIEPAKA [Stand Out] with Tokusetima Victor Burubo.
 
     
   The million-plus people of Wakirike (Okrika) are today deemed by many to be in political decline...a kind of meltdown in the affairs of Rivers State. I beg to defer.
   What seems like a back bench for Wakirike people in state and national politics is a failure on the part of certain analysts to appreciate two main realities about the trajectory of Wakirike people, their history and resilience.
   Let me clarify that the most significant thing about our people is not the sheer brute force attributed to us in times of warfare, whether ancient or modern. Yes, when Akuma, the tomtom that served as a clarion to rally warriors for war, sounded in ancient times, the enemies of Okrika quaked for good reason. That fearsome reputation persists to this day. But that is not the only yardstick for gauging the power of our people.
    First, Okrika people, like all others, are prone to episodes of rising and falling from time to time.
   Now I ask: what makes Wakirike people in all their communities so unbreakable and indomitable (ba ba fika)?
    Simply, they can adapt and reinvent themselves when the combat zone enforces new realities.
    And in the current politics of Rivers State and Nigeria?
    Clearly, the levers of power in Rivers are not in Wakirike's hands right now. But we have been there before. We have been in positions of disadvantage and still swam to the surface.

During the palm oil trade,Bonny, Kalabari and later Opobo kingdoms were ahead of Okrika,but we held our own. We have suffered desperate anomy in times of upheaval during the Nigerian civil war, austerity measures and the violent agitations of the past.Our forefathers did not sit and lament. Neither will we.
    Like the ancient fathers, we will put our heads down, review our ways, correct errors, stoop to conquer, and rebound in due season.
   Bese, this is not the time to do anything rash just to confirm our fame for strength.  Let us be strong in our minds too.
     This is no time to start a fight and be the ones to hold the blade of the machete, cutlass, or knife.

Truth be told, the power levers in Rivers State, built around Dr Peter Odili from 1999, are no longer relevant.

The operators, too, have lost their clout. New leaders are emerging.
   Like the ancient fathers, we must apply the "opu deke" principle.
    Kirike Bese,a chu sin opiri me!