Edo State Commissioner for Information, Mr. Louis Odion, in a syndicated interview with some political reporters purportedly in Lagos,seized the occasion of the anniversary of his boss, Governor Adams Oshiomhole's third year in office, to hurl uncharitable tirade at Chief Tony Anenih, the Iyasele of Esanland and National Leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).I was not in any way surprised at Odion's incontinent verbal diarrhea because I needed noone to tell me that all his rantings, apparently typical of a neophyte who descended incautiously into the arena of potentially consuming political conflict, was motivated by the desire to please his paymaster. To that extent, Odion's invective, political as it was, was a poor rehash of Oshiomhole's devious mindset.He must have granted the newspaper interview after the pre-recorded interview by his boss on Africa Independent Television (AIT) which was aired on Thursday, November 10, 2011. What he said about Anenih was not thematically different from Oshiomhole's. He only expanded the scope of the rubbish they had purported to feed the public with, in the ongoing propaganda to deal with Anenih.In any case, I must give it to Odion that his language, by all standards, was more elevated than his boss' because he is better educated; but I could see through his nave response to the question that led to the poorly launched tirade that he was no longer his original self having lost his sense of decency to accept, in the first instance, to be the spokesperson of Oshiomhole's government, knowing full well that he would be saddled with the dirty job of taking on the opposition even if the leaders (of the opposition) were his relatives and benefactors.This is the tragedy of Odion's new assignment as Oshiomhole's attack dog. He does not care that he stands the risk of being so addressed as long as the pecuniary interest, not the interest of Edo State and its people, that made him to step aside, as Managing Director of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu's National Life newspaper (a tabloid), to accept the job is being taken care of. Or was it that Odion found himself in between Scylla and Charybdis' Perhaps, he did not want to work for Oshiomhole and here he was in the employ of a business concern owned by the National Leader of Oshiomhole's Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and a soft request was made to him to offer a professional service. Just maybe! And, he grabbed it. Whereas, this was a position that Hon. Patrick Obahiagbon was offered and he rejected it because he was to use it to engage Anenih in the worst kind of media bashing. I have made this suggestion of Odion being possibly caught in the horn of dilemma, with all sense of responsibility and fairness, knowing that Odion, as a well-brought up Esan man, would ordinarily not abuse his elders in any form; and not even in the instant case of Anenih from whose large-heartedness he, like many Esan people in Nigeria and in the Diaspora who have had the opportunity to know him closely, had benefitted in the past and are still benefitting.The scenario to me was like the Biblical hand of Esau but the voice of Jacob. Even though it was Odion that was speaking, it was the spirit of Oshiomhole that was giving him utterances and to that extent, Odion's reckless attack on Anenih was from his head and not from his heart. But if he says that it was from his heart, then it will be terribly unfortunate how mean-spirited he can be. Enough of trying to situate and rationalise Odion's jibe within the context of his adversarial position! Let me even address the issues he raised about Anenih being a spent force. How did he mean' Exactly what was he talking about' Whoever comes up with such a proposition or thesis not only in Edo State but also in Nigeria is either a political ignoramus or a sheer propagandist of the worst kind.The flip side of the proposition is that Anenih had been a formidable political force having been part of the strategic initiatives that defined the breezy presidential power politics of the late General Shehu Musa Yar'Adua in the ill-fated Third Republic and the emergence of Chief John Odigie Oyegun as Governor of Edo State on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP). Prior to this time, he had in the defunct Second Republic ensured the emergence of Chief Samuel Ogbemudia as Governor of Edo State on the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) platform. How can a man whose imprimatur was evident in the political maneuverings that culminated in the emergence of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the late President Umaru Yar'Adua and President Goodluck Jonathan (as recently as April this year), the PDP government in Edo State from 1999 to 2007, as well as stopping Oshiomhole's Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) from capturing Edo Central District in the April elections, be said to be a spent force
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