Nobody knew him before. But some ten or more years ago, he burst unto the national scene. And when he did, his identity was not established immediately. Rather, it unfolded slowly, in bits and pieces. In the course of time his reputation became firmly established as a patriot with some social conscience.
It was not easy for him to be recognized nationally because he was not the usual kind of activists Nigerians have come to know. He did not follow the pathway. He was not a known former national student union leader. Neither was he a lawyer nor a trade union agitator or a lecturer in a higher institution of learning. Rather, he was, of all persons, a Nigerian politician. And his mode of activism was unique. He adopted as a tool of his trade bombastic English. His style of activism was speaking to Nigerians directly and speaking on their behalf to the ruling class, which included him, dictionary English.
At street corners, lecture halls, beer parlours and just anywhere where two or more Nigerians were gathered, someone will open his phone to allow the man spew out some venom against one misdeed or another of the Nigerian ruling class. And he caught the attention of millions of Nigerians. Many could not understand exactly what was it he was saying or who exactly he was speaking against. But Nigerians were convinced that he was fighting for them; that he was fighting their ‘’oppressors’’. Soon, his identity was revealed as Honourable Patrick Obaghaigbon
His most memorable fight with words was a statement he made on the social media about how ‘’a vast majority of Nigerians were being oppressed by a microscopic few’’.
Some attentive followers of this man started identifying him as ‘’the vast majority. Some called him a microscopic few’’. It was much later on in the course of activism that a broad majority started identifying him as a member of the House of Representatives. Not too long it was established that he represented a federal constituency in Edo State, the land of the Binis who used to be known as the people of Igodomigodo. To add to his mystic and to win him more followers he added a bit to his identification that he was a man from the land of Igodomigodo
Crinkum crintum
Immediately after This memorable outing the man seems to have disappeared from the national scene. The last time we heard anything about this man they said he had become the chief of staff to former Edo State governor Adams Oshiomhole who himself is a member of the microscopic few that the man used to rile against. After Adams Oshiomhole moved on in his political odyssey to the Senate, the man’s radar could no longer be seen on the national scene.
Nd the questions as to his whereabouts have not ceased. Where is honObhahigbong . ..? has he been kidnapped by members of the microscopic few he used to talk about. Or has he been kidnapped by members of the vast majority which has grown by being vast and has now become a mammoth majority as the former microscopic few has grown more to now become an amoebic few, a dot in a giant country of over 220 million hungry, angry and rudderless people
Wherever the former vast majority man is right now, can he anwer a few question from me, a member of the now mammoth majority of suffering Nigerians. Questions such as how does he feel now. He must by now be needing about vast sums of money in foreign and loal currencies to buy the basic items of food to feed his household which must have grown phenom ally to include his non-biologic members attracted by his fierce defense of suffering Nigrians. Is he still a member of the APC? Does he like the kind of politics which Tinubu, a famed political strategist is playing in Nigeria? Tinubu seems set to play politics without opposition.
