Bobson Gbinije
20 May 2004
opinion
Lagos — SYNTACTICAL contextualizations and etymological conceptualization constitute the fundamental matrix for showcasing the dynamics of the English language. In Delta State, the words 'deve' and 'gbege' are commonly used. It had its origin from Uvwie local government area of Delta State. The word deve is a neologistic infusion and shortened form of 'Development Levy' and the word gbege is a neologism for violent response. When Uvwie youths go out to collect development levies and you refuse to pay they resort to violence (gbege). But all these anti-social, vandalistic and visigothic tendencies have stopped in the Uvwie local government area of today. This must be commended. But it had found a recrudescence in Sapele and Okpe local government areas of Delta State.
We have written and verbalized on many occasions that the Okpe people constitute the eighth largest ethnic group in Nigeria, not only as Urhobos, but as Okpe dialectical amalgam, the largest ethnic group (didactical dichotomy) in Delta State, and the largest nation (numerical superiority) in Urhobo land. It is an oil-producing nation with large spans of arable land sufficiently dotted by tributaries of the Ethiope River and River Niger. It has the luxurious growth of rubber, timber and other cash crops. Some of its major towns are Sapele, Orerokpe, Amukpe, Osubi, Adeje, Ughoton, Aghalope e.t.c.
But with all these enviable background, the Okpe people are still pristine and cauldroned in nauseating underdevelopment. As if these are not enough, some Okpe youths are currently pursuing the paleolithic and satanic agenda of scaring away investors through their 'deve' and gbege mentality. On the 5th of March 2004 a trailer load of cement from Shagamu heading to Okobia was seized by some youths from Okwetolor. They asked to be paid 'deve', but when the Hausa-speaking driver said he does not understand the reason for and meaning of 'deve he had his two side mirrors smashed and his motor boys manhandled.
On the 10th of Feb, 2004 a fishpond owner bought a large quantity of fingerlings for his new pond in Ebvriyen, but his lorry conveying the items was seized by some youths from Oviri court claiming that the owner must pay 'deve'. To avoid being manhandled, he paid. On the 16th of August 2003, some youths invaded a burial ceremony in Sapele and asked to be 'settled' otherwise they will unleash mayhem on the celebrants. The celebrants paid to avoid commotion. The story of youth intimidation and vandalism is already a phenomenal and common mantra running from Adeje, Ugolo through Osubi to some other villages in Okpe Kingdom. What is the future of our youths and the Okpe kingdom if such dastardly acts of savagery are allowed to go on unchecked? What are the hopes for development in Okpe kingdom.
The youths of any nation constitute the corpulent plinth and mesomorphic pedestal for all-embracing development. They are the configurations and contours on which the legacy of continuity is silhouetted. This is corroborated by Benjamin Desraeli, when he said in his 'SYBIL' "that the youths of a nation are the trustees of posterity" and further substantiated by Dr. Bryon Cecil in his 'Liberated'. He said "when youths of any society make themselves amenable and deferential to laws of the land, they then become the dependability index and fulcrum on which meaningful progress rotates".
With this spate of intimidations by some Okpe youths in some Okpe villages and towns what do we do to call them to order? We must make a formal report to the police through the new Local Government Chairmen and the Udogun Okpe. They should go on to notify Operation Fire for Fire, Quick Response and Operation Restore Hope to deal ruthlessly with these miscreants operating illegal 'deve' collecting syndicate. The elders, chiefs of the towns and parents of these 'gbege' boys should prevail on their wards and or sons to desist from these ungodly and wicked acts. But if the 'gbege' boys refuse with bull-headed obduracy and mulish inflexibility to comply, then let Okpe declare 'OPERATION TOTALITY' against them.
But one truth must be said that these youth are exercising these 'deve' and 'gbege' mentality because they are unemployed, poverty-stricken youths. They are socially and economically dislocated and hence need rehabilitation. We therefore call on the Local Government Authorities, the Okpe people, the state and federal governments to come to their aid through provision of employment, social and recreational facilities, agric loans, education and counseling assistance. The Okpe nation is currently mourning the death of our Orodje. Orhoro I, the Orodje of Okpe Kingdom, His Royal Majesy Domingo Amujaine Ejiyenrien (JP, OON) and we are currently being attacked by some of our neighbours. This is a time for sobriety, congeniality and rapprochement amongst the Okpe people than harassing investors and ourselves.
The 'deve' and 'gbege' mentality in some Okpe towns is a direct fulfillment of the admonition of Apostle Paul to Timothy. As recorded in 2nd Timothy 3: 1-4 "know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, self-assuming, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, not open to any agreement, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, without love of goodness, betrayers, headstrong, puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God". The prevalence of these characteristics in some Okpe youths and in our towns is a phosphorescent exemplification of juvenile delinquency in our land.
Before now the totality of Okpe kingdom was a quintessential reflection of halcyon bliss and cerulean peace. Throughout the reign of our late Orodje, Orhoro I, we saw and experienced peace in Okpe land. Towns and villages like Elume, Ugolo, Oha, Owagba, Aragba Amukpe, Sapele, Onyeke, Okwetolor, Okwobrisi, Okuovo, Okegborode, Adeje, Iriama, Okorokoko, Ugbukurusu, Okwimaife, Okuoroka, Orhorufuoma, Ikeresa, Kpokpogiri, Obotie, Ajagueyibo, Ojedi e.t.c where citadels of peace. But now our 'deve' and 'gbege' brothers, complem ented by our aggressors, have made Okpe land a minefield. This must stop.
The Delta State Government should help by ensuring that its much vaunted agricultural revolution is functionally spanned out in Okpe land. This must be aimed, basically at reducing unemployment amongst Okpe youths. It will also help to attract multidisciplinary and multidimensional labour infusion in the Okpe system and this will definitely help to bring Okpe qualified and talented people closer to their roots. This 'deve' and 'gbege' mentality must be nipped in the bud before it grows to become a hideous monster.
The burning desire and overwhelming ambition to actualize hook, like and sinker the tenets of the Okpe renaissance will be profoundly frustrated and disturbed if we allow the diversionary misdemeanors of our youths in their 'deve' and 'gbege' mentality to continue. We once more reassert that it is our desire to see the capital of Delta State in Okpe land, the Governor of Delta State from Okpe land, houses, industries and effective transport services in Okpe land. How then do we realise our dreams when the Okpe youths that are supposed to be the super structure and vehicle of pragmatic actualization are cocooned in the labyrinths of asininity?
Nobody will lift Okpe up except our very selves. Our elected and appointed political leaders are only mere administrative zombies. They are in office but not in power. To be in office is simply to hold the title of commissioner, director, minister, governor, president, Vice President e.t.c. Whereas to be in power is to be in a position to influence far-reaching, fundamental decisions and policy thrusts. You must be able to influence the ideological leanings and policy thrusts of government. It is therefore clear that no Okpe man or woman is in 'power' in Delta State, nay, Nigeria. That is why Okpe land is bereft of development.
We cannot continue to remain like this. Every worthy Okpe son should feel sufficiently disturbed by the uncanny dynamics of our leaders, their fundamental errors of judgement and culpable omissions. We cannot continue to lurch like Emperor Nero in some abulence whilst our properties burnt. If we lack the mental virtuosity to anatomize our situation of backwardness let us conjecture, instead of doing nothing. Our youths must be whipped into an Indian file for the glorious battle ahead. In the words of Prophet Mohammed "Intention determines the action of intention". We must move forward by co-ordinaing the bravura of Okpe youths.
The sage said "so use your property as not to damage the property of another" In this struggle to re-strategize and re-orchestrate the nuts and bolts of the 'Okpe Renaissance', using Okpe youths as the fundamental platform, we do not seek the assistance of external hands but the total commitment of Okpe youths and the Okpe people. The Biafran Warlord, Chief Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu said "like every human being, I have my own cross to bear. In that task, I seek no help, I do not wink, I do not cry, I do not seek any sympathy". We must start from ourselves by pulling down all mental encumbrances through solid and not empty certificate education. We must pull down roadblocks mounted and propelled by the 'deve' and 'gbege' mentality.
We must re-oritentate our mindset to do those things that uphold the integrity of the Okpe people. Recently, the Okuokoko Community specified in their constitution that 'gbege' and 'deve' syndrome must be discontinued in their community. This is highly commendable and must be imitated by all other Okpe communities. We must work to defend the bulwark of peace in Okpe land by dismantling the 'deve' and 'gbege' mentality. Historical overview reveals that the Uvwie people were hobbied by the Mephistopheles of the 'deve' and 'gbege' mentality for many years. We know they will never like to be enshrined in such a horrendous hovel again. Okpe youths must therefore resolve today to hands off everything and anything that has to do with the 'deve' and 'gbege' mentality.
Some Okpe youths went to destroy the pylon NEPA poles carrying high tension cables to Okobia town and some neighbouring villages. This is grossly irresponsible, ungodly and wicked. The character of the youths in any community mirrors the generic traits and propensities of that community. We therefore admonish all Okpe, Urhobo, Delta and Nigerian youths to be of good conduct. The essayist John Webster said in the Duchess of Malfi' that 'if a man be thrust into a well, no matter who sets hand to it, his own weight will bring him sooner to the bottom". It is clear that we are the architects of our own fortune. But we have a role to play in the moulding of our collective destiny. Let us Okpe youths, stand up to be counted among those who bore the Okpe banner with stately elegance, triumph and without blemish.
Noble men must do noble things. Okpe youths cannot afford to do otherwise like the youths of Athens. The oath of the youths of Athens in ancient Greece runs thus "my native land I will not leave a diminished heritage, but greater and better than when I received it". Essayist Cortelyoy sustantiated this when he said "the greatest asset of any nation is the spirit of it's youths, and the greatest danger that can menace any nation is the break-down of that spirit, the strength in the unity, the will to win and the courage to work". In the inaugural speech of American President Ronald Reagan in January 1981, he said "we are too great a nation to limit ourselves to small dreams.' The Okpe youths must do same.
Finally in gnomic, concise and compendious terms, the Okpe people are suffering from profound underdevelopment-no roads, no hospital, no schools, no houses, indeed we are steeple-chasig in the labyrinths of legendary and monumental neglect by successive governments. We are in the throes of arrested development. This calls for sober reflection and palpable action and not 'deve' and 'gbege'mentality. Okpe can move forward if our youths get it right as leaders of tomorrow and not les enfant terribles (the embarrassing youth). In his 50th birthday celebration Benito Mussolini said "Youth is a malady of which one becomes cured a little every day". We hope our spiral of juenescence will change into maturity through good conduct.
Gbiniji contributed this piece from Warri, Delta State.
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