https://www.naijametronews.com/the-primacy-of-truth-part-11

https://www.newshunternow.com/posts/the-primacy-of-truth-part-11

https://www.nairaland.com/8107100/primacy-truth-part-11#130182916

*The Primacy of Truth (Part 11)*

*_By Crusoe Osagie_*

The human being moves on pretty quickly. It must be some sort of coping mechanism installed by God himself.

When I lost my younger brother, Osaretin, just over seven years ago, life seemed to have lost everything that made it glitter. He was just 34, with two daughters he loved so dearly till he drew his last breath.

My heart smouldered with perpetual pain, which I thought will sustain in intensity for years to come.

But now, although no day goes by without a thought of him shooting through my mind, the pain is not quite the same.

The Benins put it this way:

“Ete gha rhie, ai ye obalo.”

Translation: Once a festering sore heals, the pains thereof are forgotten.

This, I believe, aptly captures the response of some people to the transformation of Edo State in the last seven and a half years.
For example, I wonder if any of the homeowners or tenants who were forced to move out of Amagba in Benin City, when the Ugbor-Amagba Road became impassable would ever read these musings of mine.

Not less than 22, 000 families were lured into the Amagba neigbourhood beginning around 18 years ago with a tiny road that was constructed by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

For many, Amagba was pretty much like what Ajah was to Victoria Island in the early 2000s. It was a promising suburb where middle-class families who could not afford to live in the Government Reserved Areas (GRA) moved to for equivalent comfort.

As more and more people thronged in, the NDDC road failed miserably. The NDDC seemed to have underestimated the prospects of Amagba when the road was constructed.

A once-promising community quickly became a dingy outpost.

Many tried to adapt to the condition by buying SUVs and trucks to wade through the many craters and muddy lakes that littered the path to the small town.

Okada and keke modes of transportation soon became the only means to get to people’s homes. I know people who parked their cars with friends and relatives in Ugbor area and hopped on Okada to get home after work.

In the morning, they repeated the routine from the other end. They jumped on bikes and tricycles to get out of the dingy dungeon, picked up their vehicles in town and went to work.

A while later, it became unbearable for many. They abandoned their homes and moved out.

Governor Godwin Obaseki did the maths and figured that opening up that neighbourhood with a befitting road infrastructure will not only provide succour for the distraught residents, it will transform the economy of the community, increase the value of the real estate and boost the State’s economy as a whole.

That is exactly what happened after Obaseki completed the Ugbor-Amagba Road in 2020.

The governor did not stop there; he began to construct several streets and lanes off Amagba, including Ogunmwenyi, and so many others.

As spokesman to Obaseki for nearly eight years, I feel ashamed of myself sometimes when I drive around the State and find so many roads that have been constructed that I never knew about.

It is the case of a physician who cannot heal himself. I am supposed to tell Edo people at home and in the Diaspora about the great work that Obaseki is doing to improve the lives of our people but can hardly keep up with the pace with which these projects are being delivered. Copious amounts of projects across various segments of the society.

Today, because of Governor Obaseki’s commitment to development, I and thousands of other homeowners and tenants who moved out of Amagba are back to the now bustling neighbourhood.

Kindly permit me to ask my recurring question again: Will all of us in Amagba, who have reclaimed our homes and our neighbourhoods; our parents, brothers, sisters and friends sit idly and watch treasury looters and Lions and Tigers take us back to the years when funds were frittered to finance their opulent lifestyles with only trickles left to undertake projects that improve the lives of the vast majority of the people?

The jury is out and the battleground is the gubernatorial election on September 21, 2024.

Sadly, not many will read this. Our people are inundated by a deluge of tall tales and they can hardly find space to accommodate the Primacy of Truth.
Watch out for Part 12.

*_Osagie, a journalist, is the Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media Projects_*