Brume and the Urhobo nation
By
PRESSURE may be mounting on him to re-contest. Whether he has given that a serious thought or has actually made up his mind either way, is something else. But as one periscopes present political goings-on in Delta Central District, one, of course, is faced with a bare truth, an overwhelming need for Senator Fred Brume to go another term. Somebody said one good ‘term’ deserves another. This write-up is to put sinews to that.
Senator Fred Brume within a short space of time has done appreciably well for his dear people as a Senator. He has done what even Federal Ministers from the Urhobo nation have not been able to do hitherto, let alone Senators before him. We shall get to this point again before we are through with this piece. It should be said presently that the Senator has done so much, most of which is still unsung. But for the brouhaha that came on the heels of the PTI/UNIBEN affiliation, the brain behind the feat may not have been known. We, however, know a little of the Senator’s achievements. So, lets go ahead.
His position with truth, realism and righteousness in the forward movement of the Urhobo nation has no parallel. His role in the on-going dualisation of the Benin-Warri Road and approved dualisation of the Warri-Port Harcourt road is marvellous. Delta Steel Company, which essentially became moribund after his departure, only saw reactivation with him as Senator. At this time Evwreni was boiling and was completely a no-go-area, the Urhobo legendary Jeremiah Mosheshe, with unqualified support and encouragement from the likes of Brume, pulled together a royal crusade and reconciliatory get-together at Evwreni. The police boys at Ughelli were too afraid to be there. This writer knows this because he represented Mosheshe to invite the Police. The DPO was real afraid, scared to send his boys. Without security, Mosheshe was there. Brume was there. And the Evwreni hurricane and fire were doused. The marvellous story of the duo may be a subject matter some other day. Suffice it to say presently that it represents Horace’s par nobile fratrum, noble pair of brothers.
As I told the press early this year, "the railway line with terminus around Aladja is there to open up the area for further development." I had the privilege of joining the Senator up at Ajaokuta for an inspection tour of the rail-line from Ajaokuta to Aladja. Whether at Ajaokuta, Itakpe or Aladja, one can see a man with a desire, vision and great drive in Brume. By the time that project is consummated and is fully operational and the grains keep turning in, Urhobos will know why their son and representative threw his weight behind such a project.
Urhobo leadership forum, the formidable assemblage of who-is-who-in-Urhobo in Abuja fronting ‘heavily’ for the Urhobo nation at the FCT has Brume as the mastermind.
His sane understanding of what resource control is, of how to go about it and his timely caution against crude and anti-democratic solution, though pitched him against ‘militarized’ politicians, has translated into what it ought to be: A testimony and vindication in foresight, insight and sagacity.
While it ought to be so, his refusal to be railroaded to take uninformed lane in the resource control and derivation fund matters and the crude affront it attracted is now history. But when the Supreme Court threw its offensive at us, Brume’s call for caution played into the glare of everybody. But too late.
However, everybody started concurring with Mr. President that there may well still be political solution. But how Brume played his magnanimous self by tapping into Mr. President’s heart (having ignored all offensives) and attracted that last minute redemptive pill to a scabrous silliness on the part of some, and how he seriously impacted on the eventual Anenih’s Committee, remains to be told.
Came the Petroleum Training Institute thing. Since the needless debate on whether or not PTI should be affiliated to the University of Benin started, heinous things have been spoken and written against the distinguished Senator by mischief makers who fail to realize that Brume by this feat has achieved what no other past senator from the Delta Central Senatorial District has achieved. There is even a more robust truth that makes nonsense these stricture on the Senator: Brume as a Senator has achieved what past Federal ministers from the area, with their executive power and huge budgets have never achieved. If you stretch that truth further by acknowledging that not even past military Federal Ministers and military second-in-command from the Urhobo nation (with all their then lordly aura and unquestioned whims) were able to do anything like that, you must give credit, and not diatribes, to whom credit is due.
We take it that by no stretch of the imagination can such people fathom Brume’s foresight and insight that occasioned the PTI/UNIBEN affiliation. There are things we should not politicize. The PTI/UNIBEN thing is one of such things, which is why nothing could, however, be more sonorous than the declared position of primary stakeholders in this matter. The Urhobo Progress Union, Urhobo Federal Legislators, leading Professors and past Vice-Chancellors from the area, and Uvwie Kingdom have all favoured an affiliation. To this people-representative-list you can add The Urhobo Voice, apparently a veritable mouthpiece of the Urhobo nation. They have all hugely supported the Federal Government, and acknowledged Brume’s feat by implication. Nothing can be more sonorous.
While Brume certainly deserves no mean nod, it is soothing to know that the Urhobo nation is moving forward, and true lovers of the nation with it. Stale views of failed military leaders and mischievous politicians cannot be reckoned with. Indeed, champions of this nakedly biased furore who are apparently stationed off the beaten tract may wish to follow the path of reason. And how else to sign off.
We recall that Brume is fondly called Senator Gbosa by his colleagues in the Senate for his rare penetrative moves, crave for results and appreciation of excellence. Gbosa is now the Senate word for cheers; cheers of success, cheers of achievement and cheers of result. And the Senators will tell you any day that Brume holds the proprietary right to Gbosa; the Urhobo coinage, which has now come to symbolize success and action in the polity. Where does that lead us! It is this: With PTI/UNIBEN at the back of the mind, yours sincerely joins the teeming others in giving Senator Gbosa, who recently turned sixty, sixty hearty and healthy Gbosa. More grease, more truth, more result.
Dec 2002