Otti And The Umuagbai Carnival

By Godwin Adindu

Suddenly, unexpectedly, I went off-air, off-line. Darkness eclipsed my day. I went into hibernation, into a kind of spiritual retreat, wearing sackcloth and listening to the loud and disarming debate of the soul and spirit, mourning the dead.

I have just done the second edition of my series on the strides of Governor Otti of Abia State when a call came to announce the suddenly death of my elder brother, my eldest sibling. I have to suspend every activity to observe a period of mourning, to give honour to the dead.

But, original thoughts and great sparks of inspiration germinated in solitude. Melancholy is also, often, the mother of invention. The world’s enduring ideas have sprouted from the garden of sorrow. Many classical inventions in art, music and science have emerged in moments of desperation when the body and soul are under intense pressure.

Thus, from my cocoon of bereavement, I observed the proceedings at Umuagbai. I love the creative coinage: Promise Fulfilled Carnival. Yes, Governor Otti came, saw and conquered. He resolved the intractable quagmire of Port Harcourt Road in record time. I observed the Governor’s chariot and the triumphant march into Umuagbai Secondary School field where a mammoth and jubilant crowd received him with universal ovation. I saw the dance and the cultural display. I saw the multitude of men and women in celebration. I saw Aba. I saw the Aba spirit. I saw a galaxy of happy faces, people who are genuinely grateful.

Indeed, the message for me was not that the Aba people, city elders, businessmen and the ordinary people, sponsored the huge carnival on their own to celebrate their covenant-keeping leader. The message was not the vindication of an excellent stewardship neither was it the birth of the New Abia but the symphony of the human spirit. I saw the original nature of man, the untainted inner-spirit, in his genuine and original reaction when he is made glad. Aba people have been made glad.

The Umuagbai carnival will go down in our lore and the message is that all that our people yearn for is a true and faithful leader who can keep his words.

At Umuagbai Governor Otti met the true outpouring of the heart. He met true love and affection. He met the uninduced and original emotion of the spirit. He met a people sharing an inner joy of triumph and victory, which, I am sure, will live with them for a lifetime. At Umuagbai Governor Otti undoubtedly got a greater inspiration for a greater service to the people.

The Umuagbai carnival was therefore a carnival of history and vindication.

Adindu writes from Umuahia