Eben Enasco Reporting.
Yes, that sharp bark of a dog "Woo! Woo!" is significant.
It is nature's own alarm, demanding to identify the man who preaches peace in public, but wears a cult beret in secret and loots the treasury with deliberate authority.
The dog does not bark in vain. It's "Woo! Woo!" and it is a question:
How can you preach peaceful coexistence while flagging cult berets at night and looting public funds by day?
Street cultists have washed their hands off bloodshed, when will agbada cultists wash their hands off public funds?"
The child who stole meat from the pot has confessed, but the man who stole the entire pot still parades as a saint.
It was George Orwell, "Animal Farm" who said, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
Anatole France, a French Nobel Laureate also said while parting with the truth "The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread." The law catches the street cultist but excuses the treasury looter
It was Desmond Tutu in his relative wisdom who said like others, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." It was a perfect way to say renouncing cultism but keeping silent on looting is choosing sides.
And then, James Baldwin said,
"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." Surely, Politicians must face their own cultism called corruption.
But it raises a bigger question - a question people in Edo are asking in the markets, at bus stops, and in barbershops.
If area boys can renounce cultism, when will politicians renounce corruption? Think about it. Cultists take lives with guns. But when politicians dip their hands into public funds, are they not also taking lives?
One school not built is the future of 500 children destroyed.
One hospital fund is diverted - how many mothers will die during childbirth?
One inflated road contract - how many youths will die in accidents?
Chinua Achebe in his book "A Man of the People" said, "A man who makes trouble for other people is also making trouble for himself." So
Looters and cultists have the same trouble, but different uniforms.
The renunciation in Edo was for street cultists. But what about pen-robbery cultism?
Those in flowing agbada who practice cultism through budget padding?
My brother, a cultist is a cultist, whether he wears a black beret or a white agbada in Government House!"
Malcolm X says "If you stick a knife nine inches into my back and pull it out six inches, there's no progress. The wound is still there."
That is Half-renunciation where the street cultists stop, but treasury cultists continue.
The Edo State Government says renunciation is part of restoring peace. That is good.
But true peace will not come until public funds become truly public.
Until contracts are awarded for the people, not for godfathers.
Until security votes are no longer used as personal ATMs.
The boys on the street have dropped their guns. They said, "We will not do it again."
Now Edo is waiting.
When will politicians in Abuja, in Benin, and in local governments mount the same podium, raise their hands, and say, "I renounce looting of public funds. I will not do it again"?
Until then, we are only witnessing half renunciation.
The boys in the ghetto have come out from the shadows, but the crocodiles in Government House are still hidden in the vault.
Area boys have removed their Black, Blue, Red, Green and White Berets in broad daylight, when will politicians remove the darkness from their hearts?"
If the young man holding a pistol can drop it at the altar and say 'I renounce cultism,' why can't the man holding the pen at the treasury drop it and renounce looting?"
In Benin City, the Edo State capital, Hundreds of young men, were seen dropping guns, dropping berets, and renouncing cultism in the State.
For years, they terrorized streets, killed brothers, and spilled blood for supremacy.
Today... they say: "We no do again!
Guns have dropped on the streets, when will pens drop in the offices?"
Cultism now has an expiry date, but corruption does not?"
I repeat, Boys have repented in the bush, when will big men repent in the office?"
The move by the state government is by half, commendable. It is half historic. The full commendation should be when those Agbada cultists renounced it and stop looting.
If cultists can renounce cultism, why can't looters renounce looting?
That will be more commendable and mind blowing if those cultists in flying Agbada hit the podium and renounce pathetic looting of our common patrimonies
If young men on the streets can renounce cultism with guns, then politicians in offices should renounce looting with pens. Both destroy lives.
The cultist takes a life with a bullet; the corrupt politician takes a thousand lives with a budget. Both need renunciation.
Edo youths have shown that repentance is possible on the streets. Now let repentance happen in government offices.
True peace will not come until we renounce both cultism in the streets and corruption in government.
A gun kills instantly, but looted public funds kill slowly, through bad hospitals, bad schools, and bad roads.
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