Dr. Pius Egberanwen Odubu
By Isaac Asabor
There is no denying the fact that God hates slander as written in the Bible in Proverbs chapter 6 verse 16 and verse19, respectively. It is evil. That’s why Paul lists it as a behavior of those who hate God in Romans chapter 1 verse 30 and why James calls it demonic behavior in James chapter 3 from verse 15 to 16.
For the sake of clarity, slander occurs whenever someone says something untrue about someone else, and that results, intentionally or unintentionally, in damaging that someone else’s reputation. And when it occurs, it becomes a divisive, discouraging, and confusing weight that often affects numerous people, sometimes many, many people.
Because of its somewhat poisonous power, it is one of the adversary’s chief strategies to divide relationships and deter and derail the mission of good people from achieving the purpose they are set to do for the people. Even if politics is an area of endeavor where anything is accepted, we must be on our guard against this closely clinging sin and frequently lay it aside as the Christian among us have been instructed to do in line with Hebrews chapter 12 verse 1.
Sometimes saying something untrue and damaging about someone is bold and blunt. But often slander is insidiously subtle, especially since we have heard slander all our lives in almost every context and grown accustomed to it. This means we must heighten our sensitivity to it and lower our tolerance of it.
At this juncture, it is germane to say that the portrayal of Dr. Pius Egberanwen Odubu as a non performer by one Mr. Onaiwu Chris as published in Thenewspanorama, an online news platform has necessitated this sermon to the traducers of Odubu.
Without making the mistake of thrusting the virtue of relevance and celebrity on one Onaiwu, who unarguably is the sponsor of the malicious publication, it is expedient to in this context cite some salient points made by Henson Atolagbe, in his opinion article titled, “Edo state is safer with Odubu” and published in the May 11, 2020 edition of Blueprint newspaper.
In the article, he wrote, “As deputy governor he had the trust of the governor hence the longest single road project embarked upon by the Oshiomhole administration was constructed in Orhionmwon from Ugo to Urhonigbe. He also had the confidence of his boss to disburse agricultural loans and tools to farmers in every nook and cranny of Edo state. He supported many landmark projects from the conception to execution embarked by the state government.
Adding to the fact expressed by Atolagbe in his opinion, it is also on record that while in the National Assembly that Odubu was credited to have provided employment to several persons from his constituency; financial assistance to Law students of Edo origin at the Nigeria Law School, Abuja; graded several earth roads; facilitated different erosion control projects in Abudu and Urhonigbe; built health care centres; rural electricity and water boreholes in several communities as well as facilitated the rehabilitation of Benin-Abraka road. The facts are there, so Onaiwu’s perception of Odubu as a non-performer, and which unadvisedly made public falls flat in the face of logic, and the said view can be considered to be mischievous by any right thinking Edolite.
As providence will have it, despite the spoiler mission embarked by Onaiwu, Atolagbe has since May 11, 2020 expressed the fact that: “As APC sets to choose a new helmsman in the upcoming primaries, Odubu will perfectly fill the vacuum of the leadership deficit that Edo has witnessed three and half years down the line, restore peace to all facets of human endeavors, bring about cohesion among the political class, support Edo sons and daughters to get into national reckoning, assist the poor and downtrodden, support students in schools, provide security and welfare for the people and above all show absolute respect for traditional institutions and statesmen whose role in engineering peace and security cannot be underestimated”.
Paradoxically, Mr. Onaiwu, who is no doubt a traducer of Odubu, hails from Orhionmwon local government area of Edo State, and his action lay credence to the saying in pidgin that “Who Know Man Na Him Dey Killam” even as the saying has unarguably found expression in Onaiwu’s campaign of calumny against Odubu.
Given the understanding that politicians are always at risk of having their characters assassinated, it is expedient that others in the ilk of Onaiwu digest this sermon and internalized it at all times.
Slander can wear a hundred masks. Sometimes we pass along slanderous information that seems almost like harmless hearsay, yet the effect it has on our listeners is to leave them with an unfairly negative perception of another. Sometimes we embellish with information or tone a negative report about someone in order to enhance our listener’s perception of ourselves.
Occasionally we have a very real concern about someone, but we share it with someone who cannot benefit from or help with the concern. We do this because we simply want our listeners to think worse of a particular person. Or if we share a concern with an appropriate person, we can sometimes indulge our speculations or presumptions, mixing them almost imperceptibly with facts for our listeners, distorting the concern in order to sway an outcome in a direction we desire. The net effect of all forms of slander is to unjustly devalue another person’s reputation.
Be that as it may it should be stated in this context for the benefits of Odubu’s traducers to proverbially say that “The rat that jumped on the lion while asleep cannot wake him up”.
At this juncture, it is expedient to leave Romans chapter 1 verse 28 to 31 for traducers to go through. It says, “And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, and insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, and ruthless.
