When the terrorist terrorised Agbeotu into submission
ALMOST on daily basis there are claims and counter-claims of casualties (as one would say in JP Clark’s The Casualties) as regards the successes and methodologies adopted in the fight against terrorism. Words like ‘decimated’, ‘degraded’, ‘technically degraded’, ‘defeated’, etc., have become the beloved register of the fight against terrorism in Nigeria.
From the governments of Olusegun Obasanjo, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari, there are always varying claims of successes in the war against terrorism. People become justifiably embittered whenever the government sanctimoniously talks about the terrorism war, claiming credits in narcissistic nods, without a mention of Teiyebo Agbeotu, the man who fought terrorism ideologically through his two theories of Benabafaism and Ebimenism propounded and pursued vigorously for the betterment of the society as a remote antidote against terrorism. It saddens that this visionary Agbeotu who fought terrorism remotely with all his resources is yet to be identified and recognised. Could this lack of recognition for Agbeotu be a product of the ethnic group he hails from?
Buhari’s failure to recognise Agbeotu is comparatively better when viewed against the backdrop of the activities of Chief Opudu Boro (Chairman of Delta Waterways and Land Security Committee) who is respected for his relentless war against maritime terrorism in the Niger Delta. Even Boro claims that he does not know that Agbeotu is a remarkable fighter of terrorism. Had Boro known this, Governor Ifeanyi Okowa would have wasted no time in making Agbeotu a think-tank on maritime criminalities in Delta State and beyond. Agbeotu is a multi-dimensional personality who commands reputation as a poet, novelist, dramatist and a proverb-filled orator extraordinaire whose preoccupation centres quintessentially on war against terrorism through his famous seminal works such as Benabafa, Late Duke of Ojobo, Late Ogbosu of Ojobo, Ebimene, Enekebomosu, Debere, Money No Dey Die, Ebikeme Mieye Siya, Late Johnson Ekpetu, Egbameni and many others. Though Agbeotu is a highly philosophical musician, his philosophical songs have metamorphosed into poems, novels and plays through the meticulous translations of Mr. Gogi Serikoromo of Oyangbene in Burutu Local Government Area of Delta State.
