Basil Okoh
It’s always easy to identify a political campaign that is on the downward spiral and running against the wind of fortune. Ede Dafinone is running against the wind of fortune in his lacklustre Senate campaign in Delta Central.
In an epochal meeting called for members of the entire APC elite of the Delta Central constituency at the Petroleum Training Institute (PTI) Warri, Senator Ede Dafinone showed himself for what he truly is, a narcissistic, self-entitled and arrogant snob who would have little or nothing to do with members of his constituency.
His alienation from members of his constituency was highlighted when we heard him shouting to the audience: “my doors are open. My phone’s are open” as the militant crowd railed against him for been aloof and unwilling to meet members of his constituency for the three years so far of his first tenure. His humiliation and seeming rejection was complete as the entire APC Elders, Leaders and Stakeholders of Delta Central screamed and shrieked in rejection of his plea for acceptance and inclusion.
Because Ede Lacks basic communication skills, his public appearances make him look like an orphan left alone on a vast stage without knowledge or guidance on what to do. He’s lost on the political stage among people he is supposed to be leading as senator of the republic. Ede appears to be a spectator in his own game. And it was evidently so at the meeting in PTI. He should by now have mastered his audience and taken control of that meeting as the political leader of Delta Central. Governor Sheriff is the leader of Delta state and Dafinone should assume his role as leader of Delta Central.
This is a man on his second campaign and a sitting senator who aught to have a commanding presence among his voters, but alas, Ede Dafinone still suffers from the lack of self-assertion of a senator and worse, stage fright, even as a sitting senator of the Federal Republic. How then do the Urhobo expect such a man to take higher public responsibilities even in the Senate.
Which makes me believe that this man is not cut out for politics. This man is an accountant, for goodness sake, a bean counter, so what is he doing on stage competing against Ovie Omo-Agege, a lawyer, a practiced public speaker and a man who has risen to the position of a statesman in the polity.
Ede Dafinone’s movements in public arena are furtive and his oratorical deliveries are brusque, lack coordination and self projection. His public speeches lack content and persuasion, the deliveries lack energy and his stage performances are clueless and lifeless.
The video of him being booed and harassed on stage just hit me a few minutes ago and I’m feeling sorry for this man getting roasted in a hotly contested campaign for senator of Delta Central. No sitting senator should be treated the way Dafinone was treated today at PTI. Despite his yelling “My doors are open. My phone’s are open”, the crowd was still shrieking and screaming negative epithets above his voice, creating a din and an image of a chaotic loss of control.
This is not it, Ede. This job is not for you. You’re not a politician, certainly not the Nigerian version of politician. You cannot contest with Ovie Omo-Agege like this. This is the performance of a dunderhead, “dundee” as they call it in your hometown, Sapele. No, I won’t pronounce it in our local language.
But do find a way to get back to work counting money. This job is out of your league. If you were asked to choose, you wouldn’t choose yourself and not Omo-Agege to represent the Urhobo people in the Senate.
