WHAT DR DORRY TOLD ME

By Chris Akhabue

It was a cool airy  Sunday evening. The raging  afternoon Sun had   subsided and the entire atmosphere was friendly  as the April evening  breez was swaying the trees and the flowering plants at  the luxurious scenery of our meeting place  as I walked past the flawlessly  mowed lawns. 

As I stepped into the revolving doors of the reception of the building, the cool and refreshingly gratifying air from the airconditioners and the serenity of the ambience  was too comforting to be ignored.

I picked up my cell phone and dialed the phone number through which I was invited for the meeting as I sank back into the soft leader sofa  to relax fully to savour the conviviality of the cool and fresh air  caressing my face and body.

The number went through and in a minute, I  was usherd into the waiting room of my host.

To the ordinary man on the street,  a wealthy Nigerian politician is someone associated with  high profile bureaucracy, profligacious or dissolute behaviours. But meeting Dr Dorry Okojie, professionalism, integrity,  simplicity, prudence and humility readily comes to mind.

You are very successful in the real estate industry . Why do you want to be the governor of Edo state, what is the motivating factor? I asked him point blank.

With a soft, calm and humble tone, he asked rhetorically. Chris, do you know why most things don't work in Nigeria ? It is due to lack of the will power to make them work, he began. 

" I feel pained and sad  when I see the needless yet avoidable life of  despondency of Nigerians in the midst of our patrimonial plenitude".

"What does it take to make an Electric rail system of transportation work in Edo? Why can't a civil servant from Akoko Edo come to work in Benin city from Akoko Edo  and return  back home on a daily basis? Such singular action will mitigate unnecessary traffic gridlocks in the city metropolis.

"Why would anybody go abroad to be attended to and be treated by same Nigerian doctors whom we have not taken care of but allowed to go overseas and are excelling there  while we run back to them each and every time we need medical attention?

"Why can't we have well equipped functional hospitals with state of the art equipment just as those used overseas for our brilliant health workers who can compete favourably with their foreign counterparts? The paradoxical absurdity is overwhelming. Chris, lets fix this country.

"Have you ever seen the sitting room or office of any of the governor you voted  for once? Can you as an ordinary man on the street meet and shake the hands of your governor without being beaten up  by his  aides  ?

"Look, Chris, for the first three days after my inauguration as the governor of Edo state, the state house is going to be open to all citizens of Edo where we will  we chat and discuss issues bothering on the growth and development of our dear state. Chris, hold me to my word and say boldly to me, My Governor, you promised so so and so why haven't you done it?

As he spoke, I could feel the burst of anger rising in his tone while his gubernatorial composure was unruffled but calm.

You could sense the genuineness and the concern of an individual arching for the good of others.

I see a new  and unprecedented honey pot for Edo people and I wish you all can see him as well.

Janice Berenstain, an American writer and illustrator once said in her book, THE BIG HONEY HUNT, she wrote, the "Bees hide their honey in trees that are hollow. So we will find a bee to follow.”

According to  St. John Chrysostom of Syria, a preacher who denounced abuse of power  by politicians and other office holders,  once said "the bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors like every other animal  but because she labors for others"

Efosa Dorry Okojie is like a bee working and producing honey for humanity.

Dr Dorry Afe Okojie lives a life of service for others in humility, in dispensation of love, in philanthropy, and so easily courts the attention and admiration of all but never subservient to non but unrelenting in the pursuit of happiness and the good of all.

Therefore, as we celebrate workers day today, let us support a co- worker, a builder, a developer  to help ease our work of building Edo.

SUPPORT:

Efosa

Dorry.   ( EDO) FOR EDO

Okojie