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‘Okpes Baby’, a comic relief in tragic time or a denigration of office?
By John Ewah
“What’s in a name?” William Shakespeare asks in his classic love tragedy “Romeo and Juliet.” To the revered Bard of Avon, “that which we call a rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.”
Those who believe in the underlying essence of things would however argue that names convey power, history and social reality, as a name through natural correspondence would gravitate towards the social meaning it refers.
From a holistic perspective, it boils down once again to the ancient linguistic feud between the conventionalists and the naturalists, or the nature vs nurture theories of the origin of words.
Names have been used to express hopes, virtues, or aspirations. With time, people may grow into the symbolic or historic weight of their names. This, I doubt, Monday Okpebholo, a sitting governor who recently accepted the nickname “Okpes Baby” understands.
The nomenclature which might sound simply endearing at first sight, but on a deeper thought carries with it elements of ridicule and sarcasm, recently became a subject of discourse when the governor publicly gave it credence and acceptance.
While I do not subscribe to the many-worlds theory which posits the existence of an infinite number of Monday Okpebholos across an infinite multiverse, I can however assure us that there is not a single universe, where a sitting governor, addressed as a “Baby”, bears a positive inclination.
This is not the first time the name “Okpes Baby” would be showing up on our social media home feeds. It initially gained prominence on the Facebook platform through some humourous memes with anonymous origin that depicted the governor with girly features.
While the governor revels in the flawed idea of the nickname emanating from public reception, stemming from a recalibrated reality of social media content and manipulation of origin, the term in its context of use bears no semblance of endearment or eulogy. It was rather an attempt, for whatever reason, to make jest or mockery of the governor.
For some, this might be a textbook definition of a governor plucking out thorns and planting roses in their place, and for some, it is simply the making of lemonade out of lemons. Others with a divergent view see Okpebholo’s response as denigrating to the office he occupies, arising from lack of insight into its context.
Irrespective of one’s view, the development bears the markings of a comic relief in a time many describe in the country as tragic; with inflation on the rise, skyrocketing fuel and food prices, raging insecurity and political violence, economic downturns, and a host of other harrowing occurrences depriving the citizens of sleep.
For many, as funny as it seems, this is not the appropriate time to reduce governance to such a ridiculous proportion or try scoring cheap political points through a misinformed acceptance of a parody for a name.
This is the time to sit up and make people-oriented policies, improve livelihoods, eschew profligacy and boost the state’s security architecture, especially in the wake of the fast approaching yuletide season.
It is a time for reflection and appraisal of performance, as the administration clocks two years, with no meaningful or impactful interventions to its credit, besides the unending cacophony and exaggerated hype over a flyover, which abounds vastly in most states of the federation.
Like Charles de Gaulle, I too have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to politicians. It is a dynamic process requiring serious responsibility and not a stage for personal amusement.
John Ewah is the publisher and chief editor, Horse’s Mouth News
