*The Primacy of Truth (Part 10)*

*By Crusoe Osagie*

In 2009, after working for about nine years, I thought it was time to go back to my hometown in Oredo Local Government Area of Edo State, to fulfil a family tradition.

My great-grandfather had his home on Ehaekpen Street, Off Ekenhuan Road, Benin City, where my grandfather was born and raised. My grandfather then set up his own home at Number 13, Ekenhuan Road, Benin City, where my father and 18 brothers and sisters grew up.

My father, in 1974, located his home at Number 12, Jemide Drive, Ekenhuan Road, Benin City, where I was raised, and in 2009, it was my turn, so I chose Amagba.

I came to Benin City and my father took me to some friends of ours who were indigenous to that part of our local government and agreements were signed after funds exchanged hands.

Not up to 24 months after acquiring the land and placing some trips of sand and granite to begin construction, all hell broke loose.

I was in my office in Lagos working when I got a telephone call from my dad beginning with a sharp rebuke in our language, “U suenren gha wina vbe otor rue, uma kha ma mwen?”

Translation: You started working on your land without telling me?

That was the beginning of my first life-threatening battle in Edo State which put me on a collision course with the Lions and Tigers.

I took some time off work in Lagos and relocated to Benin. For me, this was not just about the economic value of the land. I saw it as a challenge of my indigeneship in my home State. Also, being much younger, I was a little hot-headed and very idealistic.

It was a fierce and brutal battle. I was shot at, my name was taken to juju houses, and my father counseled me to let go.

But I was at the time drawing inspiration from a book by John G. Stoessinger, ‘Why Nations Go to War,’ originally published in 1974 and so, I turned down my father’s counsel.

I will not forget my Investigating Police Officer (IPO), Susan, and my lawyer, Barrister Valentine Onochie, who was my classmate at Immaculate Conception College (ICC) and was just as hot-headed as I was.

Eventually, we prevailed and I got my land back and began building my house immediately to secure it. But the fact that the battle put my life in grave danger is not lost on me, particularly as I grow older.

So, when you wonder why I genuinely believe in Governor Godwin Obaseki, here is one reason.

If Obaseki had come into office before then, his land reforms which have led to the processing and issuance of over 30,000 Certificates of Occupancy (C-of-Os) would probably have prevented this needless battle that nearly cost me my life.

I daresay that with Obaseki’s intervention, shootings and killings over land have significantly abated as it is no longer difficult to determine who the actual owner of land is.

So, will my father, mother, brothers, sisters, relatives and friends sit idly and watch these Lions and Tigers return us to the seasons when ownership of land was determined by the barrel of a gun?

The jury is out and the battleground is the gubernatorial election on September 21, 2024.

Sadly, not many will read this. Our people are inundated by a deluge of tall tales and they can hardly find space to accommodate the Primacy of Truth.

*Watch out for Part 11.*

*Osagie, a journalist, is the Special Adviser to Governor Godwin Obaseki on Media Projects*

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