By: Ogbuefi Ben Egwuta
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]nce upon a time, Dareen Tatour, a Palestinian poet in northern Israel, was arrested after posting her poetry on Facebook and YouTube …over 300 literary figures signed a petition calling for her release, saying that poetry is not a crime. That is agreeable and profoundly inviolable, but writing through history has been unsafe – The reason is that the writer is in the frontline and when he speaks with his pen, people tend to listen. His conscience is his honour, yet he is a prisoner in waiting; and that is the dilemma of our most respected Dr. Tony Nwaka, in these sad times.
For the discerning, the recent post of Dr. Tony Nwaka is a masterful satire, but discernment is like the two sides of a coin- tail or head. That is why his ‘friends, yes his friends in the PDP where he has served as a Local Government Chairman and as Commissioner, are quick to hound him with a suspension and he will be facing a disciplinary questioning.
The insensible reaction of the PDP in Delta State to the eloquence of a true conscience is and has become the style and footprints of the government in Delta State and it calls for a push back against censorship and fight for literary freedom. Tyranny has been described as cruel, the unreasonable and arbitrary use or exercise of power; and that is what has become the order in our Delta state. We have an Emperor on seat and a cohort of foot soldiers, ready to inflict unjustly on their prey – every opposition, even within their own family.
But Dr. Nwaka has spoken! Llike the words of our fathers – usually in parables, and they are words of wisdom. This struggle shall persist, until the maximum reign, which we have now in Delta state, is conquered.