Concerning divinity and Obaseki’s inherited oracle

BY JOHN MAYAKI

“The Oracle has spoken. Let us go home for our fate has been sealed and there is nothing to negotiate”.

The quote above indicates the finality of fate, or an arbitrary verdict suggesting that a decision has been pronounced on an issue and that those involved are veritably helpless. Take it or leave it, the oracle has spoken, and there is some decisiveness in that. It is either in your favour or against you.

In Ancient Greece, clairvoyance was not uncommon. Kings, noblefolk, and government officials consulted the Oracle relentlessly, with the Oracle at Delphi in particular, noted to have exercised some influence in government policies, marriages, and even wars.

Among the people of Edo State in Nigeria, Chief David Edebiri is widely known as “Oracle”. His stance on issues enjoy popular support, except those involved are informed that they are marked for perdition. He supported former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, and Governor Godwin Obaseki, while those who stood against him are now under the tutelage of good old experience.

It was he, the Esogban of Benin Kingdom, who said in a grave tone that: “The oracle has spoken again; nobody fights with the oracle, not even the General who contested”. By dint of his mastery of divinations and that sort of thing, it is needless to state that he is the spiritual leader of the witches and wizards in the ancient kingdom and accordingly has the gift of the second sight, as clairvoyance is fondly called in some circles. However, Edebiri is not the “Oracle” here.

When a top government official tremulously whispered, craving anonymity, to some political appointees, who served in former Governor Oshiomhole’s administration, that the Comrade had acquired an oracle, he agitatedly explained that the Oracle’s chief priestess was Yemi Keri, and it was to be the ex-governor’s sole diviner.

Like the eponymous site of Apollo’s temple, Oshiomhole was reported to have lodged the Oracle in the Government House. His village, Iyamho, was completely insulated from this powerful Oracle, investigation had revealed.

The Oracle, a powerful and potent element was acquired and deployed to execute specific assignments in Government House, the various Ministries, and other government agencies and parastatals. No staff was exempted from this invincible power and he ran the government conveniently, effortlessly and paperlessly with it.

The oracle reigned supreme, and nifty politicians who had acquired some mastery at ‘eyeing’ state funds were having a hard time and little or no results for their troubles. No one could bypass the Oracle, which did not even respect the Governor. No voodoo or black magic could counteract the system. There was not shortcut.

Religious inclination did not exempt people from the mandate to consult the oracle as far as they were in the employ of the Edo State Government.

Ironically, Oshiomhole’s Oracle was a scientific invention and not a metaphysical force. It involved the installation of a due process system to facilitate accountability in the running of governance. It was a database system.

This is what Governor Obaseki inherited from Comrade Oshiomhole, remodelled, and launched. He called it the State Integrated Financial Information Management System (SIFIMS), and it would to enhance and actualise his administration’s vision of a repositioned electronically driven Civil Service in the state.

Governor Obaseki, who flagged off the system at the Edo State Government House in Benin City, said the system was significant because it marked a new era, which was made possible by the courage of former governor Adams Oshiomhole, who paved its way.

So far, the governor’s administration has completed the process of acquiring 1,000 units of computers providing wireless internet connection to offices in the secretariat buildings to ease work in the Civil Service.

Government offices have need of a widespread computer program that can hold sensitive information. For Governor Oshiomhole, the Oracle database system is the perfect solution. With the remodelling and relaunching of Oracle, it is easier to use and the information can be monitored and distilled for all the officials of government to see.

It has different security settings, and administrators such as the Governor, the Secretary to Edo State Government, the Head of Service, the Accountant General or IT professionals ICTA, can monitor who has access to what.

There is an extremely diverse range of operations that the Oracle system can perform, making it one of the top database systems on the market today and aptly making it a terror to kleptomaniac government officials who may feel the urge to nip a naira or two.

The ease of use of the Oracle database is part of what makes it so common and popular in all of these various settings. It only takes a little bit of time to learn with basic search operations guiding users to the information that they are seeking. Compared to other, more complex databases or search engines, this is one of the most manageable for large groups of people that have need to get into an institutional system.

Another benefit to using the Oracle database is the security of the system. It is possible for administrators to restrict who is able to see what, and set up different security levels if needed with various passwords. That helps protect the flow of information, and ensure that the right people are seeing the intended information.

There is no magic needed to divine under the new Oracle system, and these are but a few of the various merits inherent in the system Obaseki inherited from Comrade Oshiomhole.

Mayaki is the chief press secretary to the Edo state governor