BY Guest Writer
BY ADAMS ABONU
As a new year beckons with its offerings, there is no better time to reflect on the essence of gratitude. To be able to show empathy, to relate with the circumstances of another or to express a sense of gratefulness for what one has received is an attitude that should be exemplary. In a world where people are in a rush to en masse benefits without recourse to the source, where acts of kindness often get unappreciated, it is savoury to see individuals who go all the way to show gratitude for favours done to them far back in time.
This is why the yuletide visit of Benue Governor Samuel Ortom to his erstwhile master, a bus driver, Mnenge Mtenavein Gboko, Benue state carries understandable significance. During this Christmas visit, the amiable state executive celebrated with other commercial drivers at the Gboko Motor Park, where he (Ortom) had been a conductor (a driver’s assistant) between the years of the 1970s and early ’80s.
Governor Ortom, who presented an obviously delighted Mteneve with a brand new Toyota Hilux vehicle, had narrated how the bus driver took him in after he couldn’t continue his primary education and took good care of him, providing him shelter and parental supports.
“At a time, my boss made me a cashier and treasurer of all the monies that we made weekly and gave me a blank cheque to spend at will,” TheCable had reported Ortom as saying of his former master, with the governor adding that he decided to visit and celebrate with the elated Mteneve to show appreciation for the foundation that he made for him to succeed later in life.
The encomiums showered on the kindness of a bus a driver who took it upon himself to offer livelihood to a young boy in need was deserved. When the plight of the army of children who litters the streets and corners of the society, some of them orphans with parents are taken in proper perspectives, the kind gestures of Mteneve to the young Ortom would be considered an act of nobility that is deserving of emulation. Majority of those children and young adults who have become helpless and beleaguered, fending for their daily survival from known and unknown means have huge potentials embedded in them that could benefit humanity if properly harnessed. Whoever would have thought that a young bus conductor could later rise through the ladder of life to become local government chairman, a minister of the federal republic, governor of a state and an accomplished statesman of repute. For a young man who was unable to complete early education at a time to be a holder of a doctorate degree today is a testament to what the mix of zeal and dedication could achieve and this has come to become the hallmark of the Ortom brand.
It is a mark of a great mind to show gratitude. Having risen to prominence through a dint of dedication, it is commonplace for the governor to ascribe his new status to providence and forget that the creator often uses men as angels to achieve his divine purpose in the affairs of men. In ancient Greek mythology, a young prince who was rescued from his abductors, who came to assassinate the king and obliterate his family by a hunter and later raised with adequate knowledge in utmost secrecy to regain his kingdom forgot the gestures of his helper when he eventually regained his father’s stool. Little did the careless king know that the man who helped salvage his destiny had secrets his enemies coveted. The king’s careless attitude to his helper became his major undoing.
Nigerians equally applauded the example of gratitude Governor Ortom demonstrated. Reading hundreds of comments under TheCable’s report, the preponderant view was that the gesture could further encourage the goodwill of Mteneve and save the future of many a despondent kid out there left to fend for themselves. A reader, OlaniyanAyotunde, remarked that “thank God he remembered his master especially in Nigeria where there is no work…very good memory, I hail you my powerful peoples governor…ride on.”
That Governor Ortom, a man who has come to become a household name across Nigeria owing to his courage in speaking truth to power and championing the course of the oppressed, has chosen to use the inspiring story of how he overcame the challenges of his early days is a needed motivation for a citizenry plagued by hardship and despair. The governor’s zeal for improvement, his never-give-up spirit and the fervency of his convictions are attributes that marked him out from the crowd of his contemporaries.
While there are many Mteneves out there, who, out of genuine compassion catered for the needs of those wielding enormous economic and political powers today, their gestures have largely remained unappreciated as they now wallow in wanton want. There are many Nigerians in their old age today who did their honest best in service to fatherland, who gave their talents and creativity to make Nigeria great but have been left to their fate, at the mercies of the goodwill of others who feel compelled by sheer compassion. The Mteneves of this country need to be appreciated for their genuineness; they need to be shown that their efforts were not in vain and that there is virtue in service and empathy.
The Benue governor’s exemplary attitude in giving back to where he had received from further endeared him to Nigerians and all who came across news of the visit intended to be a private affair. In that singular expression of profound gratitude, the defender of the Benue valley, as Ortom has come to be popularly referred for his stand against the dastardly oppression of his people by marauding ‘herdsmen,’ has laid bare his true characters against what his detractors would want many to believe.
As Nigeria navigates her course through troubled waters occasioned by economic despondency and a prevailing atmosphere of despair, it is expected of leaders across all levels to demonstrate humanity and offer hope to the masses. This is the essence of Governor Ortom’s exemplary attitude of gratitude.
Abonu, a multimedia journalist, wrote from Makurdi via adamsabonu@gmail.com
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