Secrecy: The Bible & Rivers

Once upon a time, around the middle ages, the Holy Bible was a heavily guarded and confidential book, only to be held, seen, read and interpreted by celibate priests and hairless monks.

The Bible was scarce and written in Latin. Most of the people at that time were illiterate and the only exposure they could get to Scripture was at Mass. So it is not certain whether they were forcefully prevented from accessing and reading the Holy Scriptures, or whether it was their inability to read that made the bible a secret book at that time.

Today, the Rivers State 2017 budget is another book which is being kept away from public light for reasons best known to Governor Nyesom Wike and his friends. The big hard cover back domiciled at the Rivers State Govermment House Port Harcourt, is to the best of my knowledge, only dedicated to the eyes of the Governor and his political sect.

In this age of 'digital wonders', it beggars rational thinking and empirical understanding why a public document like the 2017 Rivers State Budget should be treated with such a heightened level of unholy secrecy and malicious imprisonment.

Why is the budget not online? What exactly is the job of the Special Assistant to the Governor on New Media?

After over two years of shoddily presenting the budget to the State House of Assembly under record-breaking time, Governor Wike has not only refused to print and distribute more copies of the fiscal proposal to the general public, but he has also bluntly denied the vast majority of Rivers people who are on Social Media the opportunity to behold the sight of their State's budget.

My dear Rivers people, the time has come for us demand that the 2017 budget of Rivers State, be made public with immediate effect. Unlike the Christians of the middle ages, the people of Rivers State are not illiterates who cannot read. We are also free citizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, with all the attendant rights thereof. The budget belongs to the people!

Brothers and Sisters, the time has come to put on the robes of King James VI of Scotland, who against all odds used his God-given talent and political might to dispossess the Bible from the abode of the religious elites of his time, and then translated it from Latin to English, thereby making it a book which is now accessible to all and sundry today.

Freedom beckons!
- Solomon Okocha