An Open Letter to our brother Chuma Harris

If I had my way I would not bother you with an open letter just as you wasted your time writing the governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano.

Though my letter is not a response to your own letter, but it risks being misconstrued as such.

My concern here is the level of allegation against you, especially from people who have ample knowledge of you.

Apart from your unprincipled stand on issues bothering on politics which has further diminished you, the allegation of sodomy against you is one accusation too many. You should make effort to absolve yourself.

I had followed you for quite some time now. But I began to lose faith in what you do when it became obvious to me that you are not driven by principle.

I was a witness when you changed your name to Chuma Harris Obiano during the campaign to re-elect the Governor. Many considered your action quite brazen. Some of us were not impressed with your unmasked ingratiation. Few months into office you turned coat and started defaming the government, calling it unprintable names. To ensure that you drove home your message you started celebrating ex Governor Peter Obi everywhere on the net. You went as far as writing him an apology letter. People saw through your act but thought you were on top of your game. To everybody’s surprise the Obi camp disclaimed you and discarded you like a filthy rag. You were called names.

Hardly had the shame of rejection died down when you began to worm yourself back into Governor Obiano and his wife. It was then you realized that he is our in-law and decided to play the game. You went cap in hand amidst derision from social media habitués. I blushed with shame as an Ogbunike person. I know what you do is not in sync with what we profess as a people. Nonetheless, I was sure you had learnt your lessons. But I was wrong.

It was not long before you committed yet another blunder. In your estimation the Governor has not done enough for people of Ogbunike. What is more, you are once again on a stump, railing against the Governor and his government. You complained about everything the government has done including the neglect of the Ogbunike cave. In a flash you were everywhere on the net in what bears some semblance to dissociative identity disorder, insulting the Governor and his wife. You seem a man without commitment in life and one bent on copping an image of a fly-by-night political harlot. You may need to be told that you are becoming an embarrassment to Ogbunike.

But we are bothered more by the allegation of sodomy against you which is flying everywhere on the internet. Most of us would easily have dismissed the allegation, but the reference to your ribald jokes on and off the internet lends a lot of credence. If your irreverent allusion to sex is not to divert attention from your unhealthy sex life, they argued, what then compels a man over 50 years to be talking about sex as if his life is dependent on it? You are expected to be restrained and to frown on irresponsible posting of pornography on the net.

But it seems you do not do personal appraisal of your public image. Perhaps you don’t care or a force is compelling you to act wrongly. Some have called what you do seeking of attention. But I think you are too old to think the only way to be popular is to engage in sexual jokes on the internet. You should rethink your way before you completely derail. We all know that some people are differently constituted and have weird sexual dispositions, but they are not as disrespectful as you are. They don’t think they are smarter than everybody. The allegation of sexual deviation keeps seeping out of your bucket of concealment. Brother, you have no reason to contest attention with sex merchants on the net if you have nothing to hide.

Until the allegation, I thought I know why you changed your name from Udoka Odili. Chuma Harris came to us as name fit enough for your acting career. But the reference to why you were sacked from the seminary provokes just an interesting inquiry. Is our own Chuma a sodomite? And your accusers were quick to deliver an answer. They said your daily fake love for women is just to hoodwink your gullible online fans and divert attention from yourself. “Harris Chuma has for so many years put wool over the eyes of his online fans simply because he wants them to believe he love (sic) women. The hard truth is that Harris Chuma is a die-hard homosexual who started homosexuality very early in life.”

Truth is that you have not carried yourself well enough to convince people that what your accusers are saying are wild claims. Mentioning the issue you had with Ekene Enefe over finances only helped to confirm the other allegations. The case you had with Enefe over finances was public knowledge. Everybody knows how our people intervened to stave off what would have turned out a very bad development in the community.

It is painful to know that some issues tucked away from the prying eyes of the people have been brought to the public domain just because of your unbridled attention-seeking-stunt. You may not know it, but it does not look like those who have decided to unmask you have any intention to stand down any time soon.

You may wish to continue on the path you have chosen for yourself but know that we cannot stand and watch you cause Ogbunike image problem. We are no longer amused by the incessant trouble you bring the community. We have to do something about this because na ndibe anyi sii na ofu mpulu aka luta mmanu ozue ora onu.

Chuka Onwugbufor
Amawa village
Ogbun