Kenneth Still In Bondage Of Self- Awareness?

By jarlat Uche Opara

Once an amazing personality, the face of the early Nollywood in the 1990ies when Living In Bondage debuted. Andy was his cast name and his role in that home video was at least description a blockbuster.

He became by mere twist of faith a household name. A good actor, whose charisma in interpretating roles and delivering of lines very mesmerising.

Became a lawyer, stopped acting, had a stint with pastorship , overnight turned a politician. He tried to contest severally, but luck didn’t smile at him. In 2023 he became the spokes person of Mr Peter Obi presidential campaign. Before then he mounted his tent with Buhari. When everybody was shouting with desdain the atrocious nature of Buhari’ government, Ken found it a peaceful place to rest to pursue his political future. Ship as expected sunk.

During his political romance with Obi he became a tonic, a good sight for sore eyes, a voice that echoed with power, strength, eloquence and intelligence. His flowers I won’t deny him, he deserved them then, many gave him his flowers unrestrained at that time.

After the election Peter Obi lost by INEC declaration, though many believed that he won landslide. At this point he became very disillusioned and started making some unprovoked ugly remarks against Obi.

The name Kenneth is of Scottish and Gaelic origin. It is derived from the Gaelic names Coinneach and Cináed. Its common meanings include: Handsome, Born of fire , Bright fire , Good-looking. People named Kenneth are often traditionally associated with qualities like: leadership, intelligence charisma etc truth be told Kenneth Okonkwo fits perfectly in the mould.

His surname Okonkwo is another powerful name in Igbo culture. Okonkwo is a traditional surname with deep cultural meaning, formed from two Igbo words: Oko — boy, male child, or husband/man
Nkwo — one of the four traditional Igbo market days (Eke, Orie, Afor, Nkwo) So, Okonkwo literally means “Male child born on Nkwo market day.” In Igbo culture, many names are connected to:
the day a child was born,
circumstances surrounding birth, family history, or spiritual and cultural identity.

The name Okonkwo became globally famous through Things Fall Apart, whose main character is Okonkwo, created by Chinua Achebe.

He was presented in that all time relevant novel as a man with strength who worked hard to make ends meet. Rose from poverty through determination and relentless labor. Unlike his father Unoka, who was considered lazy and irresponsible. He became
a respected farmer, a wrestling champion, and a wealthy titled man. He symbolizes discipline, industry, and ambition.
Courage and Fearlessness
He was brave in war and in community matters. People admired him because spoke boldly, acts decisively, and fears no confrontation.His courage made him influential in Umuofia.

He was a man of pride and ambition. Constantly seeking greatness and feared failure. His pride pushed him to achieve success, but it also became one of his weaknesses.

One of his tragic flaws was his inability to show tenderness. He often reacted violently, suppresed emotion,and equated gentleness with weakness. His fear of appearing weak like his father fuelled many of his destructive actions.

Okonkwo couldn’t adapt to changing times, especially with the arrival of colonial masters. This undid him. Those who read Things Fall Apart would certainly relate with the above descriptions.

I took time to xray these qualities of Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, perhaps one could see the personality of Kenneth Okonkwo from such lenses and the reasons behind his actions from an actor to a pastor and now a politician, wandering around to find a resting place.

Kenneth Okonkwo is a man that has suddenly became the victim of his crave for prominence. Like Okonkwo in Things Fall Apart, he wants to get off the limiting space of poverty, obscurity etc into the blooming light of stardom by whatever means, the end would for him justify the means.His greatest fear is becoming a nobody, doing anything that would give him such safety net however hollow, pedestrian, idiotic and imbecile would be embraced and treated like goldmine, as he is currently doing. He tried it when he became a pastor, gave a shot at it, it didn’t work. When he elected to campaign for Buhari, thinking he would be recognised it was same drive. He took his chance with Peter Obi in 2023 thinking it would unlock the breakthrough. All these were driven by the passion and desire not to be down, low enough to be considered a nobody.

Recently Kenneth Okonkwo bufooenery talks and idiotic postulations about Peter Obi clearly showed his agenda, mission and drive. He isn’t driven by truth. His mission isn’t patriotic rather what many would call “Hunger Driven Stomach Infrastructure”.

He talks with great finesse, his command of words and flowery articulation could make an Eskimo buy ice block. Very well endowed but negatively using it. Clearly shown on his face, is one whose future he fears, who isn’t sure of the stability and assurance of the sources of his “daily pepper” with Atiku. Obi obviously didn’t give him what he wanted, he thought Atiku would.

But with the recent decamping of Obi from ADC to NDC his future is threatened , hence his unprovoked insults, defamation and misinformation about Obi with a single objective to demarket him, driven by sheer greed.

The ship has sailed off, Obi has moved. The ranting of Kenneth Okonkwo means nothing, at best description, mere water off the back of a duck.

KENNETH OKONKWO A.K.A ANDY, Obi has moved, his face you would never see, the best you could see is his back and any comment made at someone’s back is very irrelevant.

Cut some slacks for Obi. Face Tinubu and demarket him for your principal. The more you focus on Obi, spewing out uncordinated venom of jealousy, inferiority complex and bitterness, the more the shallowness of your reasoning becomes very pronounced.

You and Daniel Bwala are becoming twin brothers in swallowing and relishing their vomits. You speak more like someone with the blood of a certain tribe in him , certainly your recent demeanour and arrant display of aggressiveness, unprovoked for a little spicy cake places a doubt on the kind of blood that runs in your veins.

If you continue to focus on Obi, the light from his integrity and unique way of playing politics would make you look like an enraged disaffected soul, who yells at his image in a mirror, punching in an empty air — just waste of time and energy. The consequences of such action is, you would be seen as one that is mentally deranged, too hungry to do any dirty job for a plate of potatoes. Kenneth Okonkwo!! Know thy self!

Jarlath Uche Opara is a creative writer. A columnist, author and a public analyst.
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