Written by Udo Silas
I swear am not an ‘agent provocateur’. I am not in the habit of provoking rumors. I follow my professional dictates that offer me the latitude to infer, deduce, proffer and where necessary conclude, based on current realities or situations in the polity. For those who may not know, my first political space is Akwa Ibom, then Nigeria, and the world at large.
It is not my preoccupation to suggest non-existent situations but rather use existing situations, perceived or real, to make informed discourse.
Let me again reiterate for emphasis. I wish for all humans to live in peace, love, laughter and mutual respect.
As a political commentator (with all due regards to modesty) I indeed wish that politicians of all hues and cries exist in harmony irrespective of ideological or philosophical differences.
But then, if wishes were cars, all pedestrians would drive.
So the political commentator is like the coffin maker. He doesn’t pray for people to die. He knows that people would die.
You are however at liberty to infer motives to my postulations hereunder. That is the prerogative of the audience or reader.
But the poet is undeterred in externalizing his verses. Good and bad verses are as real as good and bad people. The words only mirror our reality.
I ask therefore that the preceding paragraphs stand as assurance to the wannabes that this writer is not provoked by reasons other than that ingrained impulse to decipher, construct, deconstruct and stir thought, from the prism of his observatory.
Without a doubt, the tenor of political speak, especially in the days leading to the second anniversary celebration of existing tiers of government in the country, has stimulated a number of conjectures pertaining to the status of relationship between the outgone governor now senator Godwsill Obot Akpabio and his successor, Governor Udom Emmanuel.
This may be so for a variety of reasons. Differing persuasions may surely exist based on political divide. Then again, there are people who, having witnessed the frosty relationship between then former governor Victor Attah and governor Godswill Akpabio, would wish for nothing of the sort.
This school of thought avers, and I concur, that governance and leadership nuggets are best given and received in a convivial rather than acrimonious circumstances.
What has however fascinated onlookers is the strident attempt by paid agents of state to always seek to emphasize the utopian nature of relationships rather than the possible.
It is indeed possible that Akpabio and Udom can suffer fundamental differences, as all mortals are wont to do sometime in their relationship.
To argue otherwise is to place the duo in the pantheon of angels.
Political scientists are agreed, that one of the easiest ways to smell a brewing discord is when politicians begin to speak and maybe act in a way that lends to ambiguity.
In a sense, political speak allows the politician some room to escape.
While analysts may infer meaning from the speech, political speak provides for the politician, the leeway to posit alternative meaning.
It was a coincidence of sorts that Obama happened to be visiting Germany at about the same time that Trump visited Europe, as part of his first foreign trip as president.
Speaking at an event in the city, Obama threw a veiled criticism of Trump. In Obama’s own word. “We can’t isolate ourselves. We can’t hide behind a wall”.
That, put succinctly is the beauty of political speak. It is veiled criticism couched in courteous semantics. Obama didn’t need to mention Trump.
All he needed do is mention the word ‘wall’ as an amplifier of his first sentence construct, and the intent and target becomes clear. But because he mentioned no names, none can hold him to any inferred meaning.
So what exactly did Udom mean when he said this?
“What do you call empowerment? I hope you are not referring to sharing money to people? Because as governor I had decided never to carry on with that culture of waste.
Empowerment, to my mind should not be about sharing money, but creating interventions and the enterprise-friendly environment where people can make money in Akwa Ibom.
That is why we brought the Dakkada philosophy so as to carry our people away from the unfortunate mentality of money sharing”
Loaded statement no doubt. The governor is also reported to have said that his government would not embark on white elephant projects.
He is also reported to have disclosed that he staked his personal assets to secure a N250million bailout for Ibom Specialist Hospital.
So what culture of waste is Udom referring to? Who instigated the culture of waste? Was it Attah or his predecessor? Who was udom referring to when he talked about sharing money? Who in Udom’s hallowed analysis is responsible for the unfortunate mentality of sharing money in Akwa Ibom? Was it Attah or Akpabio?
What does Udom mean by white elephant projects? Is that an apt description of projects his predecessor started but did not complete or the ones that Attah started? Is Udom telling Akwa Ibom people that monies put into such projects are gone for good alongside the projects?
By staking his personal assets to resuscitate Ibom Specialist Hospital is Udom telling Akwa Ibom people that the idea of Ibom Specialist Hospital is not economically viable? Or is Akwa Ibom state so broke and has no collateral worth its salt that the governor would have to stake his personal assets to breathe oxygen into Ibom Specialist hospital? If indeed the governor did as he asserts, what good if any would a mention of it, add to his often-touted business school profile? What really is going on here?
It is possible there is nothing to all of these. It is also possible that it is mere coincidence and does not belong to the realm of political speak.
But a juxtaposition of events, emotions and expressed sentiments in Udom’s first anniversary are starkly pale in comparism to the second anniversary.
Add to that the buoyancy of an Akpabio in the second anniversary celebrations of Rivers State and Cross River State and the contained camaraderie at the thanksgiving service Sunday, and the connotations become potent.
There is more than cannot be talked about for reasons of source confidentiality.
But Udom’s second anniversary is significant for reasons other than the ‘unprecedented crowds’ and ‘enterprise friendly’ inspections and flag-offs. It sure signals the urge to become his own man.
It is a trajectory that many opined must come at a certain point. Maybe not. But if it is, do not blame the coffin maker.
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