Gov Udom Emmanuel and his brother Obong Nsima Ekere are both accomplished persons in his own rights. Both are Ibibios from Eket Senatorial District. Each of them has achieved great success in his chosen field. While Udom is a financial guru, Nsima is a real estate guru. They both have deep passions for service and luckily each of them has a platform to serve. While Mr. Udom Emmanuel is the Akwa Ibom State Chief Executive, Obong Nsima Ekere is NDDC Chief Executive Officer. So far so good.
Recently both men have had what I want to describe generally as well attended receptions though Nsima called his own a thanksgiving. Whatever was the name, his people received him just like the Ibibio Nation received Gov Udom Emmanuel. Both were well attended by all "The Who is whos". In a normal state there would be no need for anyone to waste his time making comparison of reception ceremonies but Akwa Ibom is not a normal state. Like most oil producing states Akwa Ibom is plagued with a condition called "resource curse". In development economics, this condition also known as the paradox of plenty, refers to a situation where communities with an abundance of natural resources like crude oil tend to have less development outcomes.
The effects of this is catastrophic resulting in the palpable tension you see in the state. The real sector is only just being rebuilt and youth unemployment hovers around the national average of 61.6%. You have a cream of healthy youths with abundant energy and excellent qualifications but without relevant skills to secure the few available jobs. There are yet another crop with so much energy but without will, qualification nor the culture to engage in anything creative. In both cases the energy must find vents. Sadly politics has become the victim and each LGA a political warehouse.
Little wonder more than a week after events as ordinary as receptions were celebrated, the social media as well as their print and electronic counterparts are still awashed with politically tainted analysis of both events.
However, of all the political analysis associated with the receptions, the most interesting was from Barr Ini Ekpo, one of Obong Nsima Ekere's right hand men. In concluding his report/analysis on the reception he wrote as follow:
"For all that I witnessed today, the one that has left an indelible memory with me is the advice that a certain madman was giving a man in a billboard near Ikot Abasi motor park after beholding the overwhelming crowd . He said, "u-doom, u-doom, u-doom! How many times have I called you...(holding his right ear)..timme election ". He was an old madman. So his words can also pass for words of elders”.
The above quote from Ini Ekpo was the lowest point of the reception analysis. It also pointed to serious deterioration in the thought process of our youths and leaders of tomorrow. A trained Barrister at Law wanted you and I to learn from no other person but a madman. He also wanted Obong Nsima Ekere to take solace in the words or (is it) the prophesy of a madman, which in his view pointed to a possibility that it was God speaking through the madman asking Udom through a madman to ..."timme election" (stay away from election) so Nsima Ekere can win.
What Barr Ini Ekpo may not know is that Obong Nsima Ekere reads wide and also keeps records. He would therefore recall that in 2015 APC sites were awashed with stories and pictures of a madman who went about removing Udom's pictures from billboards all over Uyo metropolis warning him to "timme election yak Umana aka". Could this be history repeating itself? Or is it that madmen are always the first to recognize where the light shines since they are possessed by angels of darkness? Maybe.
There is nothing new in this world and nothing that hasn't been recorded in the Holy Book. That is why God
admonished us not to let the book depart from us.
The Bible recorded how Adonijah held a grand reception preparatory to his kingship. 1Kings 1:9 reported that Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth...he called all his brethren the king sons and all the men of Judah the king's servants. They attended, it was so grand, so big but that didn't make Adonijah king because God had already chosen Solomon.
The receptions are not likely to give any of the two gentlemen tickets to government house in 2019. Only God, not receptions, make kings. Psalm 62:11 is unambiguous. "God has spoken once and twice have I heard that power comes from God". Let the analysis end.
Let's be frank, both Udom and Nsima are well qualified to rule this state. While Nsima has done it before as deputy governor and as acting governor, Udom is currently on the job. I think Nsima has the drive but he would be handicapped by too many constraints, one of which is, time. The state like most other states in Nigeria is still on economic recovery mode. Economic recovery has gestation period depending on the model. Each CEO has his own vision and model but there are variables in the system that are independent.
Because of the zoning structure in the state (which he may wish to observe), he would be constrained to 4 years which would be too limited for him to achieve much. This may put pressure on him to seek a second term (which he would be constitutionally entitled). People from Uyo Senatorial District who should have the next turn are aware of this constraint. This poses a lot of uncertainty on his candidature and a red light. The second issue is that of the Oro people which form the largest group in the Eket Senatorial District where the two gladiators come from. The Oronians felt the Ibibios have taken what was supposed to be their turn.
Whether that is true or not is not the issue here. They also believe the Ibibios have marginalized them since creation of the state. We all are aware of the tension and discontent that feeling has generated in the state. Oros are blaming the Ibibios in part for their predicament. Anybody that said that Oro's discontent has not affected development strides in the state is not thinking well.
Even God recognized marginalization. He instructed King David to compensate the Gibeonites who were so aggrieved that their grievances caused God to turn his eyes against Israel and plagued them with famine even though Gibeonites were not Israelites by birth. How much more the Oros who are not only bonafide Akwa Ibomites but have helped to carry the state on its back ever since the state was created.
The Bible says in 2 Samuel 21:14 that it was after the compensation was completed that God was entreated for the land and progress returned. Unlike the Gibeonites the Oros are not asking for human heads but equitable development and a chance to be an integral part of decision making process in the state they call their own. So far only Mr. Udom Emmanuel has acknowledged the problem and forging a conscious plan to address it. Others had ruled in denial.
For anyone to approach the Oro man at Uya Oro Ube, Otieke Offi, Nda Okobogho, Mbokpu Ukoakai, Odikor or Offi Udah not with their demands but with a request for Oro to make a transition from one "ibibi" to another "ibibi" of the same Senatorial District at this point would not only be fatuous but sends a dangerously insulting signal of insensitivity. There is yet two years before election, this writer believes Gov Udom would show his usual leadership and address the Oro question head on.
German footballers Marco Reus and Mario Gotze have been like brothers on the pitch, and it was definitely hard for Marco Reus when Mario Gotze left Borussia Dortmund to join arch-rivals Bayern Munich. They are still very very close friends and both respects one another a lot, but whenever the two rival teams meet the two friends focus on soccer for their respective teams.
Obong Nsima Ekere has been my very senior friend. It has been a privileged to know this resourceful Akwa Ibomite very closely. It was therefore a sad day for me when he left me in PDP and joined APC, but I still have a lot of respect for him. I believe in his passion and ability but I think he has a good platform in NDDC, given the time at his hands to leave a mark. He has already earned the title "Excellency". No more is left. The unspoken reason why OBJ set up NDDC was for Niger Deltans whose means of livelihood have been eroded by oil exploration activities to find avenue and new source of resources to rebuild their lives.
Sadly no NDDC management has had any idea of this let alone have the creativity to fashion out programs to achieve it. Yet is there in the NDDC Mandate. Rather every NDDC Board have always been on election mode all through their tenures. Very shameful. I am hoping the Obong Nsima Ekere team will be different. Any NDDC Management that failed on that respect is a failure no matter the number of roads rehabilitated at Ewet Housing or Port Harcourt GRA to curry political accolades.
Obong Nsima Ekere should do what no NDDC Board has had the courage to do. He should tackle squarely human development or more explicitly, rehabilitation of human infrastructures and scraps of humanity that liters the Niger Delta in spite of oil wealth. This writer would place his shirt for Nsima Ekere to walk on if within the few years he is opportune he created programs to give back as many Niger Deltans as possible their stolen lives. The people are tired of board after board of NDDC lost in election fever to the extent that every decision and program become infected with the disease.
Though he is well qualified and has the right to contest for governorship of the state, the condition surrounding that plan for now may remind one of the mistake Fitzer the great pharmaceutical company made in the 90s when it introduced BenGay Aspirin to the market.
Ben-Gay ointments is used to soothe aching muscles and pains. The product is well known and it's a house hold name. However, in the late 1990s Fitzer thought they could leverage on the brand name to expand their product line to same segment of users. They introduced Ben-Gay Aspirin an orally ingested aspirin tablets.
People know BenGay ointment, its stench, its hotness on the skin and all that. But they also appreciate its efficacy.
Stench aside, BenGay has the kind of brand recognition most companies covet; but their aspirin offered the consumer nothing new or beneficial. There was also the difficulty of transition from BenGay ointment to BenGay Aspirin which possible side effects remained uncertain. Aspirin side effects have been known to include vomiting of blood.
Make no mistake some Aspirin are now coated to reduce or mitigate side effects but they remain uncertain. Like Fitzer, Nsima Ekere he has a name. Of courses if voted the Ibibios of Uyo Senatorial District might decide to make him sign undertaking not to seek second term but if he does which court would hear the case? It becomes promise made by Mr. Fine face and unenforceable in law. They may decide to go traditional and make him swear "mbiam" but these days that former mbiam priests are now pastors who can tell what might happen? In any case why go into all that when the supposed opponent is the sitting governor, same Ibibio, same Senatorial District, stands a better chance of winning, better positioned and is currently performing creditably well? And if re-elected he would be constitutionally barred from seeking reelection and cannot therefore truncate the zoning process in place.
The BenGay Aspirin in our story was rejected by consumers who decided to stay with BenGay ointment that has been tested and found to be efficacious. BenGay Aspirin became a failed product. Rather than a new political product in this uncertain times, the people would stay with the product at hand: Udom Emmanuel.
The national economy is just recovering though the economic indices are not yet as expected, they are heading in the right directions. States like Akwa Ibom which embarked on novel but enduring programs like industrialization has a good chance now to forge ahead. Obong Ekere is conscious of this facts and therefore has been careful about the governorship question.
Gov Udom's style of leadership may not have been as dramatic as most of us expected given his background but its fundamental characteristic has been pragmatism and prioritizing. However, one of the unappreciated truths about real leaders is, they often inch their ways gradually but surely to success. And that's what Udom has been doing - succeeding with each step and one at a time. Though the inflated expectations of the voters seem a little unsatisfactory, the hostile economic environment which Udom met and the his vision to design a scale of preference basket with things like workers salaries at the top and the number of projects still carried out under this conditions endeared him to the people and elicit their understanding.
At the moment one thing that stands out for the people to hold on to remains Udom's capacity.
Firstly his rebounds from the weight of distractions during the Court era revealed his capacity to withstand setbacks. Secondly his tenacity in focusing on the industrialization program despite initial setbacks and criticism plus the results that has started trickling shows capacity to focus on goals and stick with it until success is achieved. The people have faith that he would deliver and would be happy to give him more time to carry on.
The state of the economy generally is so uncertain that the state needs competence more than political finesse. These are rough times. Though the economic gains achieved so far are still fragile, the foundation of progress has been laid, and the industrialization program is now making continuous and incremental progress.
What the state needs now therefore is not another intensive, electrifying and yet empty political rhetorics and promises but someone who can simply get things done. The Akwa Ibom people know that Gov Udom is that man till 2023.
James Abang Writes From Atte Okiuso Village, Urueoffong/Oruko LGA.
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