I read Marshal Abia on Paul Ekpo but did not think much of it
since, to my mind, there can be nothing profound in any thought which elevates
nepotism. Marshal espouses that "your brother is your brother"
meaning in every circumstance, a public office holder must first look to
his/her relation when discharging public favors or assignments; To consolidate
the foundation of this unethical belief, he further misconceives the true
meaning of the idiom "charity begins at home" to mean that all is
fair in authoritarian nepotism since family is home. I did not think that sort
of thinking should detain me since he is responsible for and entitled to his
opinion. I thank Samuel Duncan for his spirited defence of my modest role in
Oro public life, glad to not that there is much more he did not call out.
There
is a time for everything. It is unfortunate, the impact which diluted standards
of productivity have had on the level of current public discourse. Thankfully,
Young intellectually agile commentators like Mr. Duncan, manage to leave
society with some hope.
I find it curious that the entire debate generated by Messrs
Abia and Duncan is mostly about the elevation of nepotism into an acceptable
way of life. The other interesting exposition is the fact that there are people
who rabidly recommend Chief Paul Ekpo's example of muscling his family members
into positions of authority and influence, to the exclusion of other qualified
members of the community without the opportunity of fair competition (as
reported). This tells part of the story of our declining set of values and
brings into focus some of the reasons why our societies have remained
precipitate, impervious to the growth which has been energised by the practice
of fair order in other places.
While growth is occasioned by the fair and appropriate
deployment of expertise and talent through competition, retrogression is the
usual consequence of nepotistic order. It is easy to deduct that Mr. Abia
obviously disagrees with this position. To him the Paul Ekpo example is the
right way to go, the way Oro (his place) should adopt. ln my opinion, nothing
could be more retrogressive for any community to emulate, particularly Oro,
who, giver her disadvantages, should be the ones in the front seeking fairness
and order.
Every leader or administrator has a set of principles and
preferred style. Every Chairman operates in very peculiar environments
different from all others. It is clear to me that any comparison of my outing
in 2007 with those of any other Chairman must take this into account.
Here in a nutshell is part of the principles which guided
actions on such issues during my tenure as a State Chairman of a party:
I was advised (amongst other profound wisdoms) by leading lights
of my family that I should insist on absolute fairness to all members of my
organisation. I was advised that except I find it inevitable to the advantage
of the party or unless it came as a call to service, no member of our family
should be encouraged to seek to use the privilege of my office to seek undue
placements into any office or position. I kept religiously to that public
spirited advice and I would do the same again any time the opportunity
presented itself. It is a position which encourages personal and corporate
growth.
That was why Mr. George Otu Ita ( a popular former LG Chapter
chairman and a cousin of mine) was persuaded to step down the opportunity he
sought to contest for the Chairmanship of the LG. So that, other families and
persons could have a fair shot without the shadow of his relationship to the
State Chairman looming over the process. This came about from that family value
perspective.
Mr. Larry Esin, a other cousin of mine contested the
gubernatorial election (against my and other practiced individual's advice) and
came 6th. A certain Mr. Ini Isuambuk (who, loves to let sleeping dogs lie, but,
can not get himself to spell my surname correctly) believes I should have
declared him winner in 2007. To be fair, I must plead ignorance of Mr.
Isuambuk's principles of life, but I was born before the generation which
accepts that 16 is greater than 19. It is therefore unlikely that my methods
and those of his hero Mr. Paul Ekpo will be identical.
I expect that if he were asked, being the keen observer of
political developments which he probably is, Mr. Isambuk will tell Mr. Obong
Oscar Ita the story of Dr. Anwana's emergence as Chairman of Udung Ukoh with
absolute truthfulness and pride in the process which was hatched by the
political leaders of "his place".
Dr. Asuquo Anwana, another cousin of mine, became the
councillorship candidate of Udung Ukoh ward 10 after Mr. Imabong Obisung, that
very disciplined, patriotic and knowledgeable librarian (then) of the
University of Calabar voluntarily gave up his privilege to run for the seat so
that His ward could produce a candidate to contest for Chairmanship after the
position was zoned to zone B and subsequently to ward 10 in Udung Ukoh LG. Dr.
Anwana was the Unanimous Choice of the ward.
He was pressed to resign as a lecturer in the University of Calabar
to pick up the challenge for his ward. He contested and won the election. HE
WAS NOT MADE CHAIRMAN BY ME as Mr. Obong Oscar Ita very erroneous (or maybe
ignorantly) intoned.
It was in deed in answer to a call by his ward and a show of
sacrifice by him and Imabong who also resigned his appointment in the
University to serve his people.
It is also important to correct one other flippant retort about
the zoning system which enabled Dr. Anwana to contest and win the LG
Chairmanship seat.
Zoning of political Offices in Udung Ukoh was the combined
effort of deep thinking elders, youth and traditional authorities of the LGA.
The memorandum of understanding which was signed by all distinguished
political, cultural and traditional personalities of the LG is a classic
document on conflict and interest management.
For instance, even though Zone A is the more muscular of the two
zones, in the spirit of the agreement which emphasised fairness, zone B was
allowed first run because Zone A had previously produced several Chairmen. In
zone B a similar situation occurred where Edikor, even though by far the more
muscular group, yielded place to Ekim because some previous LG Chairmen also
came from Editor while Ekim had never produced any. That is how Ekim had the
privilege to produce Dr. Anwana. I DID NOT USURP EDIKOR'S TURN.
I now make these efforts to give these explanations because I
have become aware that there are many political commentators who are inclined
to treating pedestrian gossips as facts. Unfortunately, since they invariably
also tend to have very little accommodation for the sanctity of truth, they
spew out their degraded falsehood as facts and are unabashedly active,
particularly in social media, in spreading their misinformation as fodder for
the unsuspecting public.
Finally, whilst I am all for rendering accounts, it must be done
thoroughly and without malice. We must call out persons for their tenures but
it's got to be in a manner which will help us build a progressive future. I
cannot see the progress in emphasising backward nepotistic practices as the way
to emulate. That in itself is a painful pointer to the fact that we are not yet
ready for the serious climb into a progressive future.
Let the people who now criticise and find faults step forth and
give the direction for that future they have not yet defined because of
unnecessary fixation at scapegoatism which is based on utter ignorance or
twisted non-facts. This is the time for leadership not flippant truancy or
gossip.
Total Oyo Oro
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