1.0 This is how Generation Above would have intervened: by adding alcohol, fuel and dry wood to the fiery mix? Oh, Akwa Ibom; 'mbom ata ata mbom'. When did insults and hateful side-taking (whatever that means) engender coexistence or crisis resolution?
2.0 Unfortunately, because I belong in Generation Under -plus I am a stickler for respect- I can neither name names nor call out people; the way the thing is doing me: as we say in Nigeria. I don't want to be caught committing the same crime I accuse others of. The way out for me is to simply register how alarmed I have been since reading ad hoc entries made by at least two elder statesmen and one group from our State.
3.0 No names, please. Rather, going forward, we should first thank God that there's as we speak no real or fundamental disagreement between Governor Udom Emmanuel and his predecessor, Senate Minority Leader Godswill Akpabio. Take it from me: there isn't and there won't be; at least until after 2019!
4.0 However, even if both men had issues which is a human normal, the best for our State would have been for elders or genuine mutual friends (if they exist) to mediate honestly and maturely; backstage. Being forthright, which speaks to openness and frankness, can transmogrify into FORTHWRONG if mismanaged in politics. No elder, no leader, no 'ekpurikpu' initiate should take sides or condemn a family member publicly, NO MATTER WHAT; especially on the eve of a decisive event when peace and all-hands-to-the-pump are the only panacea!
5.0 2019 is not about the former governor; it's about the incumbent. Therefore, those of us who say we love him and honestly want him to continue must focus on generating goodwill so he attract (not alienate) even known and perceived opponents. We must avoid an encore of what happened to PDP national in 2015 when useless internal cacophonous bickerings touched off monumental distraction that culminated in the loss of Aso Rock.
6.0 Akwa Ibom and party elders must arise and take their place in the sun, or my generation would shame them when we step up and majestically douse this unnecessary tension. Our dear governor must himself remember and celebrate his 'former' (read old) friends ahead of and better than the teeming latter-day crowd. That's the crux of this whole matter: those of them who loved him enough before (to the extent of helping to make him) cannot suddenly become his enemies while those of us who 'opposed' in the build up cannot overnight transform and should not be seen as the only besties in town!
7.0 Human beings send horrible signals worse than the ensuing mathematical imbalance when we base judgment on a paltry 5% indiscretion in spite of a whooping 97% excellence, as we almost-always do. As Gov. Emmanuel has clearly shown these two and a half years, he's completely and totally capable of managing the good and crisis of governance and relationships. Since we didn't love him the way his predecessor did then when it mattered most, attempting now to desecrate their bond should also send a warning to the governor about what we would do to him TOMORROW!
8.0 Granted, the distinguished senator opened the window for all this foul air with one or two seemingly anti-Udom comments he made that fateful day in Abak but what about the four, five paragraphs he spoke in support, and over time the thousand and one he's known to have made, pro-? Granted, some are peeved that the former governor didn' carry on like someone who has impeded access to his successor (who calls him mentor publicly); granted he should not have criticised him in public as open criticisms serve no purpose, especially in Politics Nigeriana, we must also be fairminded to understand the context and locale of his messaging. To misconstrue it as we have been prancing about smacks of hate and mischief!
9.0 I want to end this intervention by stating my fears and my shame. By their approach and rhetoric in the extant non-crisis, the elites who populate Generation Above are not teaching those of us in Generations Below and Under anything anyone can be proud of. By the way, my generation suspects that these adult insults flying up and down are not really about supporting our governor but is a pound-of-flesh mission in disguise.
10.0 Finally, this governor and this state don't need this Old Testament trick. The two leaders MUST hold that tete-a-tete I recommended a few months back; they need that talismanic strategy to evade or overcome what I think is a chronic desperation to put them asunder. God bless Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria!
© Michael Bush 001/110118
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