Emmanuel Enoidem: A Currency of Character, Courage and Resilience
Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem is the Peoples Democratic Party Senatorial candidate for Akwa Ibom Northwest District. A people-made man of many history who left the State Executive Council at the time as its longest serving member and moved on to become one of his party’s most renowned chief law officer; habitually leaving every place he arrives at better-off. He is rarely misunderstood as he neither takes the middle stand nor drape his thoughts with indifference. If being vocal about a position with no air of pretence was a person, that would be this Etim Ekpo merchannt of political fidelity.
Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem for more than two decades has remained a principal factor in both political and development firmament of Akwa Ibom State growing from a member of his party’s (Peoples Democratic Party) State Working Committee, to calling the shots in various ministries of the Akwa Ibom State government and then just recently disengaged as the PDP National Legal Adviser, while still holding sway as National Chairman of a movement that quite easily would pass for the state’s most expansive; the Maintain Peace Movement, which has arguably enjoyed widespread acceptance and on the prowl to producing a government for the state.
Information on his stewardship as Etim Ekpo council boss in the shaky third republic are scanty, but imprints of his time has remained, while he keeps growing with people he served with; a testament to his culture of building long tables where others consider tall walls. His long tables have nonetheless remained a mixed bag of good and ill wind, where some have gracefully stayed and grown on that table, while others think there are greener grasses, but between staying thankful and learning, Enoidem would still do no differently at flinging his doors open, when the opportunity knocks.
Factory-fitted with a restless mind and fingers that find him a role in virtually every political trajectory, especially political ascendency in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, it would go without a dissent that he has positioned more people in leadership roles and is still not faint at doing more. He has interestingly since 1999 sacrificed more than anyone ever braved, building and strengthening consensus in leadership, where he is famed for always putting the people first. This should in ways than few justify the massive acceptance his senatorial ambition has received; the people can also reward patriotism.
From gubernatorial to national or state legislature and chairmanship, this Etim Ekpo born political maverick has been a major factor in many political emergence since the advent of the current democratic experiment. He stood tall for Obong Victor Attah, never diminished during Chief Godswill Akpabio’s journey to the hilltop mansion and has stuck with Governor Udom Emmanuel while displaying an unyielding mien to solidify his ‘Brazil and World Cup’ role in Akwa Ibom’s next leadership deal.
There is yet to exist a beneficiary of his political largeheartedness that was ever in doubt of his uncompromising currency of character, courage and resilience that never bulges in the face of fierce opposition. It takes more than a passing mention to convince him about an idea, but once convinced becomes a lone-ranger that knows no retreat. In conservative terms every political party and aspiration yearns for an Enoidem figure, to get things moving. His stoic disposition to ideas he is favourably disposed to and deeply rooted patriotic values signpost the certainty of Abraham Lincoln’s postulation to the existence of a dedicated leader in a clime dotted with crooked politicians.
Leadership, politics and development for Enoidem are familiar terrains, explaining the pulsating results he has to his credit on every assignment committed to him; ranging from those that required ingenuity, to others he achieved by stroke of courage when people thought could not be done. The extensive reach and impact of his resolve to succeed where others failed can be summed in the bright colours that define his years in the state executive council, where so much depended on his midas touch.
An attestation to his yawning thirst at achieving set targets, the Ibom Specialist Hospital, Uyo, listed as a quarterinary medical facility, breathes diligence and commitment. Whether with Chief Godswill Akpabio who conceived and built it or Governor Udom Emmanuel who got it work in such a way that it came through as a stop-gap that aided initial management of critical cases when covid-19 spat doom on humanity, Enoidem remains the denominator variable in the delivery of this medical wonder.
Through the quarterinary hospital, Akwa Ibom State now holds out the brightest of hopes for Nigeria’s dark history of medical tourism, stringing a go-to facility that could handle sensitive medical proceedures like brain and spinal surgeries, as well as the placement of a pacemaker in the heart and filter in the interior vena cava. Living its moment in the sun Ibom Specialist Hospital in playing host to high-end medical equipment like the 164-slides CT scanners, 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging, digital mammography machines, devices to perform endoscopy surgery, highly sophisticated intensive care units, medical gas plants and fully automated laboratories, is undoubtedly a dream well conceived, midwived and delivered.
At the centre of this multifaceted hospital is a busy hand and curious mind that never rests when there is a task to deliver; from when the ground-breaking ceremony held in 2012 to its subsequent completion in 2015, the scrupulous disposition of this Etim Ekpo born lawyer, who then held sway as Commissioner for Special Duties, deserves more than a passing commendation. Agreeing that there is reward for hard work, the more work for Enoidem at a time Nigeria requires all the passion and poise it can get at seeing things work, would be having him share his experience and knack for cutting-edge deliveries in the hallowed chambers of the Nigerian Senate.
In leaving for another day accounts of delivering on the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, Governor’s Lodge and office, Four Point by Sheraton Hotel and other turnkey infrastructures for the State in addition to the relocation of Uyo main market; a task the bravest of the pack reneged on, emphasis must be made that the expansive array of political sane minds in Akwa Ibom Northwest district could not have been wrong in unanimously thundering their endorsement of Enoidem’s senatorial ambition.
A refined energy to tap and an uncouth sense of patriotism, Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem as Senator for Akwa Ibom NorthWest District in 2023 will up the Akwa Ibom game on fronts of National development and people oriented representation; while pitching the Akwa Ibom narrative in the most sonorous of tones. To draw all of these benefits, it is time to THINK EMMANUEL ENOIDEM as much as we do the courage, character and resilience he brings to work.
Samuel Ayara writes from Ibong Otoro in Abak LGA
