Dr Glory Edet: The Glory has departed
By Umoh Etimudo
Does Governor Udom Emmanuel and wife, Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel monitor the social media? It will be shocking if they are comfortable with what is happening there throughout the week. Even local newspapers publish it, and radio stations read the newspapers in their paper review segments. Yet, everywhere is quiet; quietness of the graveyard!
Former Governor Godswill Akpabio was a star! They say it takes a star to spot a star. One of the stars Senator Godswill Akpabio brought into his administration was the then Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare, Mrs Eunice Thomas. She was so good on her job that when the powers of the day (and of course, the “night”) resolved that Eunice should take her niceness to the Ministry of Education, people thought there will never be such commissioner to sustain the tempo in the women affairs. How wrong they were!
By providence, Dr Glory Edet became the new face of Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Welfare, having been brought in to represent Ini Local Government Area in the State Executive Council, many years after an Ini indigene, Professor Ini Udoka left the State Exco during the Obong Victor Attah administration!
Dr Glory Edet showed unparalleled capacity as the Commissioner for Women Affairs that one could hardly remember the exploits by her predecessor. Dr Edet complemented the efforts of wife of the then Governor, Mrs Ekaette-Unoma Godswill Akpabio in mobilizing, empowering and showcasing Akwa Ibom women in all ramifications. If she did not deliver, the no-nonesense Unoma Akpabio would not have patronized her for long. Glory brought glory to the ministry.
Her capacity may have been why she was one of the few lucky commissioners who were smuggled into the nascent Governor Udom Emmanuel’s administration. Coming with a lot of experience, she did even better than what she did in the previous administration. She assumed leadership role in the State Executive Council. When the alleged rivalry between Barrister Emmanuel Enoidem and Akparawa Ephraim Inyang-eyen fed fat from the tussle of who became the dean of Commissioners, Dr Glory Edet came to the rescue.
She was a political stabilizer as the dean of Commissioners (only God knows whether she even handed over as dean of Commissioners before her misty exit from the exco.)
Having gained the confidence of Dr Glory Edet, Governor Udom Emmanuel used her to experiment the merger template of ministries where she was made to superintend over Ministries of Women Affairs and that of Agriculture and Food Sufficiency.
This promotion came at a time people were expecting her to be removed having sort of overstayed her welcome across two administrations. But Governor Udom Emmanuel knew why she was untouchable! No one can know more than the governor that worked with all of them. Powerful lady; had two permanent secretaries answerable to her! However that worked!
But did Dr Glory Edet deliver? The answer is in the affirmative. She delivered in capital letters. In fact, before her coming on as the Commissioner for agriculture, the definition of agriculture in Akwa Ibom State was narrowed to the art and science of cultivating the soil for the purpose of man’s use. But Glory came to add:”tending of livestock, storage and processing of agricultural products and distribution and marketing of agricultural products.”
It is there till today. She breathed life into the food sufficiency praxis of the Udom Emmanuel administration.
However, when she was “demoted” to just one ministry and made “ordinary” commissioner, she never knew where to draw the line. She still felt a strong pull from the ministry of women affairs, and that became her albatross.
The Ibom Hall story during the International Women’s Day was the last straw that broke the camel’s back. But the story was intentionally blown out of proportion for whatever reason. The eye witness report by a credible journalist, Elder Edet Okpo shows that the Ibom Hall narrative was more of a fiction than truth. At least, to a very great extent!
But that is not the story. The story of Ibom Hall has to do more with the wife of the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel, and of course, by extension, Governor Udom Emmanuel. It now beats imagination whether the silence of Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel is communication. Is it like they say, silence means yes or what?
Does Dr Martha Udom Emmanuel read all that was published “maligning” her name at the Ibom Hall event? Does her press secretary review newspapers and even online publications for her? And she is comfortable with all she has seen there since Monday? Then there is something we are yet to be told! This matter does not require silence from Martha.
The deliberate communication gap from Her Excellency, and by extension, His Excellency, is what has fueled the stories and give room for speculations. Look at the case of Anambra yesterday between Ebere Obiano and Bianca Ojukwu; a message was released immediately by the governor’s head of media.
That may have gone a long way in dowsing rumours, and calming frayed nerves. But nobody has said anything about Ibom Hall and everybody is saying something about Ibom Hall.
To worsen matters, Dr Glory Edet was conspicuously missing at the exco meeting where the governor announced the reshuffling that will flush five members. Why was Dr Glory Edet absent? This afterthought of her going for an interview whatsoever is a failed damage control.
If she took permission from her boss to be absent, the boss should have brought that up under correspondence. That would have then been part of the briefing by the information and strategy commissioner. But the governor’s lacuna in that aspect further puts Dr Glory Edet under serious public baptism with wrong names!
On the other hand, should they not be a press release telling members of the public that some of the Commissioners have resigned? This would have been an opportunity for the Governor to appreciate them for their service to the State, and wish them well in their future endeavours.
But it was easier for the secretary to State Government, Dr Emmanuel Ekuwem to do that for the erstwhile Chief of Staff to the Governor, Mr Ephraim Inyang-eyen who was “sacked” according to the Governor’s Media Aides. Then it is more honourable and rewarding to be sacked than to resign in Akwa Ibom State.
Dr Glory Edet deserves a better exit from the State Executive Council than what is going on right now. She was useful to the Governor’s wife. Let me not mention the governor for risk of being misinterpreted and misquoted.
But whoever was around in 2019 should know how much she contributed to the re-election of Governor Udom Emmanuel. She was very useful to the State. Or is her “rough ending” a strategic action? Baring human infallibility, Glory brought glory to leadership.
The story is that Dr Glory Edet may be interested in contesting for the House of Representatives from Ikono/Ini federal constituency. And it is believed that she is the preferred aspirant for Governor Udom Emmanuel. That is the crux of the matter. Governor Udom Emmanuel does not have goodwill in Ini Local Government Area.
Every praise and worship for the governor in Ini Local Government Area is strictly sincerely limited to Dr Glory Edet because she is the beneficiary-in-chief of the Udom Emmanuel administration. The people won’t say it but they know it.
It is believed that Governor Udom Emmanuel assisted Dr Glory Edet to call the shots in Ini. She was a long serving commissioner, she handpicked a Chapter party chairman from her village at the detriment of other clans and wards in Ini. That same village has the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Grassroots Mobilization.
And the only road Governor Udom Emmanuel has done in Ini Local Government Area is Ikpe Ikot Nkon road, which is Dr Glory Edet’s village. Even when the former Paramount Ruler of Ini Local Government Area died, and she was in charge of the planning, the road to Itu Mbonuso was tarred with igneous rocks. Could be the deputy governor and the wife of the governor who attended the event were so impressed. Dr Glory Edet showed prominent signs of nepotism and favouritism.
She was alleged to have worked against the emergence of an Ini son, her former dean as the Vice Chancellor of the University of Uyo. She only rushed to play along when her preferred was not flying. She allegedly capitalized on the defection of Chief Otu Robert Akpan from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP to the All Progressives Congress, APC, the weakness of Chief Ukata Sam Akpan and the inexperience of the supposed political leader of Ini Local Government Area, Obong Bassey Inuaeyen to take charge of Ini.
Most of those who are aggrieved by these and many more, feel she is playing the governor’s script, and are not favourably disposed to her ambition in the House of Representatives, especially as the last person who went there from Ini Local Government Area, Professor Ini Udoka is equally from the same ward with Dr Glory Edet.
And the so-called political leader cannot be assertive to tell her that it should go to other parts of the local government for equity and fairness. They will not say it because they believe the governor is supporting her, and nobody wants the governor to blacklist him or her.
But Dr Glory Edet has the right to contest. And the testimonial from the State Government which she has competently served for about a decade or so, should relieve her from her appointment with dignity so that that could speak for her in other interests of human endeavour. The governor’s wife owes the public a confirmation or reffutal of the alleged fight at Ibom Hall. People’s image are at stake including the first lady and the former Commissioner.
It will not also be out of place for a formal statement from appropriate quarters as why Dr Glory Edet resigned (not sacked). Such statement will then publicly commend her for her wonderful service to the State which will speak volume. Until that is done, they have departed the glory from a five-star former Commissioner.
#PenKing
