EPHRAIM INYANGEYEN: The man whose spirit bad press cannot suppress
“Never worry about bad press. All that matters is if they spell your name right”. ~ Kate Hudson
I’m still struggling to understand how it really profit any sane fellow who calls himself a journalist to belabour for days writing pages-long articles, getting them published on a media platform, only to have same forcefully removed with his own hands within minutes of publication, on the promptings of guilty conscience or in response to public condemnation? I can’t think of any professional iniquity as self-humiliating as this avoidable foolishness!
But this is exactly what some so-called journalists in Akwa Ibom State appear to indulge in as routine of daily engagements. It is even funny how proud some feel and take no offense being addressed as apostles and disciples of gutter journalism – of all the noble things there were to write about and be remembered for, for good.
Judged by their trademark excesses which have reached incurable proportions, it is now clearer and easier to identify this specie of journalists who must have laid the foundation of their practice on blocks of blackmail. Let me say that although every society has vast fields for the wheat and weeds to contest for survival, it is increasingly ominous and poisonous to humanity that this wild breed of journalists continues to flourish like thistles in a beautiful garden of roses. Living with, yet surviving the regular onslaught of media bad boys in Akwa Ibom State therefore is like emerging triumphant from the apocalyptic war of Armageddon.
Whereas other net-worth individuals or public figures may have been victims of the highly inflammable and infamous fragment of bad press in Akwa Ibom State, the Akparawa Ephraim Inyangeyen story runs with a cracking tone of irony and particularity. Like an innocent casualty of the disbanded dreaded SARS, it is modest to simply say that Inyangeyen has been through a lot in the callous hands of self-sponsored and hired press assassins.
Hence, many who know and have had dealings in various capacities and fora with Inyangeyen as an iconic technocrat and paragon of public service excellence must have reasons to be curious about how much he really owes these unrepentant blackmailers and unconscionable conspirators who always get matters twisted, in sharp contradiction to what the name Inyangeyen stands for and is known for. The good news, however, is that he has always emerged unscathed with towering records of vindication.
Inyangeyen does not put cosmetics on his desire to serve and commitment to meet expectations. Interestingly, every objective and appreciative minds continue to admire and celebrate him for obvious reasons: Some celebrate Inyangeyen for being a true patriot and ever dependable ally in every progressive project; some for his work philosophy and relentless energy; some for being a conscientious public servant with impeccable record; and others, for his diplomatic dexterity in facing challenges and getting extraordinary results.
In particular, true comrades in the media world hold Inyangeyen high as a benevolent spirit of sustainability, a charismatic media personality and the very personification of productive partnership who has contributed selflessly and immeasurably to the growth and development of the profession in the State and beyond. That he wears the insignia of Grand Patron of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Zone F, South-South, in addition to other benefactorial responsibilities, therefore goes beyond the aura of office to the indispensable role and high premium the media community places on him.
There is yet another group – pirates of the sinking ship, the vagabonds with dusty credentials and indeterminable destinations, the shameless blackships of the media nuclear family. They form the insignificant proportion within the ranks who have sworn before Lucifer never to identify with or celebrate anything good; let alone the lofty imprints Inyangeyen has created in his many years of private undertakings and public service.
Whether for the mischief or illicit fun in it, they are known for always trying to win Inyangeyen’s attention by distraction. By their tactical formation, they appear to be on queues and in rancorous sets of different faces who awkwardly engage themselves or are paid to launch consistent missiles of falsehood, to disparage, vilify, misrepresent or slander. A piece of loving warning to one only serves as incentives to the others in the stinking slums of indecency to attempt the worst.
Isn’t it ridiculous that months after Inyangeyen had vacated his former office as Commissioner of Works, these media parasites have refused to allow him face the humungous obligations of his new office? Yet, against the law of benediction, findings have shown that they are actually the principal beneficiaries of Inyangeyen’s characteristic good-heartedness. Inyangeyen therefore must take quiet consolation in George Best’s position: “I’m lucky that, despite all the bad press I’ve had over the years, the public still likes me”.
It is therefore not hard to see that this hybrid specie of journalists lack both inherited and acquired commonsense: If they were smart enough to use Inyangeyen’s name as a celebrated brand to launder their insignificant names or his pictures to make the supposed big sales for their newspapers, the extant principle of “Rights of Reply” provides multiple windows; otherwise you get locked up by the counterpart law of “Invasion of Privacy”.
Or are we to blame Mr. Inyangeyen for his silent posture and discreet refusal to engage his hungry critics on dramatic episodes of unprofitable counter arguments which would have given them undue publicity? No. That is the character of a man who knows his onions and values his quality time for worthy endeavours. It has however been discovered that although they would wear the unfettered face of heroes in public squares, when the die is cast, this toxic brand of journalists would lick Inyangeyen’s safety boots behind the scene
Humane and human in all ramifications without any pretensions, it must be sounded that Inyangeyen is not, and has never claimed to be, infallible. But he is naturally diplomatic; quick to make amends with modest apologies if his unintentional errors were drawn to his attention without cunning attempts to presume or exaggerate matters beforehand. Yet, he is so often taken for granted.
It follows that if you can withstand the reckless and scalding tongue of these media scoundrels and still deliver on your assignments with the momentum of Inyangeyen’s celebrity, it means you can withstand anything – and truly deserve an award. Maybe that is why Akparawa Ephraim Inyengyen, Chief of Staff to the Governor Udom Emmanuel, has his cabinet stacked with platinum plagues, home and abroad.
Friends and foes need to be told that Inyangeyen’s cumulative past and present is like a bypass to better opportunities in the greater tomorrow. His eventual resignation from public service will certainly render many media hoodlums jobless; worse if their paymasters shall have run out of stockpiled loots. By the time Inyangeyen quits public service, by the time he departs with the goodwill he brought, his critics certainly will remember him.
They will remember him as the one man they could not nail with conspiracies and shenanigans. They will remember him as the white stonewall they were unable to paint black. They will remember him as that man whose waterproof reputation they cannot soak in the acidic rain of bad press. They will remember Inyangeyen as the bulldozer with human legs.
The CoS will be remembered as that superhuman public servant whose spirit critics and bad press cannot crush. That indeed is the man, Governor Udom Emmanuel’s right-hand man, in rain and sun, from January to December! Why then hate to love a man with a constant star on his forehead?
