Obong Victor Attah: A true statesman and the rest
By Substance Udo-Nature
“I can testify that on the last day Obong Attah left the Government House after eight full years, his personal house was still under construction and was to be completed some years later” – Dr. Udeme Nana.
What exactly was going through Obong Victor Attah’s mind? What could he have told his people of Ikot Akpan Ndua in Ibesikpo Asutan on arrival? How did they respond to him when, after 8 years in Government House as a Governor, he rode home on a semi- bushtrack which the then bumpy one-lane Aka Road had been?
He did not think of a private or chartered jet; nor was his private residence of any spectacular difference from surrounding houses of the middle-class and agrarian population.
Retrospectively, Dr. Okon Obot, who served as Commissioner for Housing & Development under Obong Attah, the period within which the popular Shelter Afrique, a 21st century model housing estate, was envisioned and established, said the Governor never for once solicited him nor did he on his own reserve or allocate even single plot to the governor.
Yet Obong Victor Attah’s administration, with the highest paltry federal allocation of N600million, set up the foundation and heralded the infrastructural revolution that today has distinguished the State in the comity of States.
While Obong Victor Attah is celebrated today as the undisputable Father of Modern Akwa Ibom State, some still cannot comfortably comprehend why he “cheated” himself the way he did by not beginning the development of State with an empire in his ancestral homestead.
That, for sure, was the Age of Reason! Judged by overt and covert appointments, spread and quality of government presence in terms of infrastructure, institutions and companies, it is easy today for any observant visitor to the State to reach plausible conclusions on which communities have produced Obong Attahs’ successors to the Hilltop Mansion.
It thus appears that after Obong Victor Attah, the mentality of selflessness and altruism died and was hurriedly buried by “meism”, cursed by opportunism, and made worse by prebendalism.
Any fair filter report therefore would score Obong Victor Attah’s period (1999 -2007) high for having seen the entire State as one indivisible entity in competitive need of development. A true Statesman to the best of his conscience, logic and capacity, he gave everyone a sense of belonging in the share and distribution of our commonwealth.
Did Obong Victor Attah hate himself or his immediate community? No. Was he a kill-joy? No. It was because he loved the State more than he loved himself and kindred, because a true king does not play dice with equity. With such unique leadership ideology, Obong Attah enthroned populism above personal preferences.
By this people-oriented disposition, it is particularly hard today to tell where Obong Victor Attah exactly concentrated his efforts on in the narratives of the State’s composite development. In the end, he left empty-handed; but to be fondly always remembered, genuinely loved, and deservedly celebrated for having built physical and figurative bridges across lands and minds. Man and history shall continue to honour selfless Statesmen of Obong Attah’s pedigree, with nostalgic relish and endless gratitude.
Besides Obong Victor Attah, Akwa Ibom has been blessed with good leaders and statesmen.
No fair assessor would deny the charismatic Sen. Godswill Akpabio of his deserved place in Akwa Ibom history. Apart from the momentum that characterized his 8-year administration, Chief Akpabio lifted Akwa Ibom to the heavens and left tall landmarks that deservedly earned him the sobriquet “Uncommon Transformer”.
Aristotle left behind his godson. Beginning from 2015, Governor Udom Emmanuel continues to prove his strong belief in government being a continuum.
Benefitting tremendously from the rich inheritance Obong Victor Attah nearly lost his life to secure for posterity in the name of Resource Control, like Akpabio enjoyed in the complacent era of oil boom, it is fair and safe to say that Governor Emmanuel has disappointed neither Democracy nor Akwa Ibom people.
Pursuing his agenda with genuineness of purpose, especially industrialization, in a way none of his predecessors could boast or challenge, Governor Emmanuel has brought rare and innovative dimensions into the socioeconomic development of Akwa Ibom State.
Perhaps, the loudest testimony is the enterprising Ibom Air, although the airport bears inerasable imprimatur of Obong Attah’s visionary leadership and Akpabio’s enigmatic fingerprints.
However, unlike the Obong Victor Attah era, the frank and bold would readily admit that Essien Udim and Onna today are laid with gold; with State and federal institutions in constant contest for comfortable space. The fact that even intra-village footpaths to farmlands, streams and shrines in these special local government areas are nylon-tarred for the comfort of lizards and toads may be an indicator to the new mentality of governance.
“And so what? Does charity not begin at home?” No argument. But in altruistic governance, the aphorism “charity begins at home” is mere platitude and an aspect of behavioural moralism.
Great minds like Obong Victor Attah, would quickly dismiss the expression, “charity begins at home” as cheap excuse for self-gratification and aggrandizement; that contrived propensity to corner all to one’s corner by the benevolence of opportunity – or opportunism.
It would mean that some areas in Akwa Ibom State shall never see light till thy kingdom come; unless somebody from there holds the elusive and ultimate position of being the man who calls the shots in the Hilltop Mansion
That is if such a fortunate fellow would not offer his people soured sausages of belated apologies like former President Goodluck Jonathan who, after six good or bad years in Aso Rock, returned home only to call for communal contributions in constructing the Otueke Road to his villa.
Could this be why some sections of Akwa Ibom State are madly trumpeting for zoning and equity in the political power calculus of the State come 2023?
The expectation or argument is that, following what has become a trend, in constructing superhighways to the village of whosever becomes a governor from a given local government area, surrounding forgotten but fortuitous communities along the blessed route could directly or indirectly benefit from the entrenched logic of home advantage.
Granted, leaders have their peculiar styles and logic of governance with State resources safely at their disposal: Some begin and concentrate development rapidly from their immediate communities, first turning their villages into New York before thinking of other places. Some start from the city areas and slowly towards their hometowns, only to realize how short time could be.
But will it really be nice for a governor to leave office after 8 long years, yet with no befitting personal house or nothing tangible for his immediate community or constituency to celebrate him for, other than titles?
I don’t know. But when I become a governor, I shall love to be like Arc. Obong Victor Attah; although I would not like to return to my village on the same bush track that escorted me to the Government House years earlier.
Dr. Udeme Nana, who was the first appointee by Governor Victor Attah said the governor never asked him where he came from or who his father was before appointing him in his early thirties as his then Press Secretary.
Speaking last Saturday during the colloquium the Uyo Book Club, his precocious and adorable brainchild, organized to honour Obong Attah on his 83rd Birthday, held at Watbridge Hotels, Uyo, Dr. Nana, in contemplative appreciation of Obong Attah as a great leader, father, mentor, emancipator and humanist, said: “Akwa Ibom needs leaders in the mold of Arc. Obong Victor Attah. He was completely detribalized”.
The concern therefore is not about what a leader did to his personal advantage when in elected position of power and opportunity, but what and how he did what he did in the face of competitive needs and necessity to impact on the greater majority.
Obong Attah is a true Statesman not because he feels or arrogates that designation to him, but by popular endorsement by all Akwa Ibomites who unanimously testify to his iconic leadership.
Congratulating Obong Attah on his 83rd birthday, Omen Esin wrote, “You weren’t just our Governor. You took the seat at the right time to lay the right foundation and birth appropriate values”.
It is no wonder then that Providence has blessed this legendary character, Obong Victor Attah, with longevity to see the potent seeds he planted grow into fruit-bearing trees!
