Umo Eno, that Eket shindy and the coming challenge
At first, I was excited that Obong Bassey Albert (OBA), the Senator representing Akwa Ibom North East (Uyo) Senatorial District, was going to be hosted to a gathering of youths of Akwa Ibom South (Eket) Senatorial District to a solidarity rally in Eket where he was to be honoured for (whatever) contributions he made to the district in his years in public service.
My excitement drew strength from the fact that the consultations, interactions and interventions of Pastor Umo Eno, frontline Gubernatorial aspirant and the preferred of Governor Udom Emmanuel and majority of stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for whom I have committed my convictions, have been a subject of misinterpretation, misrepresentation and misunderstanding.
Try as much as we (in the Maintain Peace Movement, MPM, and the Umo Eno Campaign team) have, to say and show that Pastor Umo Eno’s anointing, adoption and endorsement by the Governor, party leaders, majority of members and others he visits, does not preclude other aspirants from the race, no one seems to believe. Even co-contestants in the race have turned his person, consultations and engagements into a subject of abuse, attack and insult.
Despite all of that, we in the Maintain Peace Movement, MPM, and the Umo Eno Campaign team have kept our focus on the race ahead, making the ‘sale’ of our ‘product’, the Golden Boy, the only priority we have. We are careful not to adopt an unnecessary critical and combative attitude towards, or point any fingers to, other aspirants in the race. We do not adopt a ‘Hollier-than-thou’ or a ‘we are the preferred’ attitude. We are more tolerant and sometimes act as the least privileged in the race. That is why Pastor Umo is all over the place pleading, begging, lobbying, asserting and selling himself, his vision, mission to, and creating pacts, with Akwa Ibom people, even beyond delegates lines.
We believe that in a democracy, it is a rational order for there to be a conflict of ideas, of views and a clash of opinions on a range of issues.
It is from this background I was excited that, finally, there is someone bold enough to go out and meet the people, and declare his intent to contest for the office of Governor and by so doing, put an end to the lie that beacuse Pastor Eno is preferred by a majority of party members and stakeholders in the party, no one else would be allowed to go into the race. I equally was excited that there was no news, gossips and insinuations that OBA will be stopped from holding the event. It meant the peace MPM preached, which the Governor has firmly stood with, and for which Pastor Eno is being primed to, going forward, uphold and defend, was practical.
My excitement, however, turned to sadness, as the day became another Shindy: a cacophony of noise, of commotion, of dance, of baseless talks, of ‘war’ mongering, of insensitivity to the electorates, of promotion of impunity, of promotion of clannishness, of promotion of individual interest above collective interest, of pride and arrogance, of insurbodination to constituted authority, of insolence, of battle for entitlement and reward, of political immaturity and of a do-or-die posturing.
Naturally, I should be happy for my Pastor Umo Eno. He’s going to coast to the home run so pretty good and dry.
But I fear for Akwa Ibom State; for the coming challenge may not be civil, may not be based on a search for a man with superior attributes, may not be about what other aspirants present as carrots and apples before the people of the state and may not be geared towards the promotion of peace and prosperity.
Make no mistakes, ordinarily, OBA is eminently qualified to be Governor of Akwa Ibom State. He has been in the political space and held important positions in government to have enough hands-on experience on the nature of development challenges and how to solve them in the state.
But listening to him and former Chief of Staff, Mr. Ephraim Inyang-enyen, equally experienced, given his six years in the saddle as Commissioner and Chief of Staff, speak at Eket, one wonders if the experiences will not be thrown into the pool of political expediency and made not to really rubb off on the people.
The time of choosing and deploying brawn over brain in politics is over. Thanks to the increasing political consciousness of the people, politics is now a game of tact and strategy. The content in, and delivery of, speeches at political gatherings are perused, analysed and made to form lasting impressions on the electorate.
What did we hear in Eket? Talks of Entitlement, Agreement, Dogs (whoever born dem) Goose, Gander, Reward iPad and other profanities- with little or nothing to do with the momentum of the times.
Let me take one issue after the other. Entitlement- I believe if this were to be used as a yardstick, we should just create an office for 10 or more governors. As a matter of fact, all supporters and pillars of the Governor in the last elections- Hon. Onofiok Luke, Isantim Kenneth Okon, Capt Iniobong Ekong (who both were marked for arrests and one actually arrested and treated inhumanly), all Local Government Chairmen, all Commissioners, all state party and chapter executives and all House of Assembly members from the zone should have been adopted as the preferred as a reward for their toils during the elections. Bishop Cletus Bassey, Pastor Umo Eno and others in the Akwa Ibom Christian Assembly equally are entitled to this same reward, for they toiled, on the knees and on the feet to see that the Governor was returned for a second term. But, how many Governors can we possibly have? Only one.
Goose and Gander- When it was the time of the ‘goose’ of Eket Senatorial District to lay their eggs in 2015, ‘ganders’ from from Itu/Ibiono and other Federal Constituencies joined the race and annoyingly, at that time, never knew there was time for gooses and there was time for ganders to lay their eggs.
Agreement- A seeming 3 man purpoted agreement cannot be said to be binding on all stakeholders and majority of party people except it was made public at some point. And, to the best of the knowledge of majority of the stakeholders, the alleged agreement has never been a subject of public communication and subsequent approval and adoption.
Dog- Whoever saw something wrong with the ‘Warsaw saw war, war saw Warsaw’ remark during the run-up to the 2019 polls, should naturally know that the ‘Who born dog’ remark is one and same tempest, a call to resist the clamour for a peaceful transition. The state needs peace before, during and after elections. We may call it politics but our followers may not see it as such. They see it the same way they saw ‘Warsaw saw war’ and this tells a lot about our character in the face of the public.
iPad Prophecy- that same prophecy was the same other aspirants knelt before mortal men at every point, seeking that their names may appear on the (white) smokescreen of the same iPad. Nothing more to add. I just wished that these things were said before the white smoke was spotted.
It is really time to examine our consciences, even in the face of deep politicking where anything can go. I believe it is not right for some of us to speak the way we do. If we were part of an administration and took part in almost all decisions of the day, it is too early in the day to speak all sorts just because one is no longer part of it for obvious political reasons.
In the public space, I know that there are no applauses for Akparawa Inyang-enyen. There’s rather bewilderment. People are just surprised at his new form. There was a time people believed he was the problem (some said trouble) behind Governor Emmanuel. Some others thought him a solution too. People called him defacto Deputy Governor. People said he cornered all the juicy contracts. People said nothing was ever done in government without his input. People said Commissioners were sent by the Governor to get monies from him for projects and sundry expenses. People said he decided which road funds should be deployed to. People said he paid compensations to property owners whose properties came in the way of road construction by whatever mood came his way at the point of payment, not through any recourse to the documented Bil in the records of the Ministry of Works. People say he was the quantity surveyor, the civil engineering consultant, the contractor and all that mattered in a construction site. People loved to hate him. People loved to fear him. People loved to run to him for anything they needed in government. That was the Inyang-enyen we knew. Did he take any bullets for Governor Udom in the process? Yes, plenty. I remember how he escaped being “taken” by Abuja security men in Uyo during the 2019 elections. I recall visits to EFCC during the same period. Is that enough to seek to choose a preferred for the Governor while still serving under him? Or to go apart from the party arrangement in the Senatorial District? I don’t think so.
If he had gone ahead and campaigned on issues for himself and his preferred, it would made more sense. After all, it is the delegates and much later, the electorates, who will have a say in the final sense. But going about taunting a friend, brother, enabler and supporter, the Governor, is certainly wrong.
Unless we are not conscious of our obligation (as leaders) to the people, we will continue to give them ashes for beauty, night for day, darkness for light, retrogression for progress, undevelopement for development.
It starts when we think they should think and act in ways that draws the progress of society backwards. One is telling them to play politics in such a way that issues become no issues and muscles becomes the main issue. It is sad that this is coming from leaders who have spent time and resources to add value to society, but would, out of selfish interest for an elective office, call for its destruction.
Leaders must never be, or seen to be, hypocritic; they must be peace makers; they must be selfless; they must be patriotic; they must be unrelenting fighters for the public good by seeking always, to lift the society higher and higher.
In Pastor Umo Eno, I see such a leader. I encourage him not to be discouraged by the sounds of war. They shall surely soon fade away, because the chicanery of those behind it have been exposed by themselves. Like the chairman of MPM, Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem, has always said on several occasions, “while they continue to chant the war song, we shall continue to advocate for peace in our land, in and out of season.”
