Where Is Akan Weeks? (Part 1)

By UbongAbasi Ise

“It is not the destination where you end up but the mishaps and memories you create along the way” – Penelope Riley

Sunday 10^th December 2017 marked exactly one year since the centre of the Reigners Church building could no longer hold, and the roof members had to fall apart, landing brutally on the mass of humans congregated to witness the event of bishopric enthronement of Apostle (Dr.) Akan Weeks. Of course, yours truly was there on the spot on that black Saturday, the 10^th of December 2016, seeing it all right from when the steels descended at about 11:40 a.m. but managed to whizz through it all out of sheer survival instinct. As an eyewitness, it was a heartrending sight to behold: it was a terrible scene full of blood, mangled bodies, screeching of pain, wailing of death, tears and despair.  The horror and trauma were enough for the living witnesses who were there at Uyo Kilometer 1 to bear.

            Each time I join the fray in discussing the issue of unfortunate building collapse, I couldn’t help being overtaken by equal mix of emotions and shock because I was at the verge of joining the rest of the fallen victims. When I heard about the attendant abandonment and neglect of the first and second degree victims and their families by the state government, I feel the pain and trauma they are battling each day within their varied capacities to overcome. Who could have thought that after a year, justice for the victims would still be far away from the horizon?

Akan Weeks

            As would be vividly recalled, Governor Udom Emmanuel who almost perish with the collapsing beam of the Reigners church, surprisingly, had forgotten within a week about the calamitous event that threw the state and the country into dark mood of mourning. He and his government went on with glee to stage an expensive, classy carol night on Saturday 17^th December 2016, parading array of gospel music star acts in the likes of Julius Nglass, Sammie Okposo, Steve Crown, Buchi, Kayamba African Orchestra including internationally acclaimed preacher, Archbishop Nicholas Duncan-Williams. That was the height of ambivalence: last week your state was mourning, and next week you gather people to celebrate with hilarity as if nothing had happened, while the victims and their families still gnash their teeth, struggling in despair. Had Governor Udom Emmanuel, God forbid, fell among the casualties, would the state still have gone ahead to celebrate as if nothing happened?

            Notwithstanding, it was something laudable in the wake of the incident when the Governor constituted a Commission of Inquiry under the chairmanship of Justice Umoekeyo Essang (rtd), to look into the circumstances that led to the collapse of the church. The terms of reference were to investigate and probe the immediate and remote cause of the collapse of the building and examine the role played by any person, institution or authorities and the consequences of such roles in the collapse of the church building; to identify any person, institution or authorities responsible either remotely or immediately in respect of the collapse of the church building; recommend appropriate sanctions and or actions against all persons found culpable in the said church building collapse; examine generally all the circumstances surrounding the collapsed church building and recommend measures and actions to be taken by any person, institution or authority which would guard against future occurrences; indict persons, organizations, groups or otherwise found culpable in the course of its inquiry and make appropriate recommendations to Government; and make further examinations or inquiries which may in its opinion, give effect generally to the terms of reference.

            But the commission of inquiry turned out to be a theater of drama of some sort where accusations, counter-accusations, blackmail, innuendoes, comedy, and eccentricities played out. Professionals and key players in property sector were surprisingly implicated. At the end, all fingers seemed to point towards Akan Weeks, and it was as if the clergyman was a sole centrifugal force revving up the whole maelstrom.

The sitting which took place in January 2017 offered a platform where shocking testimonies were reeled out.  It exposed Akan Weeks’s penchant for titles, and let the world know that Weeks was proudly going about with the customized doctorate degree of humanitarian services awarded to him by Niger-Delta youths group – a group that was not even a degree awarding institution. That aside, on Friday 20^th January 2017, Akan Weeks claimed before the panel that he was already a bishop before the incident, and that the botched December 10 event was merely an enthronement ceremony. With blunt haughtiness, Weeks said he could be addressed a bishop. But he forgot that he had, immediately after the incident, gone on air to say that he was no longer interested in the bishopric office.  

In respect to the terms of reference of the commission of inquiry, there were salient issues that were raised, which entails that something should have been done urgently. For instance, the testimony of Town Planner Effiong Akpan explained how Akan Weeks flouted the orders of Uyo Capital City Authority five times to erect such a massive structure at the plot situated within the site not cleared for any physical development or issuance of certificate of occupancy because the plot was situated within the area of conservation as declared by the state government. Attention of the Commission was drawn to the letter which refused the Reigners’s Church application for certificate of occupancy, and the letter was dated 22^nd February, 2012, addressed with the reference number: UCCDA/AD/104 Vol. 7/276 to the Executive Secretary, Land Use and Allocation Committee, State Secretariat Complex, Uyo with the caption, ‘Site Not Cleared: Reigners Bible Church International Incorporated’ with the survey plan number, 80/JJ/1/2010/2, and signed by Town Planner Etop Stephen Uko for the secretary, head of administration. TP Effiong Akpan had explained that a threat of gully erosion was the origin of the problem that led to the declaration of the area where the site of Reigners Church is located a government conservation area because in the year 2000, parts of Eka Street in Uyo was taken over by the ravine; part of University of Uyo was also taken over by the ravine; and the compound of late Obong Michael Udo Eka collapsed with the ravine. Having notice all these problems, in the year 2000, all land bordering the ravine areas of Idim Ikot Ntuen Offot, tributaries of Ikpa River, Idim Eniong, Ikot Ayan, Ikot Ntuen Offot, Ekpri Nsukara, Anua, Uyo, Afaha Oku, Ndue Otong all in Uyo Local Government Area was declared a Forest Reserve Area and this was published in The Pioneer Newspaper of 20^th October, 2000. Had Akan Weeks regarded the notices wouldn’t the calamity be averted?

The immediate cause that precipitated the incident was also linked to Akan Weeks’s insistence on the removal of the scaffold which allows radial bracing with the pollines and girders to achieve a rigid body. In his testimony before the Commission of Inquiry, Mr. Idorenyin Daniel Udo of Whitesteel Integrated Services who was said to be contracted by Apostle Akan Weeks to fabricate and install the roof of the failed church building, said that Mr. Weeks put intense pressure on him from 2^nd December 2016 to remove the scaffold that supported the weight of the roof, threatening to arrest him and his workers should he fail to comply, but he refused. Udo said that after all effort to get him remove the scaffold proved abortive, one Engr. Essiet, who is one of the members of church building committee, called scaffolders elsewhere on Thursday 8^th December 2016 to come for the removal of the scaffold.

Another witness, Engr. Lawi Stephen, who allegedly designed the roof of the building, said veraciously, “I was there when Apostle Akan Weeks was telling Idorenyin Udo that if he doesn’t remove the scaffold, he would slap him”. Stephen disclosed to the panel that few days before the collapse, Akan Weeks had mounted serious pressure on Idorenyin Udo, the fabricator and installer of the roof, to remove the scaffold that was supporting the weight of the roof structure.

After the removal of the scaffold, Idorenyin Udo revealed that he had noticed a crack on Friday 9^th December at the right side of the octagonal church building by the second beam which he drew the attention of the site supervisor, but the call was not heeded. He suggested that the crack might have contributed to the collapse of the building on Saturday 10^th December, 2016.

However, months waiting for the report rolled by, and the commission finally came out with the much awaited report in June 2017, and Akwa Ibom people were with great hopes that finally the state government would address the anomalies surrounding the church building collapse, and also forestall occurrence of similar tragedy in the future. But it is surprising that the state government is appearing pusillanimous, and till now it has not made any concrete move towards the implementation of the report. Udom’s insouciance about the whole thing is inexplicable to the extent that one wonders if he even cares about human lives at all.

It is unfortunate that the state government could be insensitive towards the matter of live and dead of the citizens. Apart from bringing the culprits to book, the implementation of the report could have influenced the existing policies on housing in the state. For instance, the witness, Town Planner Effiong Akpan of Uyo Capital City Development Authority (UCCDA) said that all buildings in Uyo reservation area are illegal, and there are possibilities of imminent collapse because due process has not been followed in the developmental processes while adding that the area is subjected to landslide anytime.

Given the volatility of housing situation as partly captured above, for how long will state government keep on sitting on the report? How safe are the people resident in the state? Are there some sacred cows implicated in the report that the government thinks that it is convenient to let the sleeping dog lie? Has Udom Emmanuel’s government abandoned its obligation of safeguarding the lives of the people? What are the plight of the victims and their relatives affected by the event of the building collapse? These questions are begging urgent answers.

…To be continued

Yes! I am UbongAbasi Ise. For Comment Send SMS to 08189914609 | ubongabasiise@gmail.com

Source: The Sensor Newspaper

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