The Day Udom Declared War

By UbongAbasi Ise | First Published On Monday 27 August 2018 in The Sensor Newspaper, p.3

“He who pelts another with pebbles asks for rocks in return” – Ola Rotimi (The Gods Are Not To Blame, 1971)

It was in the time of peace, a season of festivities and a period when friends and relatives were exchanging love and presents amongst themselves that a fratricidal war cry shrilled across the silent mountains, valleys, and plains of Akwa Ibom State, the land of promise. Those that congregated at the Ibom Hall grounds in Uyo where New Year’s Inter-denominational Solemn Assembly was held on Monday 2rd January, 2017 to hand over the new year and the state to God were stunned beyond belief when the Governor of the State, Mr. Udom Emmanuel incited one section of the citizenry against the other. He stated his preparedness to unleash militant youths on Akwa Ibom sons and daughters serving at the federal government level who might have come back to the state to voice out their opinion in the matters of governance. Mr. Udom Emmanuel, as quoted by the media, said “… any Akwa Ibom sons and daughters, if you have been given opportunity anywhere… .. if you use your appointment to come into the state and cause disunity, I can reassure you I have the full assurances of the youths, any idiot who will come forthwith to make any nonsense proclamation in the state, the youths will not let him go.”

Udom had spoken. Every “idiot” was to catch cold from the Governor’s sneeze. Like tortoise, Akwa Ibom people, who were thrown into amazement, had to recoil into their shells. Nobody saw this coming. It was clear that the last scintilla of civility had left the Governor. Indeed, Mr. Udom Emmanuel’s asperity at the prayer ground was a clear indication that his youthful infantry are on ground to assail the impermissible critics coming to make their trenchant comments on matters that do not concern their ancestors. He practically prepared people’s minds for war in that any internal contradiction against the Governor’s 2019 reelection bid seems to come from enemies that deserve nothing but extermination.

But how could Akwa Ibom soon forgot this ferocious incitement which was an utter profanity to democracy? Could it be attributed to collective amnesia? Or can I say it is a sincere historical oversight? Everyone seems to be jumping at Senator Godswill Akpabio’s recent recherché in a church at Aguobu Owa in Enugu State where he used 1939 Warsaw war experience to explain his defection scenario at Ikot Ekpene and his new party’s expected victory in 2019.

At the event of Mr. Udom Emmanuel’s declaration to run for another term in office at a jam-packed International Stadium in Uyo on Friday 24th August, 2018, I witnessed a travesty of conscience when Udom ignored the beam in his eye only to point to the mote in the eye of a man who helplessly sacrificed his own integrity while stepping on the toes of both friends and foes to secure him the platform he is currently considering as his birthright. Udom Emmanuel forgot he beat the war drum in time of calmness when electioneering season was still far away from the horizon. He didn’t give a thought that the intrinsic factor of his invective in January 2017 could become cataclysmically active in 2019 when power rivalry is expected to be at its peak. Governor Udom Emmanuel didn’t consider all that but was quick to literally read bellicose interpretations to Senator Akpabio’s allegory in Enugu just to remake his Great Teacher in the malevolent image of Adolf Hitler so as to rouse public antagonism towards him.

Truth be told. Senator Godswill Akpabio, in his typical manner, was regaling the church congregation at Aguobu Owa with tale of his uncommon defection at Ikot Ekpene. Akpabio enthused that the event was watched in 59 countries and somebody asked him what happened and he replied that it was just how it happened in Poland; “I will say that in the Ikot Ekpene arena, when I stepped out… Warsaw saw war and war saw Warsaw.” Does this means that the mammoth crowd at Ikot Ekpene Township Stadium was completely annihilated by Hitler Akpabio?” Yours truly was amongst the sea of heads at the Ikot Ekpene event but no Warsaw war erupted, there was no spilling of blood. All I saw was people’s enthusiasm and incredible passion to support their defected Senator and his new party, the APC. In other words, it was APC’s invasion of PDP’s stronghold. And that was why Senator Akpabio said in Enugu that “… in 2019 Warsaw shall see war and war shall see Warsaw, the return will be victory,” meaning in 2019, APC, through ballot, would invade the PDP kingdom of Akwa Ibom and take over power. It is only the ignorant and the heavily biased individuals whose sense of reasoning has been beclouded by evil and hatred that could only misinterpreted Akpabio out of context.

If there is any Hitler in Akwa Ibom getting set to plunge the state into fratricidal war in 2019, then he must be Mr. udom Emmanuel himself. He had incited violence before in time of harmony, and he may hide under the cover of Akpabio’s Warsaw comment to ignite violence against those coming to conquer PDP in the state through legitimate elections. It might be that Governor Udom Emmanuel, in accordance with Machiavelli’s credo, is presenting alluring dispositions and a bland face to conceal his real vindictive intentions toward 2019 elections. He and his PDP might be taking advantage of the Senator’s comment to manipulate the people to think Akpabio a troublesome Hitler while they stealthily militarize the state and mobilize militant youths in preparedness to reenact the real Warsaw war experience in Akwa Ibom State when the chips are down. In fact, there was a dangerous signal at the Udom’s declaration ceremony. Barr. Onofiok Luke, whom it is difficult to establish whether he is a governor’s aide or the Honourable Speaker of an independent State legislature, was sending a dangerous message to Nigeria. According to the speaking Speaker, “our message is for Nigeria: to those who feel they can come and conquer our state, that we will resist them with even the last drop of our blood.” Does it mean that conquest is not part of any contestation? If, peradventure, APC ‘conquer’ the state through free and fair elections, would this call for bloodletting in order to prevent takeover? Is it not following logic that Onofiok might have been arming belligerent youths to war against rival parties especially the APC just to resist electoral defeat? Is this not a way to blackmail Akpabio at the end because he has sent a message that makes PDP tremulous about 2019 elections?

Today Senator Akpabio is a bête noire for Udom Emmanuel, the likes of Onofiok Luke and those that had enjoyed the former governor’s benefaction simply because he has taken the freedom to continue his political journey on another political platform. They might soon have forgotten that their political career wouldn’t have been built in the first place if Akpabio wasn’t there for them. Today, they have labeled him “Hitler” the same way a man gives a dog a name in order to kill it. To this end, Saint Basil once asked a rhetorical question: “does not the gratitude of the dog put to shame any man who is ungrateful to his benefactors?”

When Mr. Udom Emmanuel was declaring his intention to go for another term at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium, he was prettifying his sedated, charlatanic government to have displayed a superior performance. This was laughable of course. In a period of three years and about three months, his administration had earned over a trillion naira from FAAC, IGR and Paris Club Refund but nothing takes shape in Akwa Ibom. Our State has the second largest number of unemployed youths in Nigeria. The much-touted Toothpick and Pencil Factory is miserably under the state of stasis now; staff are said to be unpaid, civil servants are still owed promotion arrears and leave grants. Fertilizer Blending plant; $5 million claimed to be sunk into the importation of 2,000 Mexican cows; and Akwa Ibom rice project are all subjects of controversy.

Nevertheless, may Akwa Ibom State not experience war in place of elections in 2019. Elections will go, Akwa Ibom will remain. No matter the extent every Akwa Ibomite is besotted with his political party, loyalty to the State is ultimate. Every politician has to mind what he is doing today, because history will fix itself in the future, and strew all guilty faces with shame.

Yes! I am UbongAbasi Ise. For comment, send SMS to 08189914609 | ubongabasiise@gmail.com

© The Sensor Newspaper



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