My Opponents Are Fighting Intellectual Battle With Diabolical Means – Dr. Uwem Akpan
Dr. Uwem Akpan, a lecturer in the Department of History and International Studies in the University of Uyo, appears to be a man that would not waver under any form of pressure. His recent publication, Ikono The Cradle of Ibibio Nation: A Refutation, has been the subject of controversies and has pitched him against the monarchs and elites from Ikono and Ini local government areas who appear to side with Dr. David Ukpong, Dr. Martin Akpan and Nnamso Akang, the authors of a refuted book entitled, Ikono The Cradle Of Ibibio Nation (Historical Origin and Cultural Heritage) published in 2001. In this interview with UBONGABASI ISE, The Sensor Newspaper's correspondent, Dr. Uwem Akpan talks about his face-off with his opponents and wonder why they are not confronting him in the realm of intellectuality instead of condescending to what he called diabolical means. EXCERPT:
The book you published on December 9, 2019 has generated a lot of controversies. How do you cope under this pressure?
Well, I actually would say that, from my own point of view, I am not under any pressure, reason being that the enterprise, as I view it, is a right thing to do. I have said before that I don't feel threatened just because I contribute to the development of my race in my area of competence. So, even though tension has arisen, people protested and all that, from my point of view and as a trained and practicing historian, I did the right thing. In as much history is an evidence-based discipline, I followed the rules of engagement in my discipline, therefore I don't feel threatened. That is the truth.
Recently, a group of monarchs from Ikono and Ini local government areas addressed a press conference and they issued a 7-day ultimatum to you demanding that you should come out to apologize for associating them in your book project without their authorization. And you also replied in a press statement that you owe no one any apology. Why are you so confident in your stance?
The book that I refuted which, as I have said, has been discredited, has long been in circulation and 2021 would have made it two decades. And in the course of my interactions with people across Akwa Ibom, they rejected that thesis, and some of them just ignored it and said that those that sponsored the publication did not consult them otherwise they would have told them the correct traditions of origin, migration and settlement of the Ibibio. I discovered that the people in the areas they claimed were Ikono people rejected their thesis. I was not sponsored by anybody. That is the argument. Therefore I did not need to have sought the permission of anybody or group to have refuted that work. What I simply did was to interact with the people in the area. Some of them were knowledgeable village heads and ordinary people that I was able to interface with, that are custodians of the tradition of these communities. And they volunteered the information. It was and of course it is still my discretion to use the information. I didn't need to have obtained permission from them to use information. And of course they cannot deny that they did not give the information that they rendered. They cannot deny it. That is the truth. So I do not have apologies for doing the right thing. I don't.
These monarchs have threatened you with legal action should you fail to apologize to them. If the matter reaches the court, do you think your informants would take side with you in the face of intense pressure?
Let me say that I believe in the wisdom of the Court. Thank God Nigeria is the country that respects the rule of law. But I still do not believe that a matter of history should have gone to the court for the settlement. In any case, I was the first person that alerted the public with a press release about what is going on, that these elites and the monarchs in Ikono and Ini were going about threatening these informants because of the fact that they saw their names reflected in my book. They threatened them, particularly the village heads, to withdraw their certificate of recognition and then wrote a statement and forced them to sign it to show that they were not authorizing me and in fact to dissociate themselves from my historical undertaking. I brought this to the knowledge of the public. What they did is an infringement on the Constitution's freedom of expression and freedom of association. These people have the rights to have expressed their minds. Therefore I don't think they are on the right path. I do not think so.
So have you heard from your informants since this incident occurred?
Yes, I have. In fact all of them have told me that they were forced. I remember one of them - I won't name, when I went there and I saw a particular village head of Mbiohoku Oku Ikot Abasi. He was the one mandated to go about with the letters threatening those people. While that was going on, I visited one of my informants and when I got there I saw his car (the village head), and I turned around, lean by the window and heard what he was saying. He cannot deny it.
The monarchs also alleged that you distorted facts in your book and also went on taking pictures of shrines for public displays. So could you react to these accusations?
I have not distorted any facts. This one is obvious. I approached the enterprise from the point of view of a historian. I have tremendous respect for historical evidence, and that is what stands me the historian out from a non-historian. Evidence is anything that survives event and gives prove that a particular event had actually happened and that the person writing would not have to rely on his fertile imagination. All my sources are there: written records, oral traditions, ethnographic data and all that. So I did not distort any fact. Now what baffles me is that some of these people are respected knights in the church; some are elders, and they are speaking for a deity. So the case now is like a case of Gideon who the men of his community accused of pulling down the image of Baal and his father told the men, 'allow Baal to speak.' They are not the one to speak. So they should not be diabolical. In all those places I went to, I got the permission of the respective leaders. There is no information or informant that I have cited in this work that I did not interface and interact with happily. They were happy to have given me the information. I did not give them money. They were happy, some of them for the fact that somebody has come so that they would not die with the information. I don't have any ulterior motive; I was doing service to my race.
Apart from this disapproval from these Ikono/Ini monarchs and other elites, what are the reactions of the socio-cultural organizations in Ibibioland such as Akwa Esop Imaisong Ibibio, Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio and so on?
When I was to do the public presentation, I invited the Ifim Ibom Ibibio; I personally invited the Oku Ibom Ibibio; and the Ntisong Ibibio, but not all of them turned up, except one of them. What I want you to know is that this is a scholarly work - an academic work. We should be encouraged. None of these sociocultural organizations in Ibibio land that you have mentioned has issued a statement. Therefore I do not know their reactions. But I can tell you the book is well received. From the feelers I have gotten, it is well received. It is there in the public space and in the media. Many people have commended me for doing this in their lifetime because there was a monumental distortion of facts, and I think this is one of the things I have done in my life that made me fulfilled as an Ibibio person.
Few days to your book presentation, you received a text message from one of the three authors of the refuted book...
(Cuts in) ... Yes, particularly Dr. David Ukpong
…and he threatened you to withdraw your book from circulation...
(Cuts in)... Or I regret my actions
Yes, so what are the things done so far to address this security concern?
Oh thank you very much. When I got that message, I was sad. That man is a lecturer in the university, and his action is anti-intellectual. In fact it is a least thing that should be expected from a teacher, not to even talk of the university lecturer who knows the importance of research and scholarship. So when I got it I was sad and I had to contact my lawyer. And my lawyer immediately reported the matter to the state police command. In that respect, the matter is under investigation. I don't want to comment on that, but we have reported matter to the police. He initially was evasive. He ran away. But they have asked him to come and give his statement because I don't take such action rightly. It is detrimental to one's safety. I have not committed any crime; I have not done anything personal against him; I have not encroached on his estate or inheritance. The matter is on the Ibibio land and I am an Ibibio. I have the right to contribute to this debate, even though they have failed to discover that I have won the debate. If you look at the matter, they have avoided the substance, going on technicalities. I did not insult anybody. They said I called a particular man 'agriculturist.' No! I gleaned that from the man's profile in the book. Everything that I said I got either from the informants or the book. I did not insult anybody. They should understand that this book is a counterpoise. To some extent, one needed to be forceful in driving home his point, and not being apologetic.
How do the people of Ikot Oku Ikono in Uyo local government area receive your own thesis?
This is what I want you to understand. I did not just wake up one day to do this. And I must tell you that since year 2000, I have been engaging in a research work. In fact the Akwa Ibom hiatory is my core area of interest. I can tell you that there is no part of Akwa Ibom that I have not gone for research. None! That is the truth of the matter. I stored them the information that I used. For instance, the intelligence report that I used such S.T. Harvey's Intelligence Report on Ikono Clan, Ikot Ekpene Division; Intelligence Report of Ikono Clan, Uyo Division and all that, I got them from the national archives in Ibadan since 2009. So it is not that I woke up to write. I continued the research from that time till the 9th of January 2019 when I went for a research in a village known as Mbiabong Ikot Emiang where somebody challenged me in the course of our interaction that if I think that the refuted book is not a true reflection of Ibibio history I should come and do a rejoinder. Then, as I came back, I interacted with a friend, this is because they have pinpointed the point I said somebody ‘instigated’ me as I put it in parenthesis. What I was trying to say is that the person inspired and encouraged me more than any other person. As I came back, I interacted with that friend, and he told me you have to refute this book. I even came out with a book, Efik Origin: A Refutation, by a historian, by Chief Effiong Ukpong Aye, who refuted the work of a medical doctor, Chief Emmanuel Asam, on Efik history. So when that happened, I had to intensify my research and now went to some other places, particularly in Ikono and Ini. The people in Ikono in Uyo local government area are very happy and have applauded what I am doing, because Ikono in Uyo local government area is the ancestral home of the Ibibio. It is the ancestral home of Ikono people that you find in Ikono and Ini local government areas. But can you imagine a situation where three men, non-historians, that were sponsored, distorted such historical fact? And their work has been in circulation for almost 20 years. At a point, I felt that posterity will portray me in a bad light if, as a historian, I ignore this. So I did it as a social responsibility. Nobody sponsored me. None!
So that also responded to the allegation that you were sponsored…
(Cuts in) ... Yes. They said it was a hatchet job. I said in my press statement that they should leave high sounding words and face the substance. Nobody inspired me apart from a friend who had told me directly to refute their work, because he knows that I am doing a bigger work on the common origin of groups in Akwa Ibom. I had buried this aspect, and I did not call it a refutation then, but I had written extensively on it. So when I came back that day, he suggested that I should do a separate work and to look at this issues and counter them for the interest of the Ibibio land and posterity. Immediately he said it, I caught the idea and jumped at it. So it is no hatchet job; it was not meant to undermine any group or disrespect any people or whatever. No! It is the figment of people's imagination.
Don't you feel this work may create more harm than good to inter-group relations in the state base on your discoveries?
No, no! Not at all. This is one of the best things that have happened to Ibibio historiography. I want you to note this: Ibibio, like other Africans didn't know how to read or write until the Advent of the Europeans. So when the Christian missionaries that brought Western education came, they taught us how to read and write. Then the colonial officers came and they started writing on the Ibibio. From there, what we call Ibibio historiography developed, that is, the history of the historical writing. After some times, Ibibio was blessed to have some historians coming into the field: Prof. Monday Benson Abasiattai, Prof. Monday Effiong Noah of the blessed memory, Prof. Dominus Okon Essien, Prof. Okon Edet Uya and others. I want to tell you something. You were in the university and you did a long essay project. You discovered that literature review is indispensable. What is the essence of literature review? It is to bring out the works in the area you are writing on, expose and fill the gaps. In fact whether it is a European that come for a research, he should not think of writing on the Ibibio without bringing to the fore what Prof. Monday Abasiattai said on the Ibibio; what Prof. Monday Effiong Noah said, what Prof. Dominus Essien wrote, what Prof. Okon Edet Uya said on Oron and Ibibio. But I can tell you that the book these men wrote avoided these people's comments. And then you talk of colonial officers that wrote our history such as P.A. Talbot, M.W. Jeffreys, G.I. Jones, Dally Ford, Robert McKeown, and others, they also carefully avoided them. Whenever they cited these people, they misquoted them deliberately and falsified what these people said in order to suit them and to give them the basis to write. I have pointed this out. I understand that they are not historians, that is why they said I insulted them by saying they are not historians. But I'm telling them the truth because a historian knows the importance of evidence; he respects it because he can't write history without evidence. So what I have done is one of the best things that has happened. People have commended me; I don't want to mention names; I have received calls and messages. People have come to say 'thank you, we did not accept that.' Even those writers have said I shouldn't have done a refutation which means they know that I have seen the error. And I said no, I needed to confront this, to expose them and to bring out the truth. A race is more important than an individual, or a particular section. I want you to note that Ikono is just a group in Ibibio land, and they occupy two local government areas. Even the two local government areas they inhabit, there are many other groups that are not Ikono. So how can a section of Ibibio land take the other section to a task like that and leave it as history? No, theirs was a story book.
As a historian, have you felt the interest of Akwa Ibom State government in the preservation of the state's history for posterity?
I don't know the position of government. I do not know. I understand that government has an assistant on Research and Documentation. I don’t know whether his responsibility is on the political matters. To be very honest, I don’t know what the government is doing in that respect. So, I may not comment. I do not feel the impact, maybe they are doing something. But I want to recommend strongly without mincing words that the government should take interest in history, and if the government feel that they should have an assistant on research and documentation, there should also be a historian in the team. And the government should deliberately skew towards the point of preserving the history and the rich culture of the people because no nation grows beyond the knowledge of her history. Most of the problem we have in the state and the nation could have been resolved. In the year 2000, Prof. Ime Ikidde made a very strong recommendation during Ibibio Millennium Converge at Ikot Oku Ikono where all the Ibibio at home and the Diaspora gathered. He told them that there are some aspects of Ibibio history that are missing; that the Ifim Ibom Ibibio should set up a research committee made up of historians, sociologists, anthropologists, linguists, and all that, to study Ibibio and I still reecho that. We should not be lackadaisical towards our history. Not only the government, stakeholders and my colleagues that have abandoned Akwa Ibom studies to do European and American history, although I commend them, should know that there are a lot needed to be done here. I don’t know the stance of government, and I cannot comment but I think they should do something about it because now that the situation has come to this point, it would have been a matter of going to the archives of government and check to know the true position. In any case, I want to inform you that I am not wrong based on the sources that I have cited in my work. In 1956, defunct Ibibio State Union wrote a position paper and presented same as a memorandum to the G.I. Jones’s Commission on the Position, Influence and Status of Chiefs in Eastern Nigeria. It was that commission that recommended the establishment of the House of Chiefs in the Eastern Region which a frontline Ibibio son, Obong Nyong Essien, became the first and the only President of the House of Chiefs from 1960 to 1966. The position of the Ibibio was that, Ikot Oku Ikono was where the people of Ikono, Ukpum, Otoro and other groups dispersed from. The 18 Ikono villages also wrote a position statement to the same commission and reechoed the stance of the Ibibio Union. I can tell you that Asan Ibibio, the headquarters of Akwa Esop Imaisong Ibibio is at Ikot Oku Ikono. And I can tell you that on 31st December, 2018, when the Oku Ibom Ibibio, Etenyin Solomon Etok, was coronated. If you check the profile in the programme of the event, the origin, migration and settlement of Ibibio, which you would find in pages 64 to 68, you would find that it was lifted from a book known as,The Proceeding of Ibibio Union, 1928-1937, written by an erudite Ibibio historian of blessed memory, Prof. Monday Effiong Noah, and was not taken from their so-called story book. If they wanted to make trouble, they should have gone to make trouble with Ifim Ibom Ibibio, and ask him why should you ignore the Ikono Ibom Atai thesis? They should even commend me for doing the right thing. And I still challenge them to a public debate. I challenge these three men or any other person who thinks otherwise to come and debate with me publicly. Even if they wake me up from my sleep, I will debate with them. It is an academic matter; people are laughing saying why should they resort to this. It is childish. Because I have written something and instead of contesting with me in the realm of knowledge or idea, you resort to diabolical means. I am also from part of Ibibio land, and there are monarchs and elites from my place. That is what they don’t know.
What could have been your advice to stakeholders and the public on how to encourage history..?
(Cuts in) … Oh my God. I want to say that history is life. Could you imagine the life a Christian would live without the Bible which is a great history? If you check the life of the children of Israel, each time God had an issue with them, it was at the point where they miss their history. So nobody and no group can move forward if they ignore their history. So the time has come. As I go to the field for research, I would come back to find out that , as we are still talking about the issue of disunity, the people don’t know about our history. Recently, I was in Etim Ekpo where there are 14 Ikono villages. They received me happily and they told me that the place is Ikono and that they migrated from Ibibio land and are known as Ikono Annang, which also means that you have Ikono in Ibibio, and you have Ikono in Oron. So they know that they are a people. It is because we are not studying our history well that is why we still have challenges in the nation building. If we study our history very well it will occur to us that all of us are a people of a common origin.
What do we expect from you again from the area of history in the coming weeks, months or years?
After giving my life to Christ, it is to history (chuckles). As I go to the field day in day out, I feel happy and proud that I made the right choice to choose Akwa Ibom as my area of research and I am encouraged to discover that we are of a common origin. I can tell you that in the days to come if Jesus tarries and give me the grace, related works that would reconstruct and build the state would come from my stable.
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