In recent times, the good governor of Akwa Ibom state, His Excellency Obong Godswill Akpabio has been deluged with praise singers both at home and abroad. He has been inundated with sycophants who have praised him to high heavens, commended him for building roads and completing abandoned projects. What these praise singers have not told him is that it is expected of him to build roads. If he does not build roads then what would he spend the $2 Billion state budget on?
On completion of abandoned projects, we could first debate if such projects were abandoned in the first place. Just because a former governor could not complete the construction of a particular project within 4 years of his term does not mean the project was abandoned. If we retain this mental attitude, then we will not be able to deliver ambitious projects like London’s Heathrow terminal 5, which was conceptualized in 1989 but completed 17 years later in 2006! And became operational two years later in 2008!!!!
We will always have praise singers and jesters in the king’s court, but the danger lies where the king takes his jesters too seriously especially the one who keeps telling him that he will conquer all his enemies. The king should however keep close that jester who once in a while reminds the king that he has a large nose and his ears might be a bit too small!!!
For all the praise singers, I have only advice for His Excellency Godswill Akpabio - Remember Abacha's wife. I was a fresh university graduate when I went to Abuja to look for work. I was told that to get anything in Abuja you must belong to the Kanu led youth for Abacha club. Every young person in Abuja was talking about the first family, the first lady, Abacha the redeemer, the savior, the man with the cap that fits etc. And every single visible space was filled with his pictures and that of his wife. Just like AKS is filled with yours now. I left Abuja convinced that I could not do a civil service job. I was not created for such levels of ass licking.
Barely a month after my Abuja trip, Abacha died. Across the country young people went on the streets to celebrate. People closed down streets and partied till daybreak. The next morning Abuja was in confusion. But I will never forget the statement attributed to Mrs. Abacha (reported by the various youth leaders who rushed to Aso Rock to console the first family) ' So Nigerians Hated Us this Much'. That is what she said.
Your Excellency Sir you shall live a long and prosperous life to serve your people. Your story is one of a man who has overcome great adversity to achieve outstanding leadership. You have been given a unique opportunity in history. Your story is a consolation to every struggling mother in Ibibio land. People say 'That was the son the family rejected, if he can be governor, then my child will be something in this life'. When we hear your story how you struggled with lack but held on to your believe in education and kept going to school even when all odds were against you, we are encouraged to keep striving for literacy. We admire you Sir for promoting free education in our state and we are encouraged by your advocacy for relief for pregnant women, children and the elderly by providing free health care to this vulnerable group of people. Your audacity to stand against and win the mighty political machinery and the conventional wisdom in Nigeria that the incumbent leader (governor or president) is the only one that can anoint his successor, proved that indeed democracy has come to stay in our land and we will keep improving the process and continually reap the benefit of having a form of government that is of the people, by the people and for the people.
In this brief discuss, you can see Sir that history has already painted you in a good light and you shall be remembered fondly by many. Yet Sir, your falling under the spell of sycophants will undo all this good work. Cloak yourself with the humility of Fashola. Put your nose to the grindstone. Hire a few real critics especially those who live in Nigeria. People whose job it is to tell you on a daily basis the truth…… That you are not doing enough considering the billions that enters the covers of AKS on a daily basis. That creating a privileged class of people who are personal Assistants (PA) to a PA who is a PA to a PA of the PA who is the governor's PA is not empowerment. It is enriching people without allowing them create value and it is a sheer waste of human talent not to speak of the state money!!!
And you will do well Sir to hold a town hall meeting to address those young folks that pelted you with pure water sachets. They I believe have an answer to how you can win our hearts again. We AKS people want to love you, we connect with your story and we believe in you but we think that you are wasting time and resources campaigning for a second term while leaving the work of the first undone. Execute the Mandate that we gave you. Write your name in the sands of history of our state and our nation, as a minority in Nigeria, I understand the challenges you face as a minority in AKS. But dear Sir times have changed. The youths will deliver the votes and we don’t care about Ibibio or Annang, we don’t even understand what it means, we care about our future and a lasting legacy and dear Sir contrary to whatever your praise singers will tell you, in AKS the great governors of our state still remain: Dr. Clement Isong and Idongesit Nkanga.
You need to up your game to be included in this list and you will not achieve this feat by plastering your face across the landscape of our land and the praise songs of sycophants is a dirge in the ears of the citizenry.
God bless Akwa Abasi Ibom State and Long Live the Federal Republic Of Nigeria.
