Emem Nkereuwem
For the past months, I have spent time reminiscing over the state of our country, the nature of our political space and the peculiarity of the actors in the space. My focus anchors on the eternal lessons of Easter.
The symbolism of Easter is a great illumination to humanity as it provides an opportunity for spiritual rejuvenation and self-appraisal. To wit, the profound lessons of the sacrifice, the silent suffering, death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is one of the most humbling reflections of our salvation. The sobriety of Easter is sublime and remains timeless. Consequently for a Christian faithful, it connotes the personal journeys we may sometimes undertake to submit to our mortality.
While some may bear their crosses in the solitude of their souls, some by virtue of their stature may bear their crosses under the full scrutiny of the public. Of course with the virtual liberty of the social media, there truly can be no end to the taunting of those whose public crosses outweigh their roses. In this virtual world, every man is his god. He can create, deconstruct, fire and run. It is here that you can embrace love, hate, indifference or ambivalence.
Now, here is the kernel of my discourse: Akpabio’s trials and triumphs. It is here in the virtual space that the erstwhile Governor of Akwa Ibom State, a former Senate Minority leader, Godswill Akpabio has embraced both fame and infamy. It was here that his traducers sang his nunc dimitis in 2019. At that time, Akpabio the enigmatic man of valour, a man with an unusual and infectious magnetism became like a mere mortal, suffering as it were some of the indignities that are reserved for those whose families and friends forsook at the 11th hour. This was Godswill’s Golgatha.
Akpabio arrived at Golgotha with his head bowed and a heart heavy with the complexity of his new reality. It was a time for some sober reflection on the transience of power, of our existence and the reality of the only permanence being God. Willy-nilly the superman with the phenomenal charisma was made to kiss the sour dust.
I imagine that his traducers may have held some classic cocktail party clinking glasses of vintage cognacs and exotic wines. I imagine that the revelry would have excited not a few gentlemen to some rapturous realm. Such was the euphoric ecstasy from the ones he once wined, dined and uncommonly transformed!
But like the proverbial cat with nine lives, he bounced far more circumspect than before. He had just returned from the school of political wisdom. He kept his peace and crept literally under the arm of God. He had lost his bid to return to the Senate for the second time. My Ijebu friend who was conversant with the milestones of the Uncommon Transformation called me to share his shock, ‘‘Sister, una no try at all. Why una do Akpabio like dat?’’
Me: “How? Abi na mi bi di returning ofisa? Abeg no come join mi for matter wey no concern agbero.’’
Ijebu man: ‘‘Ebi like say some of una people no dey like beta ting. Abi una bi winche”? And the man went into deep lamentations and finally concluded, ‘‘e go take una many years before una get dat kind man.’’
Looking back now, whilst Akpabio’s defeat then was both a product of conspiratorial alliance by his erstwhile friends and the gods, the celestial orbit of life’s ebbs and tides may have also been at work. This was very sobering. Akpabio’s odyssey at his political Golgotha was both instructive and humbling. It is the stuff epic historical films are made of.
I liken some of the events that culminated into this classic denouement as those that happened the night Jesus was kissed by Judas. The Judas, “kiss is the kiss of death.” As if that was not enough, when Jesus was beaten and spat at while being led to the cross, Peter who had hitherto sworn to stand by his Master till the end capitulated when a certain young girl identified him as the disciple of Jesus. Three times, Peter was accused as being a disciple of Christ, three times Peter denied Jesus. Three times the cock crowed exactly as Jesus had predicted. Only then did Peter realise that he had truly fumbled. In today’s slang we would have said; ‘’Peter fall Jesus hand big time.’’ Akpabio’s erstwhile friends had turned themselves into his fanatical foes proving that the relationship they had was transactional. Kinda cash and carry.
Then boom the revellers gathered again in the 2023 general elections. They raised a legion of propaganda. Akpabio’s undiminished profile was troubling enough that the generalissimos and their choir men returned with more ferocious strategies. They crafted songs and foretold the political retirement of Akpabio with the sadistic allusion of him retiring to Ukana to play ‘nsá isóng’ (local ludo usually played by children).
The plot was ringed with a lot of perceived heavy weight actors backed with a litany of logistical arsenal. No stone was to be left unturned! Not even dollars! This was going to be GOA’s political final nunc dimitis. But that was not to be. The gods had roused! This was February 25/2/2023. The tides had changed. The tables had turned. This was the opportune time. It was divine. Still is. No man could rock this special boat. Akpabio’s landslide win was won on the credo of service and his philosophy of “love thy neighbor as thyself.” As a governor, he had shown that power is transient as it belongs to the people. That the scorecard of leaders is often equated to the judgement of the people they served. Senator Akpabio’s scorecard was his passport to his return to the Senate. This was the divinely appointed time. As Jah people say “no one could stop da reggae.”
But I will pause and look back on the encounter I had with the then Ntisong Ibibio the 3rd in 2016. Here is the preamble. The 2015 General election had finished and Governor Udom Emmanuel was sworn in some months before my visit. It was an opportunity for me to poke his mind and share some of the events that took place in Eket Local Government Council on the day Godswill Akpabio presented his then SSG, Udom Emmanuel as his anointed candidate. Akpabio had earlier gone round some Federal Constituencies soliciting support for his preferred.
Meanwhile, the opposition party had very intimidating presence. Obong Okon Umana, the governorship candidate of APC was not a man one could wish away. He had been a great ally of Akpabio until that moment of chasm came. But the rotational code of the 2015 elections was realistically for Eket Senatorial District. So, it was almost going to be political hari-kari for future governorship elections in the State. Anything otherwise was going to be a complete truncation of the tripodal, rotational principle. The centre was definitely not central anymore. So, supporters of both titans had pitched their tents where they desired. The political battle line had been drawn.
By the way, that particular election was an election like none other. The opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had given PDP a good run for their money. Like the rock of Gibraltar, APC fired their political salvo from all cylinders. Akpabio was literally in a race that was closely as fierce as when he ran for the top job as a governor in 2007 with a coterie of 58 aspirants including the son-in-law to the then Governor, Obong Victor Attah.
Like 2007, like 2015. The town hall meeting in Eket which had in attendance major stakeholders and other class of politicians was an avenue to persuade both supporters and the “doubting Thomases” to join the new band. Udom Emmanuel was the beautiful bride. As most town hall meetings are wont to be, key stakeholders were given the opportunity to lend their voices to the endorsements of the preferred. Obong Ekidem rose to speak and anchored his thoughts on being a father to all Akwa Ibom sons and daughters irrespective of their party affiliations. He spent some time enunciating his neutrality as belonging to everybody. Then out of the blues, the ecstatic crowd of supporters burst into frenetic chants “say Udom…Udom…Udom…” The chants had become like a deafening whirlwind. Like a volcanic eruption, it took His Excellency Godswill Akpabio some while to calm the restive crowd. Against all odds, the rest as they say is written in the annals of 2015-2023.
But here is the real kernel of my encounter with Obong Ekidem in 2016. As our conversation tapered off into politics, I sought his thoughts on his reaction at the Eket Town hall meeting a year earlier. I wanted to feel his reaction to what may have obviously been a very uncomfortable scenario for him. Then I got the shocker of my life! He said, Godswill Akpabio visited him that same day in the thicket of the night to offer his apologies for the embarrassment that transpired earlier in the day.
Then Obong Ekidem capped it by saying and I quote “Akpabio may not be perfect, but he is a great leader, an Akwa Ibom son, our own son. We may never have a man like him in my lifetime.” He went further to nail his thoughts by narrating the efforts Godswill made to ensure Udom’s emergence including going on his knees to get him to endorse Udom. ‘‘No Ibibio man would get to the point of surrendering to the indignities (kneeling) to get endorsement for even himself.’’ This conversation was in 2016 and still as fresh.
Like a meteor, Godswill Akpabio’s phenomenal ascendance is like a fairy tale. He has been to Golgatha through trials that could have eclipsed minions. He has survived battles that transient giants fret at. He has been bruised, battered yet undeterred. He has survived storms like the proverbial cat with nine lives. He has embraced his cross with equanimity and walked through the lonely road to Golgotha unbowed. He has shone like a candle to many on a darkling night and gave water to the thirsty pilgrim. His charisma, sagacity, warmth, candour and humanity have put him in a stead far above some power men on the block.
While talented petitioners and other detractors are wondering what next bait to throw, Godswill Akpabio is flying on the wings of God. By the way, a life without trials and triumphs is a life yet unprepared. I liken the 2019 as a divine act. Godswill had to stop over at Golgota to embrace the shock and reality of the lonely road.
Then in 2023, God had fully prepared him for the onerous task ahead. This can be ascribed symbolically as the return to Jerusalem. The return to the place of hope. It is a return to the regeneration of altruistic service, love for people and a litany of uncommon leadership he is known for.
The words Ntisong Ekidem said many years ago has manifested in his (Ntisong Ekidem’s) lifetime. Godswill Akpabio’s journey is all scripted in the palms of his creator. Life is a script. Like moths are drawn to light, so are friends and foes drawn to Godswill. He is on the cusp of history as the wave of support for his Senate President aspiration soars. His legendary courage inspired by an unfathomable grace has led him this far and hopefully beyond.
As we wait with bated breath for the crowning of our dear son as the President of the 10th Senate, may the heavens and prayers of people of goodwill guide him through in Jesus name.
Nkereuwem is a public Affairs analyst
