DISSOLVING THE MYSTERY OF OH UYO! By Torobong EKPO The Town Hall meeting held across the ten Federal Constituencies of the state by Governor Godswill Akpabio is one that will take a long time to fade in the minds of critics and non-critics alike. Of all the 10 Federal Constituencies, the governor, his wife and some selected government officials visited, Uyo Federal Constituency was coded with a multifaceted exclamation that has bewildered political analysts and observers till date. Oh Uyo! Why did the Governor make such an exclamation? Was it supposed to be a curse, blessing or mockery? Known to be a man of many sides, one would have expected the Governor to have also coded other federal constituencies with exclamations like Oh Ikot Ekpene! Oh Abak! Oh Mbo! Oh Oron! Oh Obot Akara! But he never did. Barely a year after Governor Akpabio’s exclamation, Uyo Senatorial District, which many believed should have produced the next Deputy Governor of the state by the principle of zoning, is to be denied of a veritable political position in the state on the platform of Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP). Unfortunately, this wanton discrimination happened during the tenure of Obong Paul Ekpo (Uyo son), as the State Chairman of PDP, Senator Anietie Okon, an ‘inner’ Caucus member of the party, as well as Senator Effiong Bob, who is today state Chairman of the State Reconciliation Committee of PDP. These same ‘leaders’, especially Senator Effiong Bob had threatened fire and brimstone if Uyo is not considered in the scheme of things in 2015, but today, they have reportedly sold the right of their people for a pot of pottage. It is alleged that, their threats and agitations were just for personal gain and selfish interest. In some states of the federation, such betraying attitude would have resulted into loss of lives and properties, but thank God, Akwa Ibom People are peaceful and law abiding. Come to think of it, why will Uyo stay for 16 years without producing a Governor or a Deputy Governor contrary to the norms of the party? Was this the original plan of Obong Victor Attah, when he endorsed the zoning of political positions, particularly the Governorship seat to Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District? Why is the arrangement truncated now that a minority, an Annang, is in charge? These and many more are some of the lingering questions on people’s minds. If this anomaly is not corrected, it is believed that, someday, it will result to tribal enmity. What is Uyo? The word UYO in Ibibio dialect is ambiguous depending on the context it is presented. It means fruit, biscuit, voice and place(s) depending on the stressed syllable and the manner of articulation used by an individual. To a larger extent, it symbolizes a tribe. In Ibibio parlance, Biscuit is called Uyo. African Mango, a fruit is identified as Uyo. In both examples, the second syllable of the word ‘Uyo’ is stressed as in {U‘yio} One’s voice could be said to be ‘Uyo’ in Ibibio dialect if the first syllable is stressed as in {‘Uyo}. In most cases, ‘H’ is added to the last ‘O’, but when articulated, the ‘H’ remains silence. Uyo is also a name of a local government area and the capital city of Akwa Ibom State. Uyo is also the capital of a Senatorial District predominantly owned by the fourth largest tribe in Nigeria. Uyo is the center of political powers in Akwa Ibom State. From the forgoing, it is vivid that Uyo suggests different things but an extensive meaning of the word Uyo, regarding this context, implies that it is a PLACE where IBIBIO is SPOKEN in unity. Since 1990s, till date, Ibibio students in higher institutions, especially in the then Polytechnic, Calabar and the Federal Polytechnic, Oko (my alma mater), nicknamed themselves as ‘Ndito Uyo,’ meaning Uyo’s Children. How the words, ‘Ndito Uyo, gained global acceptance amongst Ibibio students remain a mystery. A mere mentioning of the word, ‘Ndito Uyo’ in those days brought love, unity and accord despite the circumstance. Ibibios were known for unity, accord and oneness. These attitudes of theirs shielded them against enmity, rancor and deadly traps from other fierce tribes. As such, Uyo was extendedly referred to Ibibio people, while the slogan ‘Uyo-for-Uyo’ were meant for Uyo indigenes. Throughout those periods, the Annang people never accepted that they were ‘Ndito Uyo.’ In most cases they rejected the name but accepted ‘Ndito Itai’ State. I could remember my classmate Adede Joseph Idung, whom I accommodated in my apartment, nearly fought with me, because I portrayed the quest of Itai State as selfish. He nearly cut off my head with ‘Uko Annang’ (Machete) simply because I looked down on their demand for Itai State. I can’t also forget the bitterness I went through from Obosi’s father who collected back the money he gave me during his son’s visit simply because he saw me as an Ibibio man. These incidents prompted me to think that even if the Ibibios accommodate the Annangs, the later will always maltreat the former at every given time. For quite sometimes I have not heard the quest for Itai State any longer. Is it because Akwa Ibom State is now governed by an Annang son? On a lighter note, I wish Adede Joseph Idung could critically explain this and as well tell me what ITAI means. Unfortunately, since the exclamation, Uyo/Ibibio appears to be the only tribe that has lost political relevance within the PDP. So far, it has lost three of its political leaders and their supporters to the opposition party, the All Progressive Congress (APC). It is no more news that Obong Sunny Jackson, Dr. Maurice Ebong and Chief Udousoroh, PDP political leaders of Etinan, Uyo and Itu Local Government Areas respectively have long relieved themselves from their various positions in PDP to APC where they are now craving for change. It is only in Uyo that a former chapter chairman of PDP, Hon. Okon Joshua AKA Atiku now becomes the House of Assembly candidate under labour party. Such disparity has not occurred in any of the eight local government areas in Annang land. While Uyo/Ibibio are busy fighting one another, Annang are building skyscrapers and holding mouth watery position in ‘their’ government. Lest I forget, who are the PDP flag bearers in Uyo State and Uyo Federal Constituencies? Are we comfortable with their antecedence? Do they have a clean and decent record? Anyway, that is obiter dictum. I had expected the State Governor or the State Chairman of the party to have briefed the people on the fate of those supporters in Uyo, Etinan and Itu who are wandering like sheep without a shepherd. Instead of doing that, Obong Paul Ekpo is busy telling people how Governor Akpabio brought him from grass to grace. He even went to the extent of saying, “I owe the Governor Akpabio my extreme loyalty.” But should extreme loyalty stop him from settling disputes within his brothers? What of Obong Umana Okon Umana who was disenfranchised, yet he said nothing aside from telling party faithful that “the detractors have been sent out from the party” when Obong Nsima Ekere visited the party secretariat, a couple of days the DECREE was issued by the People’s DEMOCRATIC Party. Politicians have in various tabloids described Obong Paul Ekpo as ingrate noting that, the kind of love Obong Umana Okon Umana showed him in the State Executive Council and when he was sick should have prompted him to reciprocate it when his party disenfranchised the former SSG. Abuja residents had accused the state chairman of biting the finger that fed him, adding that, Obong Sunny Jackson contributed immensely to his present attainment in life, thereby wondering why he should have ignored Obong Jackson (His Uncle0, who nurtured and bred him since from infant but now listen to the governor. I lack jargons to describe him, I think that a man who deliberately ignores the plight of his uncle and his elder brother, who I think contributed to his position as the state chairman of the party is shortsighted. I still wonder what could have made the party, under Obong Paul Ekpo, to sign a communiqué endorsing power shift to Eket Senatorial District without demanding deputy seat for Uyo Senatorial District. If power was zoned on senatorial district, then Uyo Senatorial District should have produced a deputy. If it was zoned on tripod arrangement, then Oro should have been given a time to produce a governor, while the Ibibios produces a deputy. I wish Paul Ekpo can justify the basis of superimposing a supposed paramount ruler, from Abak Federal Constituency as a running mate to ‘somebody’. In this arrangement, chaired by an Ibibio man, I think Paul Ekpo has succeeded to prove that Ibibio are the cause of Ibibio problem. That is all. It goes a long way to show that a typical Ibibio man is an enemy of his fellow brother’s progress. A clear interpretation of an adage that says “Ibibio imaga idem,” (the Ibibio do not like themselves). I still doubt if an Annang, Oro, Obolo, Ekid or Ibeno man would have done that to his fellow brother. The above adage also became real when it was alleged that Senator Effiong Bob was barred from his third term bid by his own kinsmen, the Ibibio. Another report has it that Senator John Udoedehe’s Governorship ambition was truncated by his own people. Ambassador Sam Edem; Bishop Sam Akpan, and Obong Ufot Ekaete, elders who took Governor Akpabio’s ambition as a sacred duty, were victims of “Ibibio imaga idem.” Who knows if those Ibibio kidnapping and assassinated victims were related to Ibibios hatred for one another? Over the years, the unity and brotherliness that existed between the Ibibio is gradually deteriorating. Some people assert that a typical Ibibio man is proud, cocky and will at all time, wants to be the only cock that crows. If this is true, then our next generation must change. Unfortunately, throughout Governor Akpabio’s reign in office, Uyo (the Ibibio) have somehow benefitted from the present administration yet none of the benevolence could be compared to the loss and enmity created within these years. The assassination of the Paramount Ruler of Nsit Ubium, Nsobom Robert Obot, cannot be compared to controversial pipe jacking drainage system and the appointment of Nsit Ubium indigene as Secretary to the State Government. Neither could the E-Library in Uyo be compared to the killing of the mother of a one Governorship aspirant, Iniekong Udonwa. What could you compare the Uyo stakeholders, Submarine and Mbota, who were assassinated in their home, with? Research shows that, the Ibibios who were victims of assassination, kidnapping, blackmailing can never be compared to that of Annang brothers. The ratio, according to internet reports is 93:1. I am not inciting any tribe, but it behooves on everyone including the IGBOs to query, why are the Ibibio victims of these social menace which coincide with the present administration? When Dr. Udoma Bob Ekarika gave a revealing Interview about Governor Akpabio, nobody regarded it. But in that interview he, Dr. Ekarika, accused Governor Akpabio, saying “he confidentially told me in 2006 that will maltreat and marginalize the Ibibio if he becomes the Governor.” I am not saying this statement is connected to the travails of the Ibibio in the past eight years. I am only trying to dissolve the mystery of “Oh Uyo! If we must tell ourselves the truth, our conscience will tell us that the Ibibio are not, may never be, in the scheme of things. How many Ibibio were employed in the last Civil Service Recruitment exercise? The mystery of Oh Uyo! Who decorates the streets of Uyo during festive period? Who appoints the Council Chairmen in the nine Local Government Areas that made the Senatorial District? Who brought a controversial ‘Lagosian’ to come and disrupt the peace, unity and love that existed within the party and the various tribes in the state? Who nominated all the purported PDP Candidates in the controversial primaries across the state? Who slapped and manhandled the Ibibio Lawmaker in Annang land? Who closed down Ibibio Plaza and opened Annang plaza? Within the many questions are hidden solutions to the Governor Akpabio’s mystery of Oh Uyo!
Posted on: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 22:12:22 +0000
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