RE: Open Letter to Attah by Okpulum Etteh Oduduabasi Response to Okpulum Etteh: Mr. Okpolupm Etteh, That you would write your treatise as a rejoinder to the published congratulatory message which Ibibio People’s Union wished our National Leader, Obong Victor Attah, on the occasion of his being celebrated by the Ibibio people as their leader, indicates a certain sense of misgiving albeit fear, by you; on what you expect the Ibibio may do, in response to the yet unsolved and unanswered atrocities committed against them by the government and its officials, of which you are a major player. Worse, it indicates your expectations of Obong Victor Attah as National Leader of the Ibibio People. Let me lay your mind at ease – you are from Upenekang yet a member of Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, though you do not claim to be Ibibio. Follow that same reasoning, and understand that Obong Attah is National Leader of the Ibibio people and a citizen of our great State, Akwa Ibom. “I am confident that the reception by the Ibibios will not be construed as or made to have the colouration of limiting your leadership or beclouding your reknown detribalised pan-Akwa Ibom philosophy” – Okpolupm Etteh. Your statement, quoted above, is not only distasteful, but smirks of tribal sentiments directed against the Ibibio people - sentiments which you profess to abhor! You have testified that Obong Victor Attah united the State under his leadership when he was governor. Well, then, if you trusted him then, to carry out what you call the “Akwa Ibom Project”; what would make you trust him less after his people decided to make him National Leader of the Ibibio People? Are you against the notion of making him National Leader of the Ibibio people, or are you against the Ibibio people? In truth your fears are not rooted in what Obong Attah or the Ibibio people will do to negatively affect your so-called Akwa Ibom Project. Your fears are rooted in the fact that over these many years the people have found out that as a politician you speak with both sides of your mouth. This explains your fears, which are misguided and misdirected as far as Obong Attah and the Ibibio people are concerned. You ought to really take a good look at yourself; and at your ideas and plans for carrying out the “Akwa Ibom Project”. Why do I say that? It is this - fear of the Ibibio people is triggered in you (and in others, who may tow your line of reasoning) by the things which people like you in the State House of Assembly, wielding power, authority, and influence, failed to do and failed to say under this dispensation; when Ibibio people were being kidnapped, murdered, and wrongfully prosecuted. Can you, Okpolupm Etteh, point to one instance in which you condemned the atrocities directed against mainly the Ibibio people in Akwa Ibom State under your government? Can you point to that bill which you crafted, as a member of the House of Assembly, which sought solution to the murders and the persecution of the Ibibio people? It is gratifying to us, the Ibibio people; and we are proud that an Ibibio son, Obong Victor Attah, is the main reason in your acknowledgement that many years after; (the governorship of Obong Victor Attah?); “instead of a united front, we are becoming a divided house”. Whose fault is that? I know that you will not answer this question – you did not attempt any answers when the insecurity started, and you are not attempting any answers now, because you continue to speak with both sides of your mouth. The truth of the matter is that many of you, who see yourselves as different from the Ibibio, are equally as guilty as the perpetrators of the insecurity which the Ibibio people have suffered under the administration; because of your silence. And to be fair, Ibibio people who benefitted in the insecurity and persecution directed against their kith and kin, belong in that same guilty group. “But by grace of God, some of us have joined you to be the rallying point for the unity of this State” – Okpolupm Etteh. Have you, Mr. Etteh, really joined Obong Attah “to be the rallying point for the unity” of our State? If you make that claim, it is hard to believe that you lived in Akwa Ibom State for the past seven-plus years. When and where did you rally for the unity of our State, as a prominent member of our State House of Assembly? What examples did you set, by words or by actions, which set you apart from the rest, as a unifying point for our unity? Now you know why I repeat the refrain- you are a politician; you speak with both sides of your mouth!! “I am from Upenekang, headquarters of Ibeno Local Government Area; my mother is from Obio Itak in Ikono Local Government Area, the acclaimed Ntippe Ibibio” - Okpolupm Etteh. No one can deny you that right. No one can disagree with your heritage. It is God-given. However, since you are “happy to be a distinguished eyeyin”, it is hoped that you understand the sacredness that exists between grandchild and grandparents. Would you now say that your silence over what has been happening to your grandparents, under the government of which you are a prominent member, has strengthened or weakened that sacred relationship? You pointed one finger at Obong Attah and at the Ibibio people for making him their National Leader; to whom do your other four fingers point, now? Lastly, I noticed that you added the title of “Hon” to your name, as indeed you should as a member of the House of Assembly. I have deliberately chosen not to address you by that title, not because I mean insult to you or to your title, but because that title is supposed to be added to the names of men and women who are truly “Honorable” in the discharge of their civic duties to the members of their communities. In the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, none of you, the members, deserve that title to your name – you have done the exact opposite of what that title suggests by serving your own interests and the interests of Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio, to the detriment of the people. That is sufficient to haunt you; not what the Ibibio or Obong Victor Attah might do, as National Leader of the Ibibio people. Oduduabasi
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 08:23:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015