“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds” – Albert Einstein.
Einstein took me aback with the above quote, at what he must have suffered in the hands of people who rather than get encouraged to pull through his lofty ideas that in the end have become a pricey utility, even for his worst doubters, paid no mind to what was targeted as a distraction. Scorns and vituperation notwithstanding, the electricity he invented is there for everyone to use.
This violent opposition from mediocre minds against the Akwa Ibom State Governor Mr. Udom Emmanuel reminds me that a sluggard and lazy man earn very little of insults and criticism, since he is already written off as one who cannot engender any beneficial change. Little wonder that Edwin Louis Cole may have referred to men in the ilk of the governor as excellent men when he said “mediocre men work at their best; men seeking excellence strive to do better”
No matter how much time has changed and how this old tactics no longer serve its purpose, a post mortem on this senseless opposition and blackmail takes its root from a conviction that seeks to preserve the status quo, the Governor’s only crime is moving to replace hooliganism with responsibility by running a government where everyone is a stakeholder.
Like Jesus Christ went in for Barnabas, a section of paid agents have risen against Governor Emmanuel, who is not vilified for erring, but for daring to set a new narrative for Akwa Ibom State, which is clearly averse with the thinking of people who would rather condemn the us to eternal servitude.
Unfortunately, the very sponsor of the yellow page media against Governor Emmanuel is a man who has been convicted of every evil God never intended for humanity, and in ways innumerable has done no less than the devil to enshrine a culture of impunity that is alien to our society, the very type we used to read in storybooks.
Patriotism means nothing to the beneficiary of the blackmail rendezvous against Akwa Ibom people as they have in their sojourn never considered a thing that was not totally about them. For them it is me, me, me, and none else, a clear case of what has given impetus to Nsima Ekere’s life of savage and vendetta.
I most time dare to ask when being an MD of a failed federal commission became a nursery for gubernatorial ambition, I also ponder a state that would surrender her future to a never-do-well manager in a recessed economy like Nigeria, when other states are considering smarter choices like Governor Udom Emmanuel.
The aphorism “Udom is right” used during the campaigns may have been a slogan, but time has proven that there never could have been a better option, considering the landmark achievements of the governor that has placed the state on an advantaged spot in several endeavours that have sustained the acclaim.
At the risk of sounding immodest, Nsima Ekere’s life in public service calls to questioning the needless smear campaign on the image of Governor Emmanuel. It has attacked every rational thought as all of his paid media agents are yet to establish how well the NDDC governor fared in business, social and political endeavour beyond blackmail, vituperation and lies.
Truth be told, Udom Emmanuel has no business joining Ekere’s politics of mud pelting, having attained the progress that took him through the rungs of his engagement in the corporate world to attain mastery in administration and management (human and resources). This feat should ordinarily get Ekere under him as an intern, if the Niger Delta region must make any gain from his leadership of the commission.
His desperation to haphazardly mend his battered image, has earned him more troubles than he could ever have imagined. From the series of miseries that have befallen him, it is not hard to deduce that who the gods wish to punish, he first make them lose their sanity, such that they seem not to recognize when trouble looms…the very trouble that has fueled his misguided guber ambition.
How do we allow calamity a second chance in our political history? Were we not in this state when this same character desperately wanted to be Deputy Governor, an ambition that got him to work, blackmailing then occupant of the office and kinsman, Engr. Patrick Ekpotu, out of envy and hatred in a move that sought to present him as one who knew how better to deputize.
Hurriedly he rode on blackmail and lies to become Deputy Governor, but more hurriedly than could be imagined, he ran away from the office, resigning his position and putting forth himself as one who would readily abdicate a responsibility rather than brave the odds and conquer his fears. One would do nothing else than ask what will become of the state when a man known for throwing in the towels is at the helm of affairs, while praying he does not in his characteristic manner resign his position as MD, NDDC.
What can Nsima Ekere honestly say was his achievement in office as Deputy Governor apart from an attempt to cause disaffection and polarise the unity and strength of purpose that hitherto existed in the polity? Is it not despicable to imagine that a man who abandoned an injured staff who was involved in an accident that led to an amputation would not bat an eyelid in abandoning his people?
If this would be your first time of hearing he abandoned a certain staff of his, you may make do to ask our newfound Saint Nsima Ekere about one Emmanuel Ikot from Ibiono Ibom, who was involved in a ghastly accident that led to the amputation of his both legs, while serving the NDDC boss in active capacity. In the light of this cruelty, one could have expected Ekere to have assisted Ikot when he was made Deputy Governor, when help for his accident-victim servant became a far cry.
Ikot Abasi Local Government may never recover from the negativity of the November 18, 2009 Council dissolution, caused by Ekere’s overbearing and unabated interferences in the council’s activities including its finance; when he subjected the then chairman, Dr. John Ekott to mindless servitude to the chagrin of key stakeholders in the area, which led to the crisis that brought that administration to an abrupt end.
The recent accident at Esene junction may not be anything far from a ritual, as he is reported to have previously been involved in accidents that claimed lives on the same spot some years ago. This buttresses that the denial and lies that greeted his most recent road mishap may not have been unconnected with the need to subvert the truth that presented Esene people as his eternal victim.
A man who cannot be honest about an accident scene can never be trusted with resources of the state, a case study of how he has plundered finances of the NDDC to all time low ebb, where everything has been politicized and quality compromised to nurture an ill-fated guber ambition.
Raising an army of blackmailers against Governor Emmanuel has become the most unsuccessful sojourn of his political misadventure as no one can curse whom God has blessed. He has time and again tried out his unsuccessful enterprise of vices on people who faced him squarely. Recall his tantrums against the member for Ikot Abasi Federal Constituency in the National assembly, Hon. Francis Uduyok, where his antics were roundly defeated.
Today we see light rise against evil, with evil seeking to advance a deal in misleading the people to think he has solutions to their problems when he is actually the cause of the problem.
Samuel Ayara writes from Ibong Otoro in Abak Local Government Area.
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