My attention has been drawn to a story in a local tabloid, Community Pulse of Thursday, 16th January, 2014, with a caption, “Message to Mkpat Enin people: Stone Ekong Sampson with Rotten Eggs”.
Mr. Ubong Sampson in the main, said that Barr. Sampson has not developed any person, attracted any project to Mkpat Enin or held any constituency briefing/meetings.
Expectedly, spontaneous reactions and condemnations have followed such baseless claims and generalizations. Even an editor of the Weekend Community Pulse, Mr. Paulinus Nta, in his writing in the said tabloid on Monday 20th January, 2014 on page 3 with the caption, No…Not Ekong Sampson, protested: “In as much as it is usual especially in this part of the world to maliciously malign public office holders for one reason or the other, it is instructive to note that malicious attacks and outright falsehood are antithesis to the development theory of mass communication.
The mass media are saddled with the responsibility of informing, educating and entertaining the people. People, therefore, have unquestionable regards to what is published on the newspaper or other mass media”.
I would have ordinarily passed Mr. Ubong Sampson’s work for one of such letters of the season particularly if one should go by his last question, asking to confirm the speculation whether the Onomkpoinam Mkpat Enin is truly eyeing the Ikot Abasi Federal Constituency seat. It will not be difficult to know the cause of the attack and probably those behind it. In case you are still wondering why I should be the one to supply facts based on available records to the malicious publication, the reasons are not farfetched. I have served in his office both as Chairman, Mkpat Enin Local Government Area and as member, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly.
I owe the reading public a duty of putting these records straight as a witness without running the risk of being seen as giving credence to a spurious and unsubstantiated publication. Well, my brother, the way things are going in our polity, one might be easily forced to imbibe the wrong spirit. Has it not become the order of the day that only when we insult or stone our leaders with rotten eggs that we will be tagged as progressives. I Know you and your co-travellers certainly know where Barr. Sampson lives.
Has he brought in dogs to stop you from seeing him? Because, from what I know of the honourable member of the State House of Assembly, he sees everyone who comes to his house. I would have joined others to applaud you if in your bad verses, you had mentioned an occasion where you advised or confronted him to act positively for the good of Mkpat Enin people before this writing. For record purposes and for the benefit of the reading public, let me state as follows:-
Rt. Hon. Ekong Sampson organized an unprecedented 4-day event to mark his 2009 Constituency Briefing which opened with a Thanksgiving Service on Sunday 13th December, 2009 at the Mount Zion Full Gospel Church, Mkpat Enin, Mkpat Enin Local Government Area. The next day, 14th December 2009 was the flag-off of free medical services at Health Centre, Ikot Idiong, where more than 300 patients were treated for free. You may well confirm from the Ministry of Health, Uyo, because the then Honourable Commissioner herself did the flag-off. On the third day, the member and his always rich convoy inspected his projects across the four clans of Mkpat Enin LGA, including the only good classroom block at Ikot Akpa Ekop, an impoverished community where oil was first discovered in Nigeria. On the fourth day, four water projects, which he personally funded, were commissioned for the four Clan Heads of the council area.
The briefing which doled out scholarships and bursary to students and placed many youths of the Local Government Area in skills of their choice came to an end with the first ever Mkpat Enin Heroes Lecture anchored by late Professor M. P. Akpan. The maiden edition of the periodical, Mkpat Enin in Focus was also presented by the late legendary Hon. Joe Udobia, while the respected Chief Richard Umoren, Chairman, Mkpat Enin Elders Forum, chaired the event.
Two years later, the lawmaker followed it up with an interaction in the same Mkpat Enin Unity Hall where over 100 students were presented with cheques for their scholarships and bursary, and mobilized another set of youths for their skills acquisition training. Barr. Ekong Sampson is a most visible face in Mkpat Enin as a grass rooter, regularly holding strategic meetings and interactions with sections of his people – traditional rulers, party chieftains, youths and women groups.
The most recent of such meetings was held on December 30, 2013 in Mkpat Enin just after the lawmaker had presented five more vehicles free to his constituents, quietly, as it is not in his nature to advertise his philanthropy.
Some of the beneficiaries of Barr. Sampson’s largesse are sound professionals and up-coming entrepreneurs in the council area. His educational support programmes are not limited to students in Nigerian universities as he also supports some schooling abroad.
Ironically, the same Community Pulse has in some previous editions carried reports of Barr. Sampson’s projects and empowerment programmes. Interestingly, the same Community Pulse of Thursday 16th January, 2014, on page 4 carried the story on Ikpa Ikono Clan Centre (Asan Iffe) inauguration, a project Barrister Ekong Sampson has personally funded.
The cerebral parliamentarian continuously engages in quietly impacting his constituents probably to suit his modest nature and lifestyle. If I may ask, who do you think built the Ukpum Minya Hall at Ikot Ekpuk, the Ikpa Ikono Clan Centre at Iffe, the Health Centre at Odoroikot, the market stalls at Okpudo market? What about the vehicles marked ESEP, who bought them for the youths of Mkpat Enin, plus countless other vehicles the Onomkpoinam has freely donated virtually on a monthly basis?
In 2009 Barr. Ekong Sampson donated a whopping ten million naira (N10,000,000.00) to Ekong Sampson Empowerment Program (ESEP) for a range of socio-economic upliftment activities for the people of Mkpat Enin LGA. The Committee invested a chunk of this money in procuring highly subsidized vehicles which still ply different routes in the State today. Through this initiative, some youths in Mkpat Enin are now proud commercial vehicle owners – which has helped them to earn a living. Apart from the ESEP cars, Ekong Sampson has donated free vehicles to countless elders, youths and women almost on a monthly basis in his usual quiet philanthropy. This is apart from the many youths he has opened thriving businesses for. Must a trumpet be blown when one gives to his constituents? How did Mkpat Enin – Ikot Etefia Minya road find its way into Akwa Ibom State budget for a number of years? The work of a ghost, I suppose. Good enough, recently the Governor has given a commitment to link the road to Ikot Abasi Local Government Area. This is the only road constructed in Mkpat Enin since 1982. Is it possible to satisfy everyone even as Ubong Pendusky states in his Facebook account, “A man would do nothing if he wait(s) to do it well that no one will find fault (in) what he has done.”
Do we now castigate a man, who in one fell swoop donated cars to all the Clan heads in Mkpat Enin LGA, some of who used to go on motorbikes. A man who facilitated electricity projects in Ikot Ayan, Ikot Osung Otuk, Ikot Unya, Ikot Abasi Obio Nkan, Iffe, and Minya (where he personally handed over two transformers in 2007). There is no clan in Mkpat Enin that Barr. Sampson has not touched either in human development or through projects. When he was Head of Council of Mkpat Enin, he lived among his people in Mkpat Enin, just to deliver quality service to his people. How many local government chairmen do this today? There is no doubt – and this may be to the discomfort of his opponents - that Barr. Ekong Sampson is firmly on ground, politically.
He is the darling of the youth groups, the PDP which he has been funding for many years now, the elders and women groups, many of whom he assist routinely. Indeed, Ekong Sampson’s strong influence in Mkpat Enin draws from his good deeds. That is why he wins election in Mkpat Enin and will also win in 2015, if he chooses to run for a higher office despite the ill-feelings of some sponsored elements. The Superstructure, Barr. Ekong Sampson’s political group which he founded in 2001 remains the most formidable political machine in Mkpat Enin and a veritable vehicle for political power for many in the area.
I do not think Hon. Sampson will stop doing his good works whether he briefs you or other people like you. It is instructive to place on record too that he - Sampson, initiated and championed the construction of the PDP office in Mkpat Enin where he donated two million naira (N2,000,000.00) to kick-start the project. Before I forget a very important issue, many indigenes of the LGA have gained employment in both private and public sectors in this country through his recommendations and connections. On his own, more than 100 motorcycles have been bought and shared to our youths.
Permit me to mention in this piece what you did not ask for; that is, does Ekong Sampson make useful contributions in the parliament. To this I will state without contradictions that the man famously called “The Compendium” in the House because of his breadth and depth has acquitted himself very well. For the State University at Ikot Akpaden to come up, he had to raise a local University Liaison Committee headed by the respected Clan Head of Ikpa Ibom, Etebom P.N.J Udoh. It was the Committee that worked to protect the interest of Mkpat Enin as a host community of the University. Barr. Sampson also sponsored bills for the establishment of the Customary Court of Appeal, worked on the critical components of the Child Rights Law and of course, the Local Government Administration Bill, which has successfully passed through second reading.
Let me advise that we in Mkpat Enin should learn to keep sentiments aside and commend he that deserves commendation. Ekong Sampson has tried. Indeed, he deserves commendation. Onomkpoinam Ekong Sampson pallies with the young and old, friends and so-called new progressives. He attends almost every occasion in Mkpat Enin and gives necessary supports – as much as he can. Selfless as he is, Barr. Sampson even commits a chunk of his earnings in private businesses to help in the economic development of his people.
So, Mr. Ubong Sampson can rest. If Barr. Sampson decides to run for a seat in the National Assembly, a million sponsored Ubong Sampson cannot stop him.
Ime Udoaka is the Supervisor of Agriculture in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area.
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