The world we live in is a system, an organised structure credited to a creator. It is the height of absurdity to maintain that the power which planned this world planned it ill. The scripture records God as stating: “My thought for you is a thought of good, not of evil”, referring to Christians whose faith in God may be forlorn based on encounters and prevalent vagaries that may confront them. God thinks good of man and the land but man oftentimes abuses self and mismanages the land plunging creation into uncertainty and despair.
God’s consistency and faithfulness are manifest in the story of creation in Genesis. The systematic sequel noticeable in some dualities like night and day; land and sea; man and woman; day and night, affirms Him as God of orderliness. Even when there is a curve in the order, it is said to be for a purpose. Analysts of Nigeria’s political history have used the Abacha era in Nigeria to typify such learning curve. They hold the view that the Abacha administration exposed the hypocrisy and lack of patriotism on the part of our political elites. It was clear that most of them could not stand up to be counted when it mattered most. Like some frightened squirrels, those who could not scurry to safety had to jettison principles and enter into compromise on all fronts. These were witnessed in the Five-Million Man Match; the adoption of Abacha as sole presidential candidate by all political parties; his widespread endorsement by eminent Nigerians etc. Nigeria had become one large closet of castrated men and timid women only existing to be herded in any direction. But God was still interested in the affairs of Nigeria and at an appointed time, He did His will.
There is time and season in the affairs of man so in country and State. Sometimes man’s inordinate interest attempts to interfere with God’s will defined in time and season. And since He has given man free will which man egregiously abuses, society and humanity often find themselves in adversity. Adversities come when man decides to engage only his wisdom and work outside the perfect will of God. God’s will for man is progress, prosperity, good health, happiness and peace. The isolated and many more constitute God’s menu for humanity. Of course the above are achievable through good governance by a government that works in the perfect will of God. The question perhaps maybe, how does one identify a leader and subsequently a government that is in the perfect will of God?
Just as the scripture admonishes the children of God to be discerning especially during the end times as charlatans would proclaim God in deception, the electorates must be vigilant, well informed and equally discerning as demagogues are already on the prowl especially in Akwa Ibom State. And like the devil, they have come to steal and plunder at the detriment of the voting masses. A scholarly postulation notes that the price for any enduring democratic culture is eternal vigilance. The people must therefore ask the right questions, verify the antecedents of the people asking for their votes, examine their conducts and weigh them against Christian tenets. They must evolve ethical parameters and use them to assess the candidates. Such parameters must be a postscript of God’s will.
Any conscious Christian faithful would attest to the fact that the world is not an empty space. There is a divine force that is in control of the affairs of men. Of course many submit that nothing happens without His knowledge. They further argue that there is no happenstance in life. And that everything works as ordained by Him. These postulations are difficult to contradict given the array of incidents witnessed that are in cue with these thoughts. Take the instance of the advent of Godswill Akpabio to the political space of Akwa Ibom. Even the circumstance that introduced him to the politics of the State as commissioner has the trappings of divination. When he proceeded therefrom to contest election as governor alongside fifty-seven others, he was like a dark horse enjoying very minimal reckoning. But God’s ways are not man’s ways. In time and season, He does his will. Godswill Akpabio was His will for Akwa Ibom people and He delivered him as governor to prove the kingmaker that He is in the face of all odds.
When Godswill Akpabio in 2007 petitioned God in his campaign pay-off or slogan, “Let God’s Will be Done”, it was a prayer of the faithful located in the scripture that says, “O ye that is heavy laden, cast your load upon Me”. Akpabio did and the partnership has not failed him. God has through him done His Will by raising the ante of the State to a peak never imagined in such a short space of time. And because it was his chosen time and season, He has made everything bright and beautiful. God has shown faithfulness to Akwa Ibom people. He has shown that the State is in His perfect will.
But the unbridled frenzy ahead of 2015 is threatening our perfect will in God instead of consolidating it. Yet it is another season that abounds with the manifest signs of His presence. If we stabilize in His Will, then we should open our door for Him to be with us. His name is Emmanuel. And Emmanuel in the Bible translates as “God with us”. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, an accomplished banker of world acclaim can not be an accident on our political firmament. He is a product of time and season. He is part of an ordained process designed to uplift the State.
He may not be a politician of the regular hue but he seems to be another will of God for the State. He may not satisfy the run in the mill cravings of a typical politician of our clime but he possesses what it takes to advance the State in the areas of industrialization, capacity building, wealth creation, employment generation, improved revenue earnings, diversification of the economy, virile civil service, strong private Sector and an improved economy for the State. He has a robust pedigree that has acquitted him as a successful manager of men and resources. He is young, eloquent, exposed, educated and worthy to represent Akwa Ibom at any fora. Governor Godswill Akpabio has taken the State to such enviable height that if we don’t get a near equivalent, our fall would be a surge with attendant devastation.
Many often ask the question, what is in a name? The answer can not be dismissive when we watch the meteoric soaring of the likes of President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Godswill Akpabio in their political careers. The three lexical items in the name Udom Gabriel Emmanuel have strong Christian bearings. Even “Udom” translated as “Right” has enjoyed a mention in Isaiah 41:13: “For I, the Lord thy God will hold thy Right Hand saying unto thee, Fear not, I will help you”. While Gabriel is one of the hosts of angels, Emmanuel completes God’s affinity with Udom with the scriptural and literal meaning of “God with us”. The name “Udom” has also been given further but coherent semantic shifts. There are slogans like “Think Right” with the implicature of “Right” being “Udom” in vernacular. The “right” is therefore appropriated as “Think right” meaning “think properly”. This serves as an appropriate admonition to every reasonable person. Perhaps, one of the most riveting of the slogans is the one which says “Wad Udom, Akwa Ibom Ewad Udom” translated in road traffic context as “Keep Right”, maintaining that Akwa Ibom must keep right. The slogan further notes that when you keep right, you avoid accidents and alludes it to “Udom” as portending continuity and consolidation. Who says there is nothing in a name?
The paraphrased quotation that there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken from the flood leads unto fortune was espoused by a renowned sage. It is such tide that Governor Akpabio seized and turned our captivity into joy. Today Akwa Ibom stands on a delicate balance, to either move in the direction of a well defined and articulated course of progress or regress into the atavism of ethnic bigotry and the base instinct of hate. Posterity would judge us by the choice we make and harshly if it is outside the will of God. This season calls for such reflective thinking that would liberalise our thoughts and cause us to take actions that would promote the interest of the State. This is what these time and season require.
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