The season is here again, where the race for who occupies the Hilltop Mansion as Governor of Akwa State is crowded. Expectedly, we have contenders and pretenders in the mix. It is sad to say, that, Chief Ime Albert Akpan, is in the class of pretenders. Having nothing to offer, he has reduced himself to a clown.
I came to that conclusion after i read through an interview granted by Ime Albert on his alleged Governorship aspiration. Rather than address issues, market himself, sell his blueprint for the development of the State and tell us why he is the man for the job, he condescended to empty rants and flippant vituperations against his younger brother. He opened his mouth so wide that, I now found the justification for the wholesale rejection of his theatrics and shenanigans by the good people of Ibiono Ibom, which ironically is where his bitterness is rested.
So, what is his real undoing?
If Ime Albert were to be a sensible man, he would heed the voice of his people which, they say, is the voice of God. Chief Ime Albert Akpan’s 2015 governorship ambition suffered a major setback, when his Ibiono Ibom Kith and kin under the aegis of the Ibiono Ibom Traditional Rulers’ Council, Ibiono Ibom Welfare and Development Union (IWADU), the political class, women, youths and all stakeholders in the area disassociated themselves from his bid, saying that, it is not in tandem with their collective wishes and aspirations.
After a meeting held at Ikpa Pavilion, Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area, on September 16, 2014, the people issued a communiqué to gazette their resolution, which he is now trying to discredit as not the accredited voice of his kinsmen. They stressed that, though it is the “constitutional right of any son or daughter of the area to aspire, pursue or seek to become the governor of the state”, their resolve to support the 2015 governorship ambition of the immediate past Commissioner for Finance, Obong Bassey Albert Akpan (OBA), “is irrevocable”.
They unequivocally made it clear that, the “people of Ibiono Ibom, having given Obong Bassey Albert their blessings do not have any other blessing for any other aspirant from Ibiono Ibom to the Office of the Governor of Akwa Ibom State in 2015”, adding that their support for OBA “stems from his experience in the art of state governance, his carriage, his charisma, his magnanimity and acceptability by the generality of the people of Ibiono Ibom in particular and Akwa Ibom state in general.” The people further called on “all Ibiono Ibom sons and daughters to key into the general outpour of goodwill by the people of Akwa Ibom State for Obong Bassey Albert Akpan in the governorship race of 2015.”
I am therefore amused and left wondering, what on earth makes it difficult for Ime Albert to get that unadulterated notice into his head. Only a dog meant for destruction refuses to heed the hunters whistle. That Ime Albert has chosen to dance naked in the market square and make lame attempt, to twist the conference of his people to score cheap political point, is itself a pitiable and shameful conduct. It would make sense for us to put Chief Ime Albert through the crucible of reputation and see how credible he comes. For, this alone validates what a man says and means to his people.
At 53, Ime Albert has shown himself to be an unkempt dullard. A sluggish busybody spotting a bowler hat, supporting his weight with a staff, who unfortunately thinks, politics is about the mischief and nuisance he has belittled himself to of late, in the name of attacking his blood brother for a mess of poridge.
Ime Albert claims to be a successful business man. I challenge him, to name one enterprise he has run successfuly for up to three years. His first business break was made, when he won a World Bank water project, in league with the son of a former Inspector General of Police and a Benue state born Senator who was chairman of the company. That company was later liquidated owing to the greed and dishonesty of Ime Albert.
Ime Albert’s mates who relocated to Abuja in the early 90’s have since established themselves there and also live in their own houses. It is a sorry fact that, Ime Albert still lives in a rented apartment till date yet boast and flaunts briefcase credentials of an Abuja bigboy. Is that the hallmark of a successful man?
The argument has been advanced that, wisdom is not ascribed to age. Ime Albert is one more proof of it. His habitual, careless and thrash talk which negates the virtue of a true statesman, is the major reason Governor Godswill Akpabio left no stone unturned in preventing him from going to the Senate, first in 2006 and in 2011.
While lamenting his frustration to close insiders years ago, he placed curses on Governor Akpabio and called him unprintable names. After groping in the dark for these years, he now grovels back to lick his vomit. Is it not a sad and senile commentary, that Ime Albert’s only visa to the governorship race is to play the spoiler for his brother as a hireling slaving for the same Akpabio? His only interest in the race as was suspected by pundits is to bring down his younger brother, who has worked so hard to distinguish himself and earn the confidence, respect, admiration and genuine love of the overwhelming numbers of the good people of Akwa Ibom for a pittance. He perhaps hopes to collect the balance after he ‘succeeds’ with the desperate ploy to truncate OBA’s project.
The irony is, Akpabio dislikes and distrusts Ime Albert with venom surpassing his reciprocal hatred for Akpabio. Both of them have temporarily worked out a ceasefiire because of a morbid fear for the rising and unstoppable profile of OBA.
Ime Albert makes a ridiculous blunder, when he claims he is more qualified to become governor being the elder brother. As a man who claims to be a Christian, it is shocking he does not reckon with the story of Esau and Jacob. Exactly what IWADU told him in the first place. We all know Esau went belatedly to the father for blessing after Jacob had received it. Or, does he need a reminder on how God chose David, a little shepherd boy in the fields ahead of all his elder brothers in the House of Jesse to be king over Israel? Won’t the story of young Joseph and his other brothers suffice for a lesson or two to Ime Albert? He should be made to know that, leadership like wisdom is not about age. Else, Methuselah, recorded in the bible as the oldest man that ever lived, was not recorded to be the wisest man. It was young King Solomon that was given grace for that wisdom and kingship. If God has ordained young OBA to be governor, nobody, not even his elder sibling can do anything about it.
Thankfully, he acknowledged this truth in the interview he granted that power belongs to God. So, my advice to him is for Ime Albert to wait for God to give power to whom He wishes. I challenge Ime Albert to convene an assembly of Ibiono Ibom stakeholders at the hallowed Ikpa Pavilion where OBA was blessed and also get their official blessing. When he does that, I will get back to him.
In that interview, Ime Albert referred to his younger brother who clocks 42 on October 28 as a small boy. Maybe he and his myopic likes need be told that, Donald Duke was governor of Cross River at 38, Godswill Akpabio at 45 was elected Governor of Akwa Ibom, and General Yakubu Gowon became Head of State at 31. Should we mention Generals T. Y. Danjuma and Shehu Musa Yar’adua who were in their late twenties when they called the shots at the top echelon of the Nigerian Army and the Nation at Large? Or is it Ambassador Matthew Mbu who was appointed Nigeria’s High Commissioner to United Kingdom at 21 or Prof Pat Utomi who at 27 became a Presidential Aide to Alhaji Shehu Shagarri.
Obong Bassey Albert, has proven himself to be a pragmatic, patriotic, prudent, proficient and strong willed administrator. He was a successful investment banker and has his seal on the Uncommon Transformation Agenda of the Akpabio administration. As the Chairman of the Inter Ministerial Direct Labour Committee, he successfully executed over 4000 projects in all wards of the state. With such deep understanding of the State, its terrain, geography, people and communities, I have no doubt that OBA is equipped and has the capacity to take Akwa Ibom State to new heights.
The quality that attracts me most to this dynamic and emerging young leader is his maturity and decisiveness. He is not a man that can be manipulated or pushed around. We are all aware that, OBA was freezed out of the current administration because he stood his ground and refused to endorse a document procured by Governor Akpabio which, his conscience adjudged to be at variance with the collective aspiration of the people. Ime Albert under similar or far little pressure would have collapsed, being incapable of making an independent judgment. Let me make it emphatically clear to Ime Albert, that he has embarked on a futile shadow boxing which will not pay off. He has nothing to offer the people and so should respect his age and take a dignified bow out of sight and desist from irritating Akwa Ibom people with his hamstrung, jaundiced and outdated politics.
Lastly, as Cassius Clay, later known as Muhammed Ali, the one-time undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion said, “Champions aren’t made in the gym, champions are made from something they have deep inside them: a dream, a desire, a vision.” All three, OBA possesses in abundance, and is eager to salvage his people who are equally yearning for his ascension. Chief Ime Albert will do well to understand this and stop his clownish diatribes against the people’s choice.
By Ime’s recent posturing, he has only succeeded in exposing himself as lacking the vision, the dream and the desire to drive Akwa Ibom state. It is better, the people ignore him and he will wilt and wither away with time.
Dan is a public affairs analyst based in Atlanta, Georgia
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