Umana Okon Umana your money isn’t important

BY UKPONG UKPONG

As important as financial freedom is, it is  not everything. The scripture is clear on this point, while admonishing that those who trust in Mammon will fail. Without trivializing the necessity of having means of sustenance and perhaps prosperity or wealth, it  goes on to promote greater virtues like love, honesty, compassion and perseverance over money. 

Nevertheless, money is good to have after all the same Bible says money answereth all things. In another instance, it warns that the love of money is the root of all evil, meaning to live a higher life liberated from mad craze for riches, one has to see money for what it is, a simple means of exchange. 

Interestingly, when it matters most, money is always found wanting. How else could very rich and powerful men die of the same preventive diseases that kill the poor? If money was everything then stupendously rich people like industrialists John D Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, superstar Michael Jackson, Nigerian philanthropist and winner of 1998 Presidential Election, Alhaji MKO Abiola and others like them would still be alive today having purchased the elixir of life. 

Their passage in the mist of plenty is testimony to the undeniable fact that money is not everything. 

Some have insinuated that Obong Umana Okon Umana has astronomical wealth and even has a vault full of hard currency, several storeys underground. Although no one has come out with evidence based proof of UOU’s out-of-this-world riches, many generally believe this myth, wondering how he could otherwise challenge the spend drift state administrator, who has no value for money and showers cash around like rainfall? 

Well, the palpable truth is that Umana Okon Umana is one of the longest serving public servants in the state whose unhindered generosity and philanthropy to all and sundry across the state has created a legend difficult to perish. He has held sensitive positions in the state and has directly or indirectly touched virtually all lives in Akwa Ibom State since the administration of former governor Obong Victor Attah to the present administration, spanning over two decades. 

Apart from his heralded wealth, Umana Okon Umana, is a fearless angler for transparency and fairness. His love for integrity, honesty and justice are virtues more important than money. His character of sobriety and humility to seek forgiveness and reconciliation are truly worth more than gold and diamond. 

As a principled man, UOU is against the monumental impunity the state governor and his cabal plots against the rest of us.
Emphasis, according to Umana, should be moved from wanton waste of our commonwealth, towards building a sustainable future. Therefore despite being persecuted for being so bold to stand up against imposition, Umana Okon Umana is ready to carry the burden, provided our people are liberated from tyranny. 

In that light, it is sad to find some among his followers displaying traits of a mercenary. It is vital they  understand that money is not everything. For the sake of principle and ideal, some of us have sacrificed to follow Umana Okon Umana, who has decided to invest financially into this collective dream. It does not mean he is an automated teller machine or that we are aimless beggars. Some of us know that we are at the threshold of history, a moment that is far more important than mundane pecuniary considerations. We are fighting for our freedom with Umana Okon Umana, as such his money is not important. If only characters like Bonny Nyong will understand this.