Ita Enang and his after thoughts

BY JOE INIODU

Senator Ita Enang is a recurring name in the politics of the State  nay the Nation. His unbridled penchant for research and the eloquence in delivering the outcomes of such painstaking findings are credits nobody can rob him of. In the House of Representatives where he served for 12-consecutive years, he shone like a meteor. And every time he addressed that hallowed green chamber, he was a delight to watch and an item of pride to claim. When he moved to the red chamber where he spent another generous four years, his contributions were again visible and commendable. Senator Ita Enang continued to be a legislator of formidable repute until recently when he began to advertise the many irredeemable weaknesses that dog his life. 

In the course of his politics, his personal god has been viewed as working overtime. The upward mobility that has attended his strides in politics has made many people to call him “Udo Mfoniso” loosely translated as a second son with the grace of good luck. Luck has been a defining pattern in his politics. A trained lawyer, he has been a counselor, Chairman of local government, member House of Assembly, member House of Representatives and lastly, Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria where he is currently serving. The people of his ward have been fair to him, the people of his local government of Ibiono have been kind to him, the people of the federal constituency of Itu/Ibiono have been good to him and the people of Uyo Senatorial District have done well for him. But recently, Senator Ita Enang has developed a different opinion. 

Existence and leadership place upon humanity many demands. Leadership especially compels restrains and rational actions. Scholars of philosophy believe that man manifest in four levels to wit: physical, mental, spiritual and emotional. They proceed further to assert that the greatest weakness of man is the emotion which involves his disposition to hate and love. The frontier of the discourse is expanded as they assert that the ability for man to rule over his emotion is directly proportional to civilization. The recent inflammatory outburst by Senator Ita Enang which predictably is the result of the loss of his bid for a ticket to return to the Senate portray him as lacking in these noble values. Since his loss of that ticket which many believe enjoyed transparency, Senator Ita Enang has fulminated the polity with sensations, innuendos, falsehood, propaganda and acrimony aimed at inciting the people against the government of the day. What the distinguished Senator does not know is that such asinine comments can only lower his esteem in the eyes of reasonable and right thinking people. Many today view him as incorrigibly selfish, greedy and lacking in sportsmanship spirit expected of his educational pedigree and career. His outburst, to say the least is a shock to many. 

In 2007, Senator Ita Enang bidded for the senate after two terms in the Federal House of Representatives. When that bid floundered, the Senator forced the system into status-quo-ante and wrenched a Federal House ticket that was already safe and secure in the hands of a Port Harcourt based Medical Doctor, the winner of the ticket and converted it to himself. The medical doctor who currently holds the same ticket returned quietly to his practice, after Senator Ita Enang had used the powers of his contact and capacity for subterfuge to take the ticket from him. The world went on, the party continued to be, the victim remained in the party and that House was inaugurated with Ita Enang as member. As they often say, a passing ambulance means nothing to someone whose relation or someone he or she knows is not the occupant. 

While that happened, PDP remained a good party to Ita Enang. When another man’s loss became his again, there was nothing wrong with that action, nothing wrong with the process and nothing wrong with those who took part in that conspiracy of covetousness in which the medical doctor was short-changed. Again when Ita Enang relaunched for the senate seat in 2011 and emerged through the machinations and scheming of a then influential public servant who was bent on unseating the brother, then a serving Senator, he benefitted from that Machiavellian scheming with glee and without complaints. The other man took the development with stoic equanimity and continued to remain and support the party. He is till date a chieftain of the PDP and one of the ones driving the party to the success that it would undoubtedly record in the State in 2015.

 Senator Ita Enang joined the party from inception. It can be safely said that he is one of the biggest beneficiaries of PDP in the State. The party has sponsored him to the House of Representatives for 12-years. He has used the platform of the party to serve as Senator for four years. In other words, for the sixteen-years of democracy which PDP has remained the ruling party, Ita Enang has been an active player and in the forefront. Today the same party is cast as a pariah by Senator Ita Enang for embracing transparency and working towards ensuring stability in the party. For the concerted efforts of promoting the ideals of the party, ensuring that justice prevails and renewing public confidence in the party through the broadening of participation which culminated in his loss of ticket to a more people-oriented man with mass appeal, Ita Enang believes that a party that brought him from cocoon to reckoning should be rejected. To canvass for the rejection of a party that served him faithfully for sixteen years smacks of ingratitude, inconsistency, selfishness and a complete lack of principle. Many had believed that his sublime eloquence which he prides effusively has ideological anchors. It is a startling revelation to observe that it does not have. One may be forced to think that his visibilities on the floor of the National Assembly are done more for grandstanding than worth. 

Recently, Governor Akpabio is the butt of the Senator’s frustrations as he continues to unleash vituperations of maximum effect on the innocent man. He uses all manners of disparaging terms against the Governor describing him as an emperor who exercises the authority of government with brazen impunity. He accuses Akpabio of reckless spending stating that he serves only his interest in most of his policies. His hate for Akpabio is confected with such ill that he could afford to wantonly declare that the Governor would go to jail after his tenure. One wonders when the relationship railroaded to such irredeemable state. When you wish a man you spent more than seven years expressing kind sentiments about such ill, it means that you are ready to jettison the relationship for good. Where is the age-old adage that in politics, there is no permanent friend, no permanent enemy but permanent interest. After all of these would have petered out, how would Senator Ita Enang repair the collateral damage he has willfully inflicted on the relationship he had with Akpabio. 

 Senator Ita Enang’s action, I must confess constitute both shock and disappointment to his admirers. For more than seven years, he was the most visible member of the National Assembly in the State. He never missed any government event and was a regular face at Hilltop Mansion. He dined, wined and celebrated the administration until he lost the ticket. And many of the wrongs of the Akpabio administration were not revealed to him then. 

For instance, he has just suddenly realized that the governor’s convoy has superfluous number of cars; that the Governor’s lodge was built for the comfort of one man; that the Governor’s office was for the comfort of one man and the Banquet Hall for the comfort of one. I dare to ask the Senator, “Do you believe yourself?” “Why have you come to all these realizations only three months to the end of the administration?” “Why did your people-oriented posturing delay such revelations till now?” “Why did your lucid legal mind not combine with your concern for the people to reveal these claimed anomalies early?” I bet that the Senator is taking Akwa Ibom people for granted.  He is playing roulette with the psyche of Akwa Ibom people. This is nothing more than deception; a grand one at that. His action falls into a perspective that has no significant difference with hypocrisy. His outburst is coming only when it is convenient. Pray the people see through this hypocritical fog.

Senator Ita Enang, an asset that he is should serve himself from the ignominy that is lurking in the course of his career by reviewing his steps. While in the National Assembly, he had failed to know that effective representation is good and acceptable. But the addition of empowerment is a blend that galvanizes political career into advancement. That is what Bassey Albert has and he lacks. The coming of the former should have provided a synergy where both would learn from each other. As a good son who loves the Uyo people he served diligently and faithfully for about four years, he should kindly extend the benefit of his well heeled experience to his younger brother and bring a cessation to the tantrums and brickbat he is freely hurling around. Such conduct would confer upon him honour, esteem and respect. A contrary position would certainly detract his esteem. Distinguished Senator, heed the counseling and redeem your honour.

Joe Iniodu is a public affairs analyst