Between the BASTARD and his FATHER

BY GIDEON EKERE

I stumbled on an article by my  friend, Osondu Ahirika on the  internet where he faulted the eligibility of the former Petroleum Minister, Chief Don Etiebet to label Governor Akpabio a bastard. I had ignored the write-up thrice when I suddenly skimmed through it at last. In the process, I noticed some attitudes which were unduly introduced. Without any apology, this is a clear act of disrespect in the first place. 

Undoubtedly, it’s okay to disagree with the thoughts or opinions expressed by other people. That doesn’t give you the right to deny any sense they might make. Nor does it give you a right to accuse someone of poorly expressing their beliefs just because you don’t like what they are saying. No matter who’s involved, lets understand that respect for ourselves guides our morals, while respect for others guides our manner. 

According to Chief Etiebet, “My attention has been drawn to the ranting of Governor Godswill Akpabio during the presentation of certificates of return to elected candidates in the 2015 general election in Uyo, during which he called me a traitor and a poor manager. In fact the video recording has been sent to me. I want to resist the demands to reply him because I do not want to join issues on personal grounds with a bastard, a habitual known liar, and a fraud. If he denies being a bastard, ask him to take you to his father’s compound or house or the father’s grave in Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State or anywhere else in the world to prove otherwise.”

At different scenes. I mean within the state and beyond. Governor Akpabio had openly declared Chief Etiebet as his father. Then if the same father would one day declare that same son of his as a ‘bastard’, what vigour does a stranger has to argue? Obviously, the writer has taken a tablet for another man’s headache. Is it moral? Isn’t that ungodly? But you don’t have to disrespect and insult someone simply to hold your own ground. But if you do, it shows how shaky your own position is.  

My friend also tried to ridicule the different achievements of Chief Don Etiebet. Being a national chairman of two different political parties isn’t a child’s play. Being a member, board of trustees of the third political part is a height any other indigene of the state is yet to attend. Currently, Chief Don Etiebet remains the highest employer of labour as an indigenous private entrepreneur. Creating wealth and helping others survive. Isn’t that worthy of colourful celebrations? I wouldn’t want to dance, just like others did. But let’s try to play the tune with maturity. Whether paid or voluntarily. The truth remains that Akpabio, Etiebet and others are not far from reconciliation. If they do, imagine people like us which planet we would belong. 

I had to make it plain. Chief Don Etiebet still remains a highly respected statesman. Both within and outside. No matter what he said to Akpabio, never called for a redressed. If at all it did, it wouldn’t have been from such source. If the governor himself keeps silence over Etiebet’s statement, why then all those foul words on a respected elder statesman. Keeping silence is the same thing as saying ‘yes’. If the governor would definitely keep quiet over the issue, it means he understands the language more than anyone else. Submission is not about authority and it is not obedience, it is all about relationships of love and respect. 

Depending on my mood, I sometimes but not always refrain from pointing out what a breathtakingly insulting and patronizing question this is. Is a Akpabio is a Bastard, So What? It is on a par with the equally subtle inquiry: Since you don’t believe in our god, what then stops you from stealing and lying and raping and killing to your heart’s content? Just as the answer to the latter question is: self-respect and the desire for the respect of others, while in the meantime it is precisely those who think they have divine permission who are truly capable of any atrocity, so the answer to the first question falls into two parts. A life that partakes even a little of friendship, love, irony, humour, parenthood, literature, and music, and the chance to take part in battles for the liberation of others cannot be called ‘meaningless’ except if the person living it is also an existentialist and elects to call it so. It could be that all existence is a pointless joke, but it is not in fact possible to live one’s everyday life as if this were so. Whereas if one sought to define meaninglessness and futility, the idea that a human life should be expended in the guilty, fearful, self-obsessed propitiation of supernatural nonentities. 

Let’s revisit some past events. In the 50s, someone was the head of the defunct Ibibio State College in Ikot Ekpene stole Nine pounds. When he was invited to make an account on the missing money. He got angry. Went and established Independent High School in Ukana. The story went so wired. Chief Etiebet might have been aware of all these. After many years, he chooses to speak. Can we then say he spoke selfishly? No, he didn’t. He was only expressing his dissatisfaction over a repeated bad attitude. Let’s leave him to his own expressions.

According to Osondu, “When they were getting contracts, appointments and patronage from him, he was not a bastard. When they graced the front rows in state events and called the shots as wheelers and dealers in the corridor of power, Governor Akpabio was a great man. Simply because, he will not act their script, they want to manipulate us to hunt him down as the very epitome of Lucifer. We will not be fooled.

“If a bastard is one who God lifts to becoming the First citizen of Akwa Ibom State. A history maker like the irrepressible Sir, Chief Dr. Barr. Godswill Obot Akpabio, Pioneer Chairman PDP Governors Forum and two term Governor, I want to be a bastard too. Did Jesus not predict that the first shall come last and the last, become first? I’d rather be a bastard who is making a difference in the world than a freeborn whose heart is full of venom and futile hate.”

Lets put facts straight, Chief Etiebet never enjoyed any form of favour from Godswill Akpabio. The whole idea has been abused, simply because the actors were greedy birds would never rest on one source. The governor is only trying to be stubborn and people of his kind would only be found in the crib. It’s simple and doesn’t call for a debate. 

My friend, don’t be carried away. You said you would rightly want to be a bastard if Governor Akpabio is a bastard. According to you, Akpabio is a history maker as the pioneer chairman of PDP governors’ forum. And I will love to ask you, where is the forum today? How many PDP governors did Akpabio meet and how many is he handling over now? Start then to think. Is it not in his tenure as the chairman of the forum that a sitting president would be defeated by the opposition? Is it not in his tenure that PDP for the first time sacks its national chairman twice in a year without any reason? Is it not in his tenure that once a biggest political party in Africa got the greatest division ever? What then shall we say? 

If you want to be a bastard, you’re free, but choose the kind that could make a positive difference in the world. Not a bastard that would create fears amongst your subordinates. Not a bastard that watches helplessly how your subordinates are killed, kidnapped and assassinated on daily basis. If you so desire to be a bastard, let it not be such that surrounds himself with cultists. Let it not be such that has no respect for elders. No matter the condition, an elder still remains an elder and deserves our respect.  

Yes, a bastard could be lifted to a highly position, but how then shall it differ itself from the former. Inspiring and changing lives. But here, haven’t we witnessed the amount of blood that has been spilled in the last eight years? Can we count the number of people that has been kidnapped and ransom paid at ease? Can we count the number of family whose breadwinners has been cut-off? The number of orphans and widows in their greater number? Our resources wasted on meaningless ventures? Can we then say we were governed by a bastard? I will allow you to answer. Hmmm very soon, my friend Osondu will want to be Anini because the notorious armed used the stolen resources to impact lives.

The personality of a man could be discerned either through his actions or characters. If in the last eight years in Akwa Ibom State, what we witnessed here is assassination, kidnapping, political thuggery, insult on respected elders, murders, and all sorts of social vices, then how then would we describe the leader of our state. Chief Don Etiebet with the chieftaincy title of Obong Uwana Akawa Ibom who has witnessed many successive governments at his prime, has make bold to name such a leader as bastard. Who are we to comment? Let give it to him. It’s left for you and me to also add our comments. But in my own case, I will choose to give peace a chance. WE NEED CHANGE!!!