¶By Henshaw NYONG.
#HBDFinbarr
I have been looking for a gift to hand over to this friend of mine. I have tried hard to think of what would befit him or perhaps what he would appreciate.
Honestly, the answers I have come forth with are not encouraging. I thought of buying him a very expensive wine or spirit. Brilliant idea for a guy but, long after a few drunks have quashed the wine to the dreck, he will forget it. I know him, and I know Aniekeme Finbarr does not take much of drinks and I can picture the folks who will consume the entire drink without blinking. Those ones know themselves.
I thought too of a good shirt, suit, shoes, something special. Yes! That has to be it. Yes! But, I know a good quality of any of those items would cost me a fortune. You guys know what Dollars and Pounds have done to those items, even if it is 'Aba made', they will tell me it is because of Dollars. I wonder what concerns palm wine with foreign exchange. There has to be something else for my friend, a surprise cake, perhaps. Yeaaaaah, I got it finally.
But, come on, Finbarr is not the kind of guy you can surprise with anything. He has one permanent mood, you can't tell when he is very happy, very sad, very angry, or very excited. He just smiles every thing away. No, that's not what I need. I want to get him this time.
A surprise gift is a gift the recipient is not expecting, isn't it? It can be anything, right? Then this is the gift! What you are reading now is the gift. He is not expecting it. This is the gift. It's Aniekeme Finbarr's birthday and expectedly, I know Facebook, Twitter, BBM and WhatsApp will crash with several wishes but anything from Henshaw will frighten him. The thought of it gets me very excited. He knows I know what others don't know about him and he warns me often about it but I am about to spill it, here and now.
The gentleman whose image appears here is one specie of its kind. Such species according to history appear ones in a lifetime. The guy combines in born native intelligence with passion. That reminds me, he is from Etinan Local Government Area. You know what that means, lol. He can decode any trick no matter how much time you take to manufacture it. He also is capable of a lot of tricks too. I recall one recent trick I tried to pull to avoid dinner at the Finbarr's home. Didi has over the months given a standing instruction that any time Henshaw is sighted, food must be prepared and I usually do not have an option of refusal. I am still yet to find out why that order was given, it is either a sympathetic order to feed a hungry poor bachelor or a bait to spur me to get married or both. Few days ago, I stopped by with a full stomach to meet the Finbarrs at dinner. Bad news. My plate was hurriedly brought. I struggled for five minutes before my friend decoded that I needed help. Didi takes strong exception to refusing food. Finbarr quickly sent me a quick SMS to order for pepper. I smartly did. He then told his wife he needed some pepper and should eat from Henshaw's plate. That's how I escaped but my phone rang the next morning and the voice at the other end said: "Da, Ikpafak, do you know I visited the toilet more than five times? Da, next time you don't want food, doko madam, hahahahahahahaha"
To more serious matters, Aniekeme Finbarr is a quintessential broadcaster, sports enthusiast, and one of the finest modern media managers. He is a very very wide reader and whenever he speaks or writes however informally, you can feel his depth of knowledge and socialization. I met the young man about when he began his journey into the media world close to a decade ago. He cut his teeth under the watchful eyes of ace broadcaster, Michael Bush and within weeks, the young guy blossomed into a household name. He was the favourite voice on all sports programme on AKBC radio and tv, loved by fans for his excellent command of English, easy style and good voice. There is no way you would tune to Raphael Edem, Iniobong Monday and Finbarr on Sports Arena and wish to adjust the dial. When Michael Bush left for Abuja, my friend Finbarr took over the Uyo office and did not disappoint. For his age, he ran the Bush House show to the admiration of all. As the Akpabio government shut down the programme on AKBC for its critical posture, Finbarr left to join the Bush House team in Abuja. Sadly, I couldn't listen to him again on his weekday shows on Kapital Fm, Abuja but every Saturday he featured on Radio Nigeria network. He did excellently well and like good wine, he just gets better.
My friend left Bush House Nigeria and joined Love Fm, 104.5 in Abuja as an On Air Personality. He kept the flag flying. We kept in touch even as he had to return home to be closer to his father who was down in health at the time. The great surveyor later passed on. Mr Finbarr was then appointed by the former Deputy Governor of the State to be her Media Assistant/ Master of Ceremonies. He did not disappoint.
There is a part of him I never knew existed. Politics. In the build to the Governorship campaigns in 2014/2015, my guy Aniekeme Finbarr took it upon himself to promote Udom Emmanuel, then SSG. He invented every skill in the book to drive home the message that Udom Is Right.
Despite the abuses, persistent attacks and even threats to life, the young man stayed very focused, loyal and uncompromising. He brought in literary finesse, research and persuasive skills to urge Akwa Ibom people to vote for Udom Emmanuel. I use to tease him those days, if Udom does not win, where will you run to? His best response will be to write two more articles in Udom's favour the next day.
I am glad that today my friend serves on the Governor's media team as an aide. He is a great asset to the state and government and a guy I call the most valuable player on that team. Aniekeme Finbarr has the best oratory skills developed over the years on and off the microphone. His face is easy on the eye while his voice is as cool as cucumber. Finbarr also has a very large fan base on the social media which has grown over the years. Hundreds of people visit his pages to view his interesting posts ranging from politics, government events, nuggets and family outings. He also has a rich store of words and uses them to great effect in the discharge of his duties as an aide of the Governor. The young man is a good mixer and has excellent man management. He keeps his friends. He is the complete media man, speaks well, writes well, relates very well with his colleagues and has quite a generous heart. I respect Governor Udom Emmanuel for seeing beyond his young age and giving him an opportunity to serve the state. I know higher responsibilities lie ahead.
As he celebrates his birthday, I find no other special gift for my friend; Aniekeme Finbarr than to do to him what he does to others. It is November 6 and I wish the Prime Minister of the Airwaves a super, fabulous and smashing years ahead with good health and God's protection. Take a bow, Udom's MVP!
¶NYONG is the Editor In Chief, The TOWN CRIER Newspapers.
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