By Akwaowo Charles
The unity of Akwa Ibom State is very important as well as that of the country Nigeria irrespective of what political affiliation each individual belongs to. It is a necessity to build a bridge of unity and a common bond of understanding within us.
Politics is played when it comes to be played while governance should take the centre stage at a larger time spent in government. Having gone through politics, having won election, Akwa Ibom State Governor, His Excellency, Deacon Gabriel Udom Emmanuel, has dropped the toga and psychology of a politician and became a stage man. A stage man in the sense that he is interacts with the presidency as a highly respected individual.
Even when committees or structures are set up at the national level, which the majority are members of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Governor Udom Emmanuel would be drafted in. He is always being taken in because they know he is intelligent, they know his capacity, they know he is stabilised in nature and they also know that he is bipartisan.
Why is it that a lot of Akwa Ibom politicians don’t see it that way? Is it that politics has registered an empire of hatred even with the citizenry? During the festive period, those who go to the radio to talk, have all absconded probably because they don’t want to give even rice to their supporters. They never paid any courtesy visit to the State House to console with the Governor, neither have they gone to the church or the family members to do that since the Reigners Church tragedy that claimed the lives of 26 Akwa Ibomites and several others seriously wounded.
Why is it that the likes of Nsima Ekere, Umana Okon Umana, Ita Enang and John Udoedehe including Obong Victor Attah have not gone to see the Governor since the Reigners Church ill-fated incident? What level of separation are we nursing because of the political impasse? What kind of politics do we play in such that we would lose our relationships and corporate assistance? Can’t we get out of this and face governance just like His Excellency has done?
If Akwa Ibom State should have the misfortune of facing a public calamity of such magnitude, simple human and Christian nature, which we all profess to have, should have been enough to drive people to show concern – put calls to the Governor to sympathise with him being the head of the state as it is done by people across the globe, but here we are, playing politics that someone would say ‘why didn’t the governor die?’ because that is the anger of those who have refused to show concern. They are angry that God saved the Governor. They are angry that their brother is still alive and they are also angry that the death toll did not get to 300, which would have become a reproach and flow of more blood which would thereby be used for politics.
Governor Emmanuel is not disturbed by the nature of people that are around the communities of Akwa Ibom where he is governing because these are people that have issues that would be discussed with their Father in Heaven at the judgement gate when they get there. If your brother or neighbour dies and it doesn’t concern you, if somebody from your state dies and it doesn’t bring sympathy and politics overwhelms that in you, then there is something wrong with the way you thing. I is a diagonal way of reasoning - a banana thinking and it doesn’t go straight. As Christians, each and every one of us has issues that will be sorted out when we get to the point of our Creator.
If you meet someone on the road and he puts up a smile, you might think he is smiling at you; but his heart is best known to God and it’s only God that judges each one.
Politicians in Akwa Ibom State should learn to play politics devoid of bitterness. They should learn to play politics, knowing fully well that the platform on which they stand to play politics is a platform of the community that they stay, and it is not an empty platform. It is a platform that is made life and has given life and by the lives of people that they meet.
Governor Udom Emmanuel is a practical Christian and God has a covenant of life with him. No matter how bitter they think, no matter how evil they wish, it will not happen because God has a relationship with the Governor. He has been protecting and will continue to protect him, and if that will lead to more bitterness, they should be ready to be bitter.
The governor of Sokoto State made a statement: “You have made Akwa Ibom State accessible to people like us”. This simply means that Gov Emmanuel is playing politics of bridge-building, politics of nationhood, politics of open doors, politics that is beyond party lines. The visit from the opposition party from the extreme North is a pure reciprocation of that attitude. He built the bridge for them to cross and come over. They didn’t put the bridge and walk across on their own.
Governor Emmanuel has built a bridge of friendship. He interacts and relates with other states governors not because they are in the Governors’ Forum, but because he has shown them that party lines are out of his personal relationship. Party lines are out of the purpose of governance because all of us were supposed to come together and build a country that reflects the National Flag, the Coat of Arms, and the unity that we sing in the National Anthem.
It is high time we stopped this national embarrassment and begin to see ourselves as brothers and sisters, see ourselves as being very lucky to have a governor that is given by God who has beckoned on us to join hands in building a bridge and rise to the faith of greatness, and that since we were created by God, He can never depart from us without fulfilling His promise. That should be enough appeal for even Satan to repent.
…Akwaowo Charles writes in from Ajamgbadi
0 comments :
Post a Comment