Saturday, August 30, 2020, was a day of its own. It was a day a political heavyweight of Oro extraction made a loud statement. The pronouncement may have sent right or wrong signals. But each person was permitted to receive whatever kind of signals they felt was appropriate. Whether or not, one was, or is comfortable with the event of that day, it would not affect the fact that Ikpoto Okon Osung had finally returned to his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Yours truly was unavoidably absent from witnessing the live event. But that cannot restrict my freedom to duly express my regret. I must join the rest of his ‘supporters’ to say congratulations to him.
As a civil servant, he had a very rewarding career in journalism. Outstanding and very sagacious in union politics, the country was nearly blessed with having him mounting the podium as the national president, Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ). Tribal perception had its way and all is retained in the books of history. One thing can’t be taken away from him. His personal development, political orientation and union activities yielded results with him serving as the vice president of NUJ, chairman, Nigeria Union of Journalists, Cross River State Council, and director-general, Citizens for Change. His enduring integrity, upright character and undoubted transparency stood him out for an unrivalled appointment as a pioneer chairman, Nigerian Election Monitoring Group. The June 12, 1993 election between Alhaji Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC) and Kakanfo Moshood Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) may have had its ‘figurative distortion’ if his character was not of proven substance.
With the mandate to monitor and authenticate or ratify the results of the election before the announcement by Prof. Humphrey Nwosu, Osung who deployed election monitors in every polling unit in the country immediately arranged a world press conference where he declared the SDP candidate, Chief MKO Abiola, as having won the election in every state of the federation, including Kano, the home state of Alhaji Ibrahim Tofa. Surprisingly, as President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018 named national honours to heroes of June 12, the veteran journalist had no entry.
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Back home in the state, Chief Osung could best be seen as a catalyst. He is endowed with oratory. Blended with accurate planning spirit, he towers high with deep thinking and humane appeal. At the return to democracy, he gathered his friends and brethren and built what had been called the largest political party in Africa, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). With this gathering of people, he served his place as a kingmaker, producing the then governors, Victor Attah and Godswill Akpabio. He once served as chairman, Akwa Ibom Local Government Service Commission. He also served as secretary of the state PDP caucus. And, in the comity of political elders in the state, he had his reserved and untainted place. Of course, it was not mistaken when he was honoured with the revered title, Adaha Akwa Ibom, by the Akwa Ibom State Traditional Rulers’ Council. The same was also replicated at his home when the Council of Oro Traditional Rulers recognized him with the highest traditional title of Ikpoto Oro.
Towards the transition of the Akpabio administration in 2014, it was Ikpoto Okon Osung who chaired the Oro 2015 Governorship Struggle. As a widely travelled man, he explored relevant contacts to establish the Akwa Ibom tripod argument. He led his able team of Oro Think Tank, Oron Union, Council of Oro Traditional Rulers and other groups to advance the project. They consulted with power brokers across the nation, taking all necessary steps. But, there was a man whose stiff hands held the keys to the project. That man was Godswill Akpabio who made sure he did everything to install his chosen successor, Mr Udom Emmanuel. It was at this point that the collective decision of leaving the party for Godswill Akpabio was reached. As a sportsman who knew the rules of the game, he led in front and left the PDP ship. It could be stated that no parent would be willing to groom his children and then leave them by the roadside. And so it was painful, even though it was important.
The massive movement to the All Progressives Congress (APC) could never have been a comfortable decision. But it was a demonstration of the anguish of the Oro race that was coerced into statehood with the Ibibio and the Annang during state creation in 1987. Although all had not been rosy in the APC, a few appointments here and there have come the way of the Oro people. Yours truly has severally held the view that the APC has not been indebted to the Oro people. The Akwa Ibom PDP rather carries on its shoulders the moral burden of settling the Oro ethnic nationality with the exalted office of a governor. But as 2023 elections season slowly comes, no one is kind enough to remember them. While it seems the APC has not been a satisfactory party to quickly accommodate the interest of Oro people, a few observations are here made.
Apart from the fact that the APC hasn’t made itself the desired alternative, it is left to be argued that the PDP had not been any different. A very honest consideration would present the sitting governor as a ‘fortunate supplanter’. Having been a product of stiff replacement with the fair choice of an Oro person, the governor hasn’t been fair to the Oro people. The biblical story of Esau and Jacob seems to have completely eluded him. While Jacob knew how he got the father’s blessings and showed kindness to the brother, the same cannot be said of Governor Emmanuel. The litany of abandoned projects dotting the landscape of Oron Federal Constituency (OFC) attests to this claim.
Speaking during the 84th anniversary of Oron Union in May 2019, Governor Udom Emmanuel promised to complete all ongoing projects in OFC. He spoke through him then works commissioner and current chief of staff, Mr Ephraim Inyang-eyen. The governor vowed to complete the 55.5 km Ibaka Superhighway in record time, saying he would construct a 21st-century state-of-the-art plaza, a relaxation centre as obtainable in Uyo and Ikot Ekpene. He added that the Etebi-Enwang Bridge construction was ongoing and would be duly completed. “I terminated the Uyo-Okopedi dualization project; Atabong Beach Market Road in Okobo because I can’t afford to give Oro substandard roads. The days of marginalization of Oro are over”, he had said.
Others may wish to engage this treaty with an opinion that the governor has given the office of the secretary to the government to Oro. Unfortunately, it is not useful to say that Governor Udom Emmanuel has improved the lives of Oro people with Dr Ekuwem’s appointment. Before a hasty line is drawn, one should get to ask what particular difference the administration can boast of in favour of the Oro people. It must be quickly added that the erstwhile PDP chairman, Arc. Otu Ita Toyo had also been offered the post of SSG by then Governor Godswill Akpabio. As lawyers would say, whatever is intended is regarded to have taken place. Again, although the previous administration gave three commissionership slots to the five LGAs of OFC which was reduced to two since 2015, the current government would have shown a sharp distinction through massive development of the area. Instead, what has been deliberately executed is the deployment of executive fiat into snatching all development opportunities from the area.
Of course, it was this government which had the crass boldness to stage a meeting of core oil-bearing communities with Mobil Producing Nigeria without representation from OFC. That provocation sparked reactions from the four walls of the region which culminated in the nationwide protest that shook the state’s foundations. Has it even been forgotten that this government found the courage to relocating the Ibom Deep Seaport which site was settled about 60 years before its emergence? Has it not tinkered with those of Ibom Industrial City, the Ibom Gas Park and the rest?
Truth is, the revered Ikpoto Okon Osung may have a personal reason of returning to his ‘tent’. Having been equally yoked with the ‘common enemy’ since August 2018, he may have felt what it means to have the tormentor he ran away from coming to stay in his living room with him. To say that Ikpoto Osung’s return would attract the governor’s fair treatment of his people is left in the hands of time. No one doubts the possibility of the party’s change of character, even when the last local government primary of the party offered a contrary perspective. No doubt, Ikpoto could be a party elder due to sit on the same table with the likes of Idongesit Nkanga, Senator Anietie Okon and the rest. But the question is, would these party leaders and the governor value him more than a former deputy governor from Urue Offong/ Oruko whose high office was not only recently denigrated but utterly treated as inconsequential?
