Until I read the piece, a well cultivated hatchet job written by Dimgba Igwe in his back page column SIDEVIEW in the Sun Newspaper of Tuesday, January 4, 2014, I must confess he remained one of my revered columnists and public commentators. But in this season of anomie, as the fever of the defining 2015 general elections spreads, fair becomes foul and foul becomes fair. It is becoming harder to sieve the grain from the chaff.

The piece in question is titled “Akpabio’s beautiful problem”. Beyond the paradox of its theme, the content of the piece only gives any discerning mind a mental constipation, as it is easily seen to be one more jaundiced hit man on the prowl. It is curious that Dimgba Igwe’s outpouring of gibberish which he tries in vain to clothe as a disinterested and impartial viewpoint, coincides with the seeming conspiracy awash in some national tabloids of late, trying to taint Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State with the hunch back of nursing a presidential – some of them say vice presidential – ambition, and scheming to upstage President Goodluck Jonathan while pretending to support him.

It began with spurious sensational headlines like “Akpabio and co versus President Jonathan and Tukur”. Then, there was this jaded aside that some members of the NWC of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been bribed by a South South pro-Jonathan governor to move against Tukur with a view to gun for Jonathan in the aftermath of dumping Tukur.

I shall come back to that, but first, let me address matters arising from Igwe’s beginning with a summary of his submissions. By his account, he admits Governor Akpabio “fits among top ten of performing governors.” He adds, “...even if you narrow the list to four, Akpabio’s name may not be missing.” Then, in what amounts to a doublespeak, Igwe declares, “It is not just that he is possibly his own best salesman, a man anointed with a sleek tongue, waxing rhetoric of his own adulation at the slightest opportunity,” IT JUST HAPPENS THAT HE INDEED, HAS REAL ACHIEVEMENTS TO SELL – UNLIKE SO MANY GOVERNORS.” So brother Dimgba, what the heck is the grouse here? That Akpabio chooses to amplify his deeds? Is that a reason we should crucify him? Dimgba Igwe hails from the Igbo Nation where we have the title EKUWEME (One whose deeds match his words). So, how on earth do we fault Governor Akpabio here, that he works and walks his so called verbosity? A speaker and doer of his words. In his novel Arrow of God, Professor Chinua Achebe (peace on his ashes) alludes to the proverbial red necked lizard that fell from the iroko tree and decided to nod his head in self adulation since nobody would felicitate with him on the feat. Back here in Akwa Ibom where I proudly settle, Akpabio’s people call him The Promise Keeper. As one from a state, and travelling through many states whose claims of achievements are only on the pages of newspapers and electronic news, with nothing on ground, I dare say, it is flawed for anyone whosoever to fault Governor Akpabio on performance. At least, not someone of Igwe’s pedigree should let down his guard on such a score.

What is more, Igwe correctly describes Akpabio as “a man surrounded by enemies, powerful enemies,” and with a note of mischief added: “Those who hate him want him destroyed, but ironically, it seems that even those who love him are also working for the same goal.” The poser for Igwe is, to which of the two camps do you belong? I sense you belong to the latter group, and therefore more dangerous and lethal. You laboured all through this thrash to drag along as an admirer of Akpabio who is a bit taken aback by his politics. But, beyond the veil, it is easy to deconstruct the bellicose emissions from a biased heart. Igwe, I suspect, is in league with the web of conspiracy spawn by a mafia in the media to run down Akpabio.

After beating about the bush, Igwe bared his fangs, in what obviously sticks as the sore point he wanted to score. To nail his point, he wrote: “During the crisis over President Umaru Yar’Adua’s sickness, Mike Awoyinfa and I had asked Akpabio why he and some of the key Niger Delta State governors seemed lukewarm then towards supporting the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan become Acting President. “Switch off the tape,” Akpabio requested. Then he dubiously explains a lame attempt of justifying why he is ‘apparently’ choosing now to open the Pandora box, pretending to be a man whose conscience has been overburdened by a long kept secret. Again, here are his scheming words, “Off the record, he made two points which with the passage of time, should no longer be so off the record,” bla bla bla.

What cheap justification Igwe vaingloriously sought, to supposedly re-open old wounds, (assuming there was any) which, his touted PASSAGE OF TIME has perfectly healed? In the subsequent lines, he demonstrated a hackneyed desperation to portray Akpabio as a Janus-faced supporter of Jonathan. A man Mr. President should not and cannot trust. Haba! Igwe. There is much more to your noble profession than this. Even Igwe’s self vindicating conclusions that the rumour of nursing an ambition for the Presidency, concocted as he admits, by the governor’s friends or foes, “has put Akpabio (in his warped imagination), in deep trouble with President Goodluck Jonathan’s camp. Today Akpabio seems to be fighting the battle of his life for trying to forswear any presidential dream.” I can literally figure Igwe wink with glee that he has, perhaps, stoked the fire further with his latest outing.

That Governor Akpabio took to public denial of nursing any presidential ambition and pledging uncompromising support is not enough to assuage Igwe’s baying for his political blood. Rather, he mocks that effort and tries to demean it with a comparison to Rotimi Amaechi’s Rivers conundrum, the very antithesis of his recriminations of the former.

All this does not overshadow his tepid effort to also downplay and degrade Akpabio’s nationally and internationally acknowledged performance as governor. Igwe dismisses the now celebrated uncommon transformation with a mere “make no mistake about it, Akwa Ibom receives massive federal allocation, one of the highest in the federation.” This veteran failed to state that Akpabio could afford to sit on the huge allocation as a Do Nothing and Say Nothing governor and the heavens will not fall. This, Igwe knows, is ironically politically correct in Nigeria. He failed to list other states that equally rank high in federal allocation and comparatively adjudicate, as he is won’t to do, on how well their governors have impacted on their states.

I will not waste my entire thesis on Igwe and his ruse, seeing clearly the mission he set out to accomplish. But let me say this, and I wish President Goodluck Jonathan can hear me:

The battle to unbundle the barricade of his defences is agog, afoot and apace. His detractors and opponents have since relocated to where they truly belong. The onslaught is now on to sow the seed of suspicion, which breeds fear in his camp. That fear, they know too well, will usher in discord, dissension and finally break the spine of his support base. I have to alert Mr. President to this all out campaign to dislodge him. Akpabio remains his last man standing. Take it or leave it. The enemies of Mr. President know that to overwhelm him, they must get rid of Akpabio. That reminds me of Igwe’s opening remarks: “THOSE WHO HATE HIM (AKPABIO) WANT HIM DESTROYED.” Let me end by borrowing the words of Mr. President in his reply to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who wrote him a now infamous Open Letter. Sir, you do Governor Godswill Akpabio great injustice given the spirit and flavour of your viewpoint in that ill-motivated essay.

•Osondu Ahirika is a journalist based in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. he can be reached via e-mail at
osondugodswill4all@yahoo.com

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