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The article entitiled Akwa Ibom and
the burden of Stalinism credited to
Udo Akata and published inSunday
Vanguard, New Nigerian, The Punch,
Compass and National Life, et
al last week made interesting reading
though it missed one point. That is
that the problem in Akwa Ibom is not
only the ghost of Stalinism but also
that of crass nepotism. Anyway, a rather
weak case can probably be made for some
form of nepotism in the conduct of
public affairs in the country. The wild
prevalence of rural idiocy even in the
face of rapid urbanization, the relative
weakness of formal institutions and the
generally primordial character of
politics in the country tend to make a
certain degree of nepotism inevitable.
Yet if the peculiarities of the Nigerian
condition can be held to provide a
feeble enough excuse for some mild form
of favoritism towards an office holder’s
immediate social group, they do not, and
cannot, justify the elevation of
nepotism into an instrument of state
policy. Yet, this is precisely what many
observant citizens of Akwa Ibom state
complain that Governor Godswill Akpabio
has done to the detriment of fairness
and equity. Save perhaps for some
unreconstructed middle eastern
oligarchies (which are proper monarchies
anyway), it s difficult to think of
another government anywhere, whether at
the state, provincial or national
levels, in which members of one family
so dominate the affairs of the state as
in Akwa Ibom in the last thirty months
or so. Certainly, it has never happened
in Akwa Ibom until the Akpabios came on
the scene.
We know of no other state in
Nigeria where such crass nepotism is on
display. Even though many Abachas
wielded power under the late maximum
ruler, the goggled one cannot be said to
have surpassed what Akpabio has done.
Yet, Abacha was a dictator. Akpabio is
supposed to be running a republican
democracy, and presumably will be
seeking the people’s endorsement for
another term in office. Having created a
dynastic empire where a democracy is
supposed to prevail, does he expect to
be rewarded with the people’s votes,
come 2011? On the other hand, does he
plan to win in ways that have nothing to
do with the people’s vote? Your guess is
as good as mine is, but we digress.
Nepotism of the undisguised,
unapologetic sort that has been
unleashed on an unsuspecting Akwa Ibom
people is, as Udo Akata rightly said, we
have had occasion to remark earlier the
direct result of a Stalinist mindset.
The governor is no democrat and does not
understand the concept. He sees himself
as a potentate, a maximum ruler, Akwa
Ibom as his fiefdom. Therefore, his
brothers, cousins, nephews, nieces,
uncles, in-laws, two or five times
removed should have suzerainty over the
state, to pillage and despoil as the
human spirit takes them. People outside
Akwa Ibom state will probably, at first
blush, find our assessment of Akpabio
rather harsh. However, Akwa Ibomites
understand that if we have not
understated the true position, we are
right on the money. It sounds strange
that some of the happenings in Akwa Ibom
state could take place in a
constitutional democracy in the 21st
century, and amongst a culturally
republican people to boot. But there you
have it, and the numbers tell a good
part of the story.
A direct brother to Governor Akpabio,
one Ibanga Akpabio has been installed as
the Secretary to the Peoples Democratic
Party in his state. He was not party
secretary before Godswill became
governor, so we have a good idea about
how he got there. It certainly was not
by merit, or the freely expressed
democratic principles of PDP members in
the state. In fact, some members are
still contesting the election of an
Akpbio as party secretary. Another
sibling, Emem Akpabio, holds sway on the
government board that is supervising the
Airport project. Two family members sit
on the board of the state-owned Ibom
Power Company. Yet another is to be
found on the board of the State
Investment and Property Company. At
SUBEC, there is again another relation
who is known to be the real power behind
the place, never mind who the chairman
is. Indeed, the wise chairman or
executive on the board of a company in
which a governor’s relation sits knows
that he or she must defer or even court
that relation or risk being rendered
completely ineffective in his or her
official capacity. Then there is Nsentip
Akpabio who is well known to be the
shaker and mover behind every lucrative
sweetheart contract in the state of
which there are many, thanks to 13% oil
derivation.
Speaking of contracts and the Governor’s
family, if a clan member does not
support your bid, you stand no chance of
success. Unless of course, a relation
in-law puts in a good word for you; or
you are working for the big man himself.
Western media speak derisively of the
oligarchs that emerged in post-Soviet
Russia and point to their emergence as a
sign of the degeneracy of that once
progressive land. They should visit Akwa
Ibom to see how an Oligarchy has emerged
literarily overnight. The special and
economic rise of the governor’s clan has
been nothing if not meteoric. Deprived
citizen, desperate for crumbs from the
masters table, fawn and prostrate before
them so much so that one, a
schoolteacher of average talents barely
thirty months ago now holds court for
favour seekers from her mansion in a
toney part of town. Without dwelling too
much on suspicion in the state that the
governor has ordered all marriageable
relations of his (and some not so
marriageable once) to get hitched so
that they can enjoy the largesse of
state-sponsored weddings, it is a fact
of social history that never before had
the Akpabios held so many weddings,
naming ceremonies, child dedication and
house warming parties, both in Akwa Ibom
and overseas as they have done in the
last thirty months.
An why not? Their newfound wealth is now
legendary. An Akpabio brother is said to
have presented a personal bank account
statement to a foreign embassy showing a
credit balance of over N1 billion in
support of a visa application. The
astounded consular staff thereat raised
an alarm and called in some
anti-corruption agencies. The
well-reported case of a banker detained
by the authorities over the causal and
undocumented transportation of
US3.1million through an airport was
first traced to, and later denied to
have been connected to an Akpabio. Yet
more funds flowed and the case ended in
a very Nigerian-way. These are just a
few of the too-numerous-to-list
indications that in Akwa Ibom State,
what we have is government of the people
by an Akpabio for the Akpabios. And if
that is not what your civics teacher
taught you to be democracy, then tough
luck!
If the principle of zoning or rotation
of public offices appears to imply
acceptance of some mild form of
favoritism, it was never intended to
operate at the family level. Godswill
Akpabio came to power as governor based
solely on the tacit agreement that the
governorship should move to Ikot Ekpene
senatorial district. It probably would
have been found quite acceptable for him
to have given preferment to people from
that district. But no, the people of
Ikot Ekpene senatorial district whose
concession it was to produce the
governor have largely been left in the
cold. It is his blood relation alone who
must benefit and benefit in so
disproportionate a manner. This is sad.
By all lawful and constitutional means
let Nigerians say no to nepotism.
Nseobong
(nseachibong@yahoo.com)
writes in from Ikot Ekpene
Related Article:
Akwa Ibom
and the Burden of Stalinism-By
Udo Akata
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