Ray Ekpu
Most developed countries have completed their duty of providing basic amenities for their citizens. In their countries they have good roads and bridges, well-built schools and hospitals; they have an uninterrupted flow of electricity and water etc. These governments are therefore now pursuing the finer aspects of life and striving to make life more interesting, more useful, more fulfilling. They are exploring finer values such as freedom, equality of opportunities for genders and groups, activities that can promote pleasure and happiness for all including the disadvantaged members of the society, the resuscitation and refinement of long cherished values etc.
It is these activities that have made life more enjoyable for their citizens. It is also these value-adding activities that make it difficult for Nigerians who travel there for further stories to decide to stay back there and work after the completion of their studies.
The governor of Akwa Ibom State, Umo Eno has made some significant development strides within the 21 months that he has been in the saddle in the state. These strides have caught the attention of the editors of ThisDay newspaper who decorated him recently with the Governor of the Year award along with three other governors.
It is worth remarking that all organisations that give awards to people in the public sphere always do so on the basis of achievements that are measurable. This does not mean that there aren’t other achievements that can be recorded in favour of those persons.
In particular I have noted four difficult-to-measure achievements recorded in my book by the Akwa Ibom State governor. These are what I call Umo Eno’s mesmerism, a subtle means by which some leaders hypnotise their people knowingly or unknowingly.
The British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher also known as the Iron Lady used the tool of masculine femininity to win the hearts of Britons. And even when she made mistakes such as her stand on apartheid, they forgave her because she had hypnotized them. America’s president, Ronald Reagan, had the gift of oratorical eloquence and a voice that boomed like a gun. He used both to good effect and Americans fell for him. The German Chancellor Angela Merkel was in Brazil in 2014 when Germany won the World Cup. She stood there humbly in the fading sun in a nicely cut suit and warmly hugged all the sweaty young men who had brought honour to her country. They brought honour to her country. She brought honour to herself as a leader of humility. Murtala Muhammed, the Nigerian leader who overthrew General Yakubu Gowon was a leader roundly loved by most Nigerians because of his muscular activism which he displayed during the few months that he ran the affairs of Nigeria. Up till today, he remains unforgettable even though his tenure was short.
In Nigeria there is an abundance of vanity in leadership. The member of the House of Representatives who told a dispatch rider recently: Do you know who I am? epitomises that unbridled vanity. Some of our leaders may not say so openly, but they do things that indicate that they are the Lord and Master of the manor. They surround themselves with luxury items that they do not need simply to emphasise their bigmanism, their next-to-god-ism, their Almighty-ness.
Many years ago a military governor of one of the northern states arrived from abroad at the state’s airport. The Government House sent a Peugeot 504 to pick him. He refused to ride in the car until they brought a Mercedes Benz car to pick him. Vanity in leadership has not yet vanished from Nigeria.
Some years ago I went for a conference in Cape Town, South Africa. At the scheduled time, the president arrived noiselessly, promptly, accompanied by two cars only. That cannot happen in Nigeria; that does not happen in Nigeria. How will people know that power is on the road if the ground is not made to quake from the booming of the siren from multiple cars that accompany the lonely traveller who may not be as important as the booming of the siren tells us? Powerful men and women in Nigeria must exhibit bluff and bluster as evidential proof of their power and the glow of glamour that their office offers.
Apart from what Governor Eno has done on development issues in the state, there are four things he has done that impress me a great deal. One, before the 2023 governorship election in the state, there were several aspirants but when Umo Eno emerged as the candidate of the PDP, he was bombarded with a flurry of court cases. At the end of the count there were some 40- something cases against him. At the end of the day, he won all the cases, and became governor of the state. Some people expected him to swing his axe menacingly in revenge but he did not go after his opponents. As a pastor, he was probably listening to Jesus Christ who said “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Or he was listening to the wisdom of William Shakespeare who said “The robbed that smiles steals something from the thief.” Or he was heeding the warming of the Chinese who say “Let he who seeks revenge dig two graves.” Apparently he thinks that revenge can keep your own wounds fresh and he doesn’t want that to happen to him.
Two, now he is building two bedroom bungalows, fully equipped, for the poorest of the poor in all the wards in the state. These are people who do not have people to take care of them and would have had no help if the governor did not look in their direction. I have seen pictures of some of the beneficiaries. They wear tattered clothes, look dejected and truly wretched. When presenting the completed buildings to them, the governor, beautifully attired, hugs them passionately. That is humility, the sign of being a people-centric leader, who does not mind being associated with the wretched of the earth that cross his path in the line of duty.
Three, the governor is now taking care of the senior citizens in the state. These are the people who are old and uncatered for by anybody. Their life is in the balance but the governor has come to their aid by providing them with food and money for sustenance.
I urge the Governor to send a bill to the State House of Assembly so as to legalise the decision and provide a framework for its execution. This will guarantee that it remains a noble contribution of this government to the rehabilitation of a group of people who had exerted their energy in pushing for the betterment of the society when they were young. Now that the cruel hands of age are on them, someone has provided salvation for them.
Four, Umo Eno believes in inclusive governance. Even though he is a member of the PDP, he does not mind meeting and mixing with members of the APC or LP because he is a pan-Nigerian. He invites them to his functions and he attends their own functions too. When Chief Godswill Akpabio, an APC member, was sworn in as president of the 10th Senate he was there. When Chief Don Etiebet, another APC man, marked his 80th birthday in Lagos at the Metropolitan Club, Governor Eno was there. So it can be said that Eno is a refined politician, the type of politician that is hard to find in Nigeria, a politician that has no iota of bitterness in his heart. That is one of the reasons I have enormous respect for him.
For our democracy to survive it must have enduring values. We must not make our politics a do-or-die affair. Yes, we can congratulate ourselves that we have had 25 years of uninterrupted constitutional government but the imperfections are many. We need to refine our democratic values, reduce our desperation for power and give democracy a chance to grow in the spirit of give and take.
Eno is a symbol of inclusive governance and an apostle of politics without bitterness. He does all these without any display of arrogance thus showing that there can be power without arrogance, there can be power accompanied by humility.
