Udoedehe’s Tirade: The Height Of Political Puerility | By Michael Effiong
In African folklore, there is a living thing that evokes so much scorn. That living thing, we are told, can be washed, perfumed, and adorned with the best designer outfits, but will always return to its natural habitat.
Indeed, this particular living thing is so despised and seen as so despicable that in one of the major religions, it is considered a taboo, a haram to touch or eat it.
It is the image of that living thing that popped into my head as I watched, over and over again, the latest tirade of the serial gubernatorial contestant, Distinguished Senator James Akpan Udoedehe.
That living thing loves its natural habitat, and if you know the putrid smell of the surroundings that it wallows in gleefully, you will begin to imagine the manner of man this our elder brother has become.
His stock-in-trade has been antagonism. Perhaps he is unaware that that train has since left the station. We are now enveloped in an atmosphere of Akwa Ibom United, where peace and camaraderie reign supreme despite political differences.
I cannot imagine how desperate anyone can be to act in a manner so terrible that adding the prefix “Distinguished” to the person’s name evokes a sense of revulsion.
How could you, in the name of politics, mock a man for the demise of his dear wife? When did politics descend this low?
Governor Umo Eno had counselled and urged his aides never to respond to or talk down on any leader in the state. He is an innately peace-loving man, but that should not give some people the licence to be wicked.
That Udoedehe speech crossed the red line of good conduct, and I just had to react because having also lost my dear wife, Oluwakemi, earlier in the year, I know how hurtful and painful it can be for anyone to make the kind of insinuation he made against Governor Eno.
Udoedehe should understand that there is no monopoly of madness. He should not forget that his files of trickery and treachery from the parks still exist and the tales of his stint at the APC NEC are known to some of us.
Let me say it, truthfully, if he was younger than I am, I would have referred to him in Yoruba as Omo alaileko_, but since he is a bit older, I would just say he acted like an Agbaya_. He should ask his Yoruba friends to translate the terms to him; maybe it will make him understand the import of his unguarded statement.
Let us be clear: from watching that video, it was obvious that the candidate had nothing to offer his audience, so he had to spew puerile inanities. I did not know he had sunk to this all-time low.
Where is the place of empathy? Where is the place of decorum in public affairs?
Is politics not about an exchange of ideas and policies? I would have expected the self-acclaimed dye-in-the-wool politician to reel out his alternative policies on Agriculture, Rural Development, Infrastructural Renewal, Security Management or Education.
Rather, he veered off course, blabbing about personal matters that have no bearing on the contemporary kitchen-table issues that concern the everyday voter.
This same Udoedehe, the other week, remarked that the Governor has been busy in the last three years delivering what he described as “bungalow” projects.
For me, that was a signal that the man had nothing to offer. It was obvious that the gentleman has not taken a trip round the state, and even if he has, he was living in demial.
Please he should then take a trip around a few states in Nigeria and come back to benchmark the current administration with what is happening elsewhere.
I was wondering if has he been to the ARISE Palm Resort? If he has not been there physically, at least he can ask his aides to provide him with intel or better still, just search for it online.
That edifice, which President Bola Ahmed Tinubu came to commission last Friday alongside other signature projects, is certainly not a “bungalow” project.
Is delivering over 1,500 kilometres of roads and 43 bridges across the 31 Local Government Areas a bungalow project?
What of clearing over N100 billion out of the N111 billion backlog of gratuities and pensions inherited from previous administrations?
Does he even know the financial discipline and ingenuity involved in arranging and procuring five new aircraft for Ibom Air, while completing the new International Smart Terminal Building at Victor Attah International Airport?
What of the completion of the 5,000-seat Ibom International Convention Centre and the Ibom International Hotel? That one too is a bungalow?
Let us educate him further on what he calls “bungalow” projects:
Is the state-of-the-art Command and Control Centre on Brooks Street, the digital nerve centre that will monitor the entire state, coordinate emergency response and provide real-time security surveillance, a bungalow?
Is the sustenance of free and compulsory education, the disbursement of N1.69 billion in bursaries, the recruitment of over 3,000 teachers and 2,854 health workers, 4,000 new civil servants, and the transformation of the College of Education, Afaha Nsit into a University of Education a bungalow?
Is building the Ibom International Hospital, a 350-bed smart referral hospital a bungalow? What of constructing model Primary Healthcare Centres in every LGA, renovating eight General Hospitals and building Youth Development Centres across the state, are these bungalow projects?
Is training over 4,000 youths at Ibom-LED and Dakkada Skills Acquisition Centre with over N2 billion disbursed in business support grants, handing over 500 ARISE Compassionate Homes to the most vulnerable, and delivering 1,000 additional housing units a bungalow?
Are the revamped Agricultural Equipment Leasing Company, the Ibom Model Farm, the Oil Palm Tree Crop Revolution, and support to over 1,700 farmers with N2 billion in grants and inputs bungalow projects too?
Is the creation of a standalone Ministry of Internal Security and Waterways, the donation of gunboats, patrol boats and communication-equipped patrol vehicles to secure our waterways and hinterland, and making Akwa Ibom one of the most peaceful states in Nigeria a bungalow project?
Is the procurement of CNG buses and building of a CNG terminal, the payment of N80,000 minimum wage, the 13th-month salary called ENOMBER, and the clearing of N34 billion in commercial loans without borrowing a dime since 2023 also bungalow projects?
We must raise the bar of political engagement in this state. Criticism is welcome, but it must be constructive, factual, and issue based. When you have no alternative ideas, silence is more distinguished than puerile tirades.
The people of Akwa Ibom have moved beyond the era of insults. They are living witnesses to a Golden Era where compassion meets vision which transforms into careful execution.
Regurgitating all those ” I get am before” tales would get him no where.
For Udoedehe and his likes, the message from the Government House is clear, and the example of Governor Umo Eno remains instructive. No enemy of progress would take the state back to Egypt.
As it is often said: When you are building something that matters, you don’t have time to argue with those who are only good at tearing things down. Keep your eyes on the work, stay focused, and let your results answer the naysayers.
Former US President Theordore Roosevelt corroborated this when he powerfully said. “It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat, who strives valiantly”.
Effiong is Senior Special Assistant to Governor Umo Eno
