– Samuel Ayara
In the words of the legendary playwright William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.” Success that comes with the ability to challenge the status quo lies in knowing that the motivation of men depends on how much opportunity they can recognize and seize. Whether at the ebbs or during the flows there comes a time a people must identify their tide either as an opportunity or obstacle; there are always prospects and warning signs to guide our persuation. If every action requires equal and opposite reaction then it is time humans thought more of which action would better serve their time and memories; money had stopped answering all things.
For people of Akwa Ibom Northwest Senatorial District (Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District), the 2023 election has already bared its prospects and warning signs; the old fashioned bragadocious and desperate tendencies are dusting up their boots to contend with every sane and known voice of reasoning. How far the former settles into their futile enterprise is no much an issue than the vulnerability they exploit to always make unsuspecting people think them as our only option in a large orchestra of capable and credible alternatives. It would not be the last they will deploy their manipulative mastery against the people, as a matter of fact, that has become their forte, having lost all of what hitherto made them the life, rave and envy of moments they found acclaim.
The tide of opportunity before the people of Akwa Ibom Northwest District lies more in preparedness, capacity and the ability to look past immediate comfort while sticking to a destination that suits their trajectory than jump at the patronage of self-preservation and greed. Arriving at this will require a great deal of resilience, mastery of both leadership and followership as well as ability to concede; which are values only the PDP Senatorial Candidate, Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem has for over two decades exemplified and internalized in his political and public service outing. It is at least unheard of that he ever veered off a collective interest, which is explained in why he remains among the few of his party’s foundational members yet to tinker with the idea of plunging into a larger than life adventure, but commits heart, mind and body to seeing the people as much as party, since 1999, sustain the winning streak.
A departure from the “Emi Lo’kan“ entitlement culture, Enoidem has waited against loud and reverberating calls to give an elective office a shot. While at it, he has kept the disposition of a good chef, getting others a good share of the meal, hoping he can always make something else for himself. Nothing better explains the giving up of his 2011 and 2015 Senatorial Ambitions for Sen. Aloysius Etok and Senator Godswill Akpabio. For the former, he did so people of Ibibio ethnic nationality could support Akpabio’s re-election as Governor in 2011, and did not look back in taking same decision when the latter again showed interest in the district’s red chambers ticket in 2015. If nothing can readily describe Enoidem; perseverance, sacrificial and optimistic should. Thankfully, he today can count on the support of one of the men he conceded to, as he squares up with another beneficiary of his political magnanimity.
More than plead marginalization with a first class Senatorial material like Emmanuel Enoidem, it is time to remind our Ikono/Ini and Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim/Obot Akara people the number of times their Abak/Etim Ekpo/Ika brethrens have drummed support for their course, even at very discomforting circumstances. All they will lose in reciprocating our gestures of the last sixteen years would be the bad name of returning evil for good; such good that has seen us queue at the polls to have theirs in the Senate, as shown in the unassailable record of representations that have seen the district produce nine Senators from three of the four federal constituencies in the district with Abak federal constituency trailing as the only Federal constituency in the State that is yet to produce a Senator since 1960. What infamy could be worse?
Taking this further, it must be noted that the PDP senatorial candidate for Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District is a roundly fit fellow who other than concede for peace in the past leveraged on a handful of opportunities to come to the 2023 ballot as most qualified and prepared. From his stint at the state executive council, to his assignment as PDP National Legal Adviser, It is almost hard to think of a bright moment an Enoidem membered team recorded without his sterling contribution. Without sounding immodest, there would be nothing ‘Uncommon’ in the Godswill Akpabio administration without Enoidem’s knack for quality delivery, the Governor’s lodge, office, banquet hall, Ibom specialist hospital, four points by Sheraton among other turnkey infrastructure stands as testaments to his capacity at getting the job done. As commissioner for investment and industry under Governor Udom Emmanuel, he nonetheless midwived the building blocks for the administration’s industrialization mandate.
Akwa Ibom state since 1998 has been blessed with men and women who took responsibility of holding offices in the National Working Committee of the Peoples DemocraticParty, but without prejudice to their valid contributions, the arrival of this Etim Ekpo born legal luminary on that turf, in countless ways re-invented the wheel of visibility and active participation for our state. From the party’s boardroom to the courtrooms where he won more than 90 percent of cases the party was involved in, Enoidem to the consternation of those who thought us a timid people showed Nigeria that nothing was impossible, with the right passion. He did not only leave celebrated as the most visible and proactive law officer of the party, since inception, but exited setting compelling standards for his successors-in-line to follow.
Arriving the red chambers with these credentials at the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly, would birth for the district and state great moments of shared prosperity as against the lame gist about who will hold what position. Senator Emmanuel Ibokessien in 1999 arrived the Senate a first timer and left as Deputy Chief Whip, same way Senator Akpabio arrived a first-timer to emerge the Minority Leader, a position thought reserved for returning members. The only difference between both men would be the former’s patriotism of joining the state in the fight for the abrogation of the on-shore/off-shore oil dichotomy at a time standing against it was more profiting and convenient, while the latter in a bid to join the national banquet jettisoned his position as minority leader, which at the time was already considered ineffective. More than make believe, Enoidem poses a character that will stand with Akwa Ibom through thick and thin; the reason his aspiration is flying on bipartisan wings.
For whatever it is worth, a man who has supported countless several, deserves all the support he can get, and more than a passing conviction towers over those who think the people’s mandate their exclusive preserve. They must always be on the ballot, trouncing all known sane considerations to prioritise their interest. In determining what direction to head for Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District in 2023, Enoidem’s challengers should come forward with prove of relationships they have sustained over the last decade. This becoming an item on the conversation will most certainly find most of them wanting, as for them, nothing more than ambition matters. This is another advantage Enoidem will day or night show up with, brandishing a chestplate of friends and accolytes from yesteryears who still find warmth in his friendship. Having all these years mastered the fine art of living, growing and keeping with communal values, his ‘People first’ campaign mantra could not have made more sense.
In an era political capitulation has almost become the norm, finding a politician who is fidel in word and action must also be prioritized over a mercantile fellow that would abandon the people in pursuit of personal comfort and benefit. It is not in anybody’s interest, than ego, that some aspirations are already counting their chicks before they hatched, seeking to jump the guns in quest for tall orders on a menu list they would at the end not dare with a long pole, considering their retreating history. If we must not again not be left in the cold to a man’s penchant for self-glory, then the people must make do with brave and courageous options that will not in the face of discomfort and challenges scamper to safety, not minding the people. If the strand of bravery and courage the future requires is the rare variant that never yields, then the people would with an outstreched arm embrace Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem.
For the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District mandate in 2023 nobody comes more prepared than Enoidem who at last count has traversed every community and hamlet in the district to interact with leaders, politicians, professionals, women and youths, a departure from the practice of yore that established that “what money cannot do, more money can”. Stirring the district to getting it right, now than before, the wildfire burning across political persuasion signposts a furnace that would not spare anyone who for reasons other than those that will serve the people seek to twist our narrative of brotherliness. More than succumb to the pettiness and blackmail from those who think they made the Heaven and earth and its inhabittants, Enoidem is the tide the people will rise with to the red chambers.
Records through the times are unassailable, as Chairman, State Treasurer of PDP, member of State Executive Council under two governors, National Legal Adviser of PDP and now leading what could pass for the most robust political movement, the Maintain Peace Movement, he has been consistent at succeeding where others failed, the Senatorial call would not be any different. That mediocrity ever roars loud does not insulate it from being challenged by character, merit, courage and people mindedness. Now that the people know more than they were hoodwinked to believe, we can boldly say that from the right door where leaders who never abandon their people emerge, comes Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem, our best bet; made and kept for a time like this.
Samuel Ayara writes from Ibong Otoro in Abak LGA
