Date Published: 07/02/09
Akwa Ibom: THE RANTING OF A Faceless Writer
By Mr. Edet Asuquo
I read in Sunday Leadership newspaper of June 28, 2009 on page 64, what I may call the ranting of a writer named Uloh Bazee who pretended an Akwa Ibom person, writing from Uyo. His article was entitled “Moving Akwa Ibom Forward”. For sure, that name, Uloh Bazee, is not Akwa Ibom but could be a pen name. He wrote rightly as an insider or agent of the present administration in Akwa Ibom. In fact, the right guess is that the writer is a member of the governor’s image making team.
Bazee was blinded in his write up to the extent that he further insulted ex-Governor Victor Attah and the sensibility of every sincere Akwa Ibomite. He and his ilk may well read the Sunday Guardian of June 28, 2009, page 72 by Ayoyinka Olagoke - a neutral Yoruba writer. He wrote on politics; Governors vs Godfathers, with the title “Attah/Akpabio: Conflict of Interests”. In the said piece, Olagoke suggested peace in Akwa Ibom. Therefore, were Bazee a true Akwa Ibom man as he wanted us to believe, he would have sued for sustainable tranquility, peace and unity in our State.
Bazee rightly described Akpabio as an ex-political son of Attah’s. He also probably rightly noted that millionaires must have been made out of the present discourse, which Attah’s letter to Akpabio has generated. By this, he referred to media houses and practitioners but forgot to include himself as one of the beneficiary-millionaires to emerge at the end of the day. The author also deliberately forgot to admit that the government he works for has obviously spent millions supporting advertisements and write-ups against Obong Victor Attah, whereas the latter could not have spent much, if any, on those patriotic writers and media men who in their various write-ups at different times only offered pieces of advice to the two sides in the interest of peace and tranquility for which Akwa Ibom was noted before the emergence of the new administration in Uyo. Mr. Bazee also forgot to admit that because of its current stupendous earnings from oil, the Akwa Ibom government hardly bothers when it comes to paying millions of Naira to sycophants and professional blackmailers in order to humiliate Attah or destroy his name.
I am sure that faceless Bazee is a journalist, and is afraid of revealing his real identity otherwise the insult he heaped on Mr. Emmanuel Yawe, a veteran journalist who was the former Director of Press with the old Gongola State (now Taraba and Adamawa States) and also who served as an Editor with Kano Triumph newspaper many years back, is enough to earn him reprobation by anyone who qualifies to answer a journalist. Yawe, whose piece of advice was appreciated by most Akwa Ibom people, had his telephone number and address fully displayed in the article he wrote. One then wonders what the Bazee man was trying to insinuate in his scurrilous write-up. In fact, I myself have phoned Yawe to thank him for his patriotic and selfless intervention. Mr. Bazee said that a letter credited to one Cecilia Ekong in the press was suspect because no civil servant was allowed to talk on politics. What then would he say about a Special Assistant to Governor Akpabio, one Luke Aniefiok, who is confirmed to be doing his Youth Service in Ebonyi State and at the same time is being paid by the Akwa Ibom State Government? Which is more condemnable: a civil servant writing to an editor commenting on a contemporary issue or a graduate civil servant/youth corper earning for youth service and at the same time from his state government? In any case, the piece by Cecilia merely urged that peace should be allowed in Akwa Ibom State in order that the governor could concentrate fully on his supposed good job for the State. In fact, I cannot understand the grouse of Mr. Bazee.
As I stated earlier, reading the Sunday Guardian (28/6/09), it was clear that Attah had done all he needed to do before his letter was made an open one. Bazee, as an insider in the present government indirectly confirmed this; he had narrated how Governor Akpabio sent a text message to Attah acknowledging the letter. A non-insider won’t know that such a text was sent by the governor to Attah, who had opened up to mention how he posted his former political son to the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and left him there in spite of pressure on him (Attah) to remove the man following what was revealed later to be a financial misappropriation. Attah, it is said spared Akpabio and allowed him such a long stay in the ministry deliberately in order to nurture him for a higher post, namely the governorship of the state. Ironically, Attah is now being punished for his large-heartedness. The world is like that.
Anyway, Governor Akpabio should know the limit of ingratitude. My suggesting peace and sanity in the current misunderstanding should not be misinterpreted. The truth is that once the cause is no more, the effect disappears.
Mr. Edet Asuquo
176 Ikpa Road
UYO, Akwa Ibom State
