It was Richard Foster who cleverly opined, “If we seek to go beyond the superficiality of our culture, we must be able to go down into recreating the silences”. One thing that pervaded the Ayade administration was the proliferation of Obudu people in governance it was the tempest of reason to think that the Obudu and people of Cross River Northern extraction would not dominate governance, despite the norm we made excuses for them, for we, like in our understanding nature accepted the complex that comes from deprivation. And if a Governor is comfortable working with people of a shared descent why can we beguile him?
But one thing that didn’t happen was that the Obudu man did not have his kinsmen out on the streets yelling and mocking others, in fact as a matter of duty, they were amongst his avowed critics and opposition, and when the Governor decided to return to the senate they conspired to make a bold statement of their disapproval, despite the many favourable disposition he had towards them. The people of the Northern senatorial district in that swing show demonstrated that what was more important to them was the collective and not the individualistic. They had amongst other reservations the general performance index of the former Governor as being below their expectations of him. We understand them. When Governor Duke held sway he demonstrated elitism, Donald was reputed to appoint people solely for their abilities to perform, he was a complete cosmopolitan politician, little wonder he still has friends across the length and breadth of the nation.
Duke’s successes were not generically embodied, it was a function of learning, exposure, individual disposition and a general understanding of the precepts of a whole, that was why he didn’t think about citing the Obudu cattle ranch in Odukpani, he was a pragmatic leader, even if he had his tendencies allow me to admit for the want of history stating the contrary, his crimes were far from ethnic profiling. During the week, we were greeted by the arrival of the pervasiveness of ethnic profiling on social media, soon after the emergence of the now Governor, his overzealous kinsmen have not hidden their desire to not just own governance but have made an open avowment of their “Emilokanism”, in taxis or public transports you will have to fight yourself to refuse to indulge in the mockery of the “Atam” people, the vulgarity of this statements have taken on discourse in beer parlours and even begin to contour how we go about our daily lives in the metropolis.
For the first time, I am supposed to understand that Calabar being the state capital belongs to the Efiks, the personification of the rhetoric is becoming nauseating, and the demolition of the Monolith roundabout only fuels the conservation and perpetuation of the mutual suspicion that there is a grand plan to erase the historic heterogeneous significance of state capital, let me not agree with that yet until we see what replaces it.
We have seen up close the other side we have refrained from commenting on, we from the downtown had decided on a conspiracy of silence, but now our egos are being bruised and it is not even a year yet. It appears that the unfortunate statement of one infantile son of perdition, whose only cocoon is to echo the stereophonic voices he must have heard in salient corners is not just an afterthought. It is no longer surprising that perhaps this line of thought has defined why it seems rather rare to find anyone who is not bearing Efik core surnames as chairman or secretary of any agency or parastatal of government, perhaps to say they will spoil Calabar.
The height of abuse of the collective sensibilities of a people is to tell them that their incompetence is now an issue of policy.
Archibong posted unregrettably on his Facebook account that which need not have been said, I wonder who raised him and what era he lives in, for a young man who is supposedly in his 30s to not have any form of discernment to read the room, it begs the question of the source of his audacity. Let us from Central make it thoroughly clear, that we have no reservations with enduring the next eight years, even if we become relegated to the background of governance. But we will not have anyone, come to the social media space to mock our contributions to the advancement of Cross River State, not even a fellow with no pedigree but a head full of infested ethnic sentiments. Let us make it abundantly clear that we were the strongest ally of the South in the last concluded elections, the results are self-evident, we even sacrificed our own, we did it for Ayade, we did it for Prince, and we have great respect for the advancement of the state, and we have played uncle Sam long enough and deserve to be respected by all and sundry.
We admonish the elders of the South to call their children to order, we will not have them rub mud on our elders, and we will not welcome any more than the ethnic profiling of governance, any attempt to push the narrative further will heat the polity, those of us who supported Sen. Prince Otu did so because we believed in him as a leader who did it for his people, who had the qualities to extend same to the length and breadth of the state, anyone who imagines this is a continuation of his senatorial run should check his bunkers, this is the Government of Cross River State and sooner or later the conspiracy of silence and the solidarity of other regions will wear thin and no one should bank on any given especially when the likes of one foolish Archibong Ashbury Efefiom roams the street inciting the ridiculous and abusing our collective senses.
This is the Government of Cross River State, this intoxication must be put in check before it becomes the bane of governance.
Victor Egba
Writes from Calabar.
