Many people in the state have mistaken the recent Akwa Ibom Traditional Rulers Council Law passed by the House of Assembly.
For any society to move forward, in progress and development, respect for truth must not only be accorded prime position but must also be jealously and courageously protected, in all circumstances and no matter whose ox is gored in the process. Whether in business or interpersonal relationships, undue attachment/slavery to sentiment will undoubtedly kill objectivity which will further rob the enterprise of focus from which fulfillment is derived. Every society that is serious about achieving progress and development can only ignore this basic lesson of nonnegotiable-respect for truth at its own peril.
As a matter of fact, an outstanding reason why development might consistently-elude Nigeria is transparent reluctance/sad tendency by citizens to imagine that the requisite-respect for facts, truth or objectivity as established-process for achieving development, can either be negotiated or circumvented. Development is a predictable destination that is certain to be achieved once the tested process of respect for objectivity and accountability is guaranteed. However, if you diminish respect for fact/truth/objectivity which fires the all-important tonic of accountability, the process will sputter and seize. Development with selective respect for truth, objectivity and accountability is just as wrong-headed as faith without work which the Holy Bible assured leads only to poverty.
It is pertinent for Starwitness to recall that neither intense grievance nor protest by folks in the old Cross River State, proved capable of denying the truth in former Vice-Chancellor of University of Calabar, late Professor Emmanuel Ayandele’s profiling of his host environment as an atomistic society that is permanently at war with itself. And in permanent state of agitation, sometimes for no reason, like the grossly-unnecessary controversy over why the foremost traditional ruler in the largest ethnic group in Akwa Ibom State should provide permanent head of the Traditional Rulers Council in the state. Decades after Prof. Ayandele provoked the people with the slur and description of them as irredeemable petition-writers, the unnecessary fuzz over headship of the TRC refocused attention on both the timelessness of truth in Ayandele’s allegation and sheer futility of huge attempt to intimidate him.
Also read: Can Yemi Cardoso Save CBN?
In desperate attempts to carve empires for manipulation, some selfish and irresponsible leaders politicize even incontestable-facts, including Ibibio as the predominant ethnic bloc in Akwa Ibom. And by virtue of its numerical strength, certain benefits are derivable from the status. Only those naïve or dishonest will disagree with the reality, which is why the leadership of the country rotates between the northern and southern parts, every eight years. This fact is so sacrosanct that it imposes automatic-restraint on any aspirant for leadership who did not secure the cooperation and support of the ethnic majors who must necessarily monopolies leadership in a democracy where the majority must always have their way.
Moving forward, the reality of majority status is so sacrosanct that in Benue State, for instance, the highest position the second largest tribe in the state, the Idomas, can volunteer for the position of Deputy-Governor. It cannot be otherwise because the largest group in Benue, Tivs, will always determine who becomes governor because the democratic-muscle to do so resides with them. The only way another group in Benue can produce governor is by securing the cooperation of the Tivs, not by attempting to intimidate their numerical superiors, as desperate politicians are doing in Akwa Ibom, where former Governor Victor Attah committed the terrible mistake of creating the false-impression that shifting power was a right, instead of privilege.
It is regrettable that the false latitude provided ethnic minors in Akwa Ibom State became so intoxicating that many erroneously-imagined the privilege of power shift as a right. The Starwitness further finds it imperative to emphasize that notwithstanding the false-sense of well-being which the privilege regrettably-inspired, especially in desperate and irresponsible politicians, it is neither too late nor a sign of weakness to recall privilege. The predominant group in Akwa Ibom is the Ibibio ethnic bloc from which the various dialectical variations developed. There should be neither apology not prevarication over the fact that predominance confers certain advantages, including leadership of the TRC which the preeminent traditional ruler in the largest ethnic bloc in the state should provide.
Finally, the proof of how wrong-headed it is to attempt to intimidate or blackmail, the truth is that many decades after vigorous protest over late Ayandele’s controversial-statement,, the timeless fact in the needless-controversy resonated. First, to haunt folks who fought-furiously, the uncomplimentary-profiling. And most importantly to taunt those who imagined that desperation, rather than reason, established fact in an argument. Starwitness urges Governor Umo Eno to ignore deliberate attempt to blackmail and intimidate the State Government with diversionary litigations which advertise pathetic ignorance of well-established advantages derivable by ethnic groups on account of their preeminence. The examples of Nigeria, Benue and Kogi States provide eloquent testimonies of political-privileges which must necessarily be derived and enjoyed by groups, on account of their preeminence.
