Writing is a solitary occupation. Family, friends and society are the natural enemies of the writer. He must be alone, uninterrupted, and slightly savage if he is to sustain and complete an undertaking - Lawrence Clark Powell.
The lark is a song bird of the temperate region. It sings to herald the advent of spring. The song by the title": The Rising of the Lark" was taught us in primary school, by a student teacher on trek from the glorious Government Teachers Training College, Uyo, which gave way to Advanced Teachers Training College, later to College of Education, still later to Cross River State University, and finally to University of Uyo that today adorns its campus. I have borrowed the word "trek" from the practice of Colleges of Theology of sending out students to Churches and mission fields to acquire a supervised practical knowledge of ministry. So, it had been (and perhaps still is) with students of Teachers Training Colleges.
The song read: "Hark now the Lark doth sing its merry lay on this glad day up in the heavens blue. Ravished by the mellow voice these leafy woods and trees rejoice; Not a wild rose blossoming, but happy is when thou dost sing, to saddened hearts thy merry song, sweet comfort now doth bring."
The words of the song aptly illustrates what the act of the Ibibio (Ibibio Nation) of Saturday October 10, 2009, has done to the polity of Akwa Ibom State . The merry song rendered on that auspicious day has brought sweet comfort to many bewildered hearts. Even the leafy woods and trees have this day rejoiced, ravished by the mellow song that the day has borne. The question: what do the Ibibio say? What is their position? has been answered, and that settles it, or should.
I went to the event at Asan Ibibio, to the grand reception accorded our Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio and his wife Unoma, for diverse reasons. After the experience of September 23 at the Ibom International Airport , I could have elected to sit back and watch the Asan event on television, and PHCN would have been circumvented if it acted funny as its custom is, but I had to go against all odds. I know I would hear hyperbolic encomiums poured on our Governor, which I must admit, he richly deserves. I went there specifically to see and hear who speak for Ibibio. I had wanted to entitle this piece: "Who Speak for Ibibio?" but I changed my mind at the eleventh hour.
When the editorial writers of this medium the other day took out a screaming front-page comment" Let Ibibio Nation Speak Today" in the special edition of Saturday October 10, to capture the momentum of the day, I had asked them who was going to be the Ibibio mouth piece. And I went and saw who spoke on the occasion, who delivered the mandate of the Ibibio Nation, and it was a man after my own heart, the first indigenous military governor of Akwa Ibom State , his country home as the crow flies from mine, retired Air Commodore Idongesit Okon Nkanga (Idongesit Akwa Ibom). I always characterize him as the pioneer wonder worker in the state, because of his landmark achievements in the State in JUST ONE YEAR. I need not list them because they are still very visible. Now I know that an achiever will always go with an achiever whenever and wherever he identifies one, and so the romance of this one- time gubernatorial candidate of the National Democratic Party NDP, with the PDP administration of Gov. Godswill Akpabio is hardly surprising.
Before this event, what had kept playing in my mind had been that who truly speaks for Ibibio should be one free from all political party encumbrances, affiliations and entanglements, as he can with true candour be acceptable to all shades of political opinion.
The Bible admonishes us Christians to love all, love the brethren, fear God, honour the King, and I abide by this as my mantra. So I sought for who speaks dispassionately for Ibibio from the ranks of our Royal fathers, but I found that though theoretically they are supposed to be apolitical, in practice, though not strictly civil servants, they are on the payroll of government as it were. Many of them are very aware, and some may still be haunted by the specter of the penny-a-year Obas of Chief Akintola's Western Nigeria of the 60s. I have doubted whether there could be one among them in the cast of the noble Oba Akinsanya, the Odemo of Isara, who ignored the penny-a-year punitive stipend of Akintola to recalcitrant Obas and held his ground. So my search shifted to the clergy, and I was reminded that the days are far gone, when the clergy looked up to their reward in heaven, shunned all earth-bound allurements, and stood on solid ground on issues; that even among the Popes of old there were those that pandered to the wishes of the emperor for valuable considerations, and so my search shifted from the clergy.
In searching for who speak Ibibio, I was not seeking blackmailers of government; not those who sought self-aggrandizement and government would not oblige them, the truly disgruntled. No Such men would remain self-seeking still, after they might have gotten to where they coveted.
I had, however, felt that one who speaks for Ibibio must at times be prepared to be tagged "enemy" of government for a moment where the time and circumstance warrant it. He must be inscrutable, and not always be predictable even to children. Then I found that searching for who speak for Ibibio in my kind of mindset will amount to Robert Louis Stephenson's story of the search for the Griffin - futile. Then I recoursed to the poet who wrote: "God, send us men of steadfast will, patient, courageous, strong and true, with vision clear and mind equipped, His will to learn, his work to do. God, send us men with heart ablaze, all truth to love, all wrong to hate. Those are the patriot's nation's need. These are the bulwarks of the state "And so I concluded that who parade the above credentials to speak for Ibibio are hard to get; that perhaps our Moses is still undergoing tutelage in the royalty of Egypt .
Let me now return to the rising of the Lark with which I began. Many years ago, precisely 1969, during the civil war, and from the comparative safety of Lagos , I was lost in somber thought for my people back in the East that had been declared Biafra , though at this time we had been granted our request for a state of ours. After exhaustive reading in Talbot, Darylle Ford, Jefferson, G. 1. Jones, which I had selected from the library of the National Museum and Monuments, Onikan, Lagos , and "The Quest of Souls in Qua Iboe" which I had, carried from home, I still went searching for more information on the Ibibio as elicited from the early British administrative officers and other sources. Then an elderly friend, Deputy Curator of the Museum, Mr Nkanta of blessed memory, from then Opobo Division, led me into a document: "War Report on Southern Nigeria 1909(?) What those young British Anthropologists, products of Oxford and Cambridge , depicted of the Ibibio made my heart bleed. In particular, they depicted us as corporate weaklings and cowards vis-à-vis our Igbo and Efik neighbours, who "could not engage in concerted activities together", and who could not wage wars as a people. I am happy that in 1928, the Ibibio proved them wrong in this respect, when the great Ibibio Union that the British even later used in suppressing the notorious "Ekpe Ikpaukot" (Man Leopard Cult) when they themselves had got to the end of their tethers, was born. For the very first time the Ibibio made exploits concertedly, among them training of their sons, and what many often forget, some daughters (in Nursing, to wit, Mrs Victoria Akitobi, nee Victoria Umoinyang, Ikot Ekpene, late Ibiom Sydney Etuk, nee Ibiom Bassy, Uyo, Mrs Dennis Udoinyang, Opobo) in Universities and Schools of Nursing in Britain and the United States of America. To cap it all, they blazed the trail in establishment of a post-primary institution with a bias for Science, Ibibio State College, Ikot Ekpene, yes, Ikot Ekpene.
My heart leapt up when our dear governor Chief Godswill Akpabio, in his response at Asan Ibibio on October 10, made glowing reference to Ibibio Union and the year 1928. My task is now made easy and I can anchor this piece at this point. And now the slightly savage:
There was wild jubilation among the Annang present at Asan Ibibio on October 10, notably the Ati Annang, when Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga delivered the mandate of the Ibibio nation, endorsing the second term bid of the governor. There is a Cantata titled "The King shall rejoice" I am sure that for decorum and decency, the Ibibio could not have there and then told the Annang "go and do likewise to our son, Dr The Rt. Hon Sen. Aloysius Etuk, the Ibibio from the Ini-Ndo-Ikono axis of Akwa Ibom North-West (Ikot Ekpene) Senatorial District by endorsing him for a second term in the Senate." This done, the Ibibio shall rejoice. The ovation at the venue of such declaration shall be even louder, and our accord concordia (courtesy late K. O. Mbadiwe) shall be complete.
Furthermore, government may in the spirit of October 10, 2009, rethink the restoration of the name "Ibibio State College" that the founding fathers of Ibibio Union had given the college since changed to just "State College" This done, the tree of unity that had been planted in Ikot Ekpene will further blossom and represent its true symbol to the full. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, one time President of USA had said that "sincerity is always subject to proof." Any voice of dissent? Let him keep me posted.
