Is It About the Ugep Man? (1)

A lot has happened in recent times within the Yakurr political scene. Like in other parts of Cross River State, a combination of factors - wholesale election rigging, electorate intimidation and politics of exclusion have enthroned in Yakurr Local Government a one party system.Yakurr, that used to be the deciding factor in the politics of Cross River State has since become inconsequential in the scheme of things.There has been a gradual erosion of the intrinsic vitality of the Yakurr man to a point where the majority of the people have lost interest or the motivation to get involved in partisan politics. Put this side by side the general apathy towards voting- owing to the futility of votes in recent times- Yakurr hes been left in the hands of a few men whose claim to leadership and authority arise only from their selfish and blind loyalty to causes at variance with Yakurr's interest. This situation is disturbing.

Yakurr currently has no single man or woman with the necessary political clout to attract government (State and Federal) patronage for the Yakurr people. For a local Government that had in time past produced such names as Dr. Okoi Arikpo- Federal Commissioner in the Gowan administration, Chief Eteng Okoi Obuli- Minister in the Shagari Administration and Mr. Clement Ebri- ex governor of Cross River State, Yakurr has retrogressed greatly. What yakurr has suffered in recent years is a line-up of feather weight politicians who lack the integrity and moral standing to make Yakurr proud. Take Chief Obeten Okorn Obeten for example. Enormously blessed with charisma, wit and the support of a greater majority of Yakurr people, Chief Obeten's eight years representation of the people at the National assembly went by without any event of note. After his eight years, Yakurr lost eight years of political relevance. I look back now in vain trying to pin down one single episode of socio-political engineering that was meant to move the Yakurr man forward during Chief Obeten's empire. There was none. The only thing I remember from that period was the intractable struggle for supremacy between Chief Obeten and his erstwhile Protégée- Bassey Eko Ewa. Yakurr was polarized along the lines of these two men with their supporters fighting to the death in support of their masters. At some point, both Yakurr representatives in Government were hurled into a police cell like common criminals by the Donald Duke administration!

Towards the end of Chief Obeten's first four years in the National Assembly, a friend of mine- Sebastine Omini Eko and I, x-rayed the Yakurr political situation and decided to form an organization called the Leadership Support Group (LSG). The primary goal of LSG was to identify and support all Yakurr leaders in key positions. As the highest political office holder of the time, Chief Obeten was our first target. We put together a written proposal that we titled the "Lone Ranger" for him. The title was a reflection of his seeming "aloneness" in a national house filled with political heavy weights with lots of resources and godfathers to lean on in times of trouble. Our proposal was simple and direct: Initiate the formation of a South-South legislative (consultative)forum; Play the politics of oil and the south-south; Leave Yakurr politics to politicians at the local level. The reasoning behind our proposal was that the Yakurr man needed representatives that can hold their own at the national level. The Yakurr man needed his own Balarabe Musa, Okwesilizi Nwodo, M. T. Mbu, Edwin Clarke, Marshal Harry etc. etc. We can have men like these by playing politics in Ugep, Ekori, Idomi and the rest! Chief liked the slant of the proposal and promised to "look deeply into it". He did the exact opposite of what we proposed. His routine while in the house was predictable: Thursday afternoon- flight to Calabar en-route Ugep. Tuesday morning- drive to Calabar en-route Abuja. That was the pendulum that characterized our representation as a people at the National house for the better part of eight years! The Yakurr man has been most unfortunate. Our current representation- Bassey Eko Ewa- has fallen into the same pattern. Only this time, the epicenter of action has moved from Ugep to Ekori. Bassey Ewa's stint at the national house is a matter for another day.

Between 2003 and 2006, I spent a lot of time with Chief Obeten at his house in Abuja, Calabar and Ugep. In all these time, my major preoccupation was to get him to share his ascendancy plan. I knew his reign would surely come to and end like all other things in life and I was keen to understand his exit strategy- would there be a vacuum? would someone step in to keep the sheep and the ship together? what would be Chief's role as an elder and veteran Yakurr politician?. These and many others are questions I had put to him alone and in company of others. I remember a certain morning in 2006 when I mobilized some young men from Ugep to have a meeting with him. Some of the people present at that meeting were Chief Okoi Obono Obla (Advocate), Sebastine Eko, Gommy, Nnanna Nsot, Balinwo Ofegobi to mention a few. We put all the above questions to him and waited for his response. As is characteristic of him in those days, he served us a cocktail of expensive drinks- Remi Martins, Campari, Irish Cream, Beer and even Palm Wine. The undiscerning amongst us drank to their fill and forgot the reason we were there in the first place. Chief then went into a long mesmerizing sermon that left us with more questions than answers. The only thing I can remember now from that meeting was his position that "Politics means food on the table". With the benefit of hindsight, I could have asked him whose table he meant. It was so bad that immediately after the meeting, Balinwo Ofegobi who was part of the meeting asked me the question: What did Chief actually say! For all this time, I never got introduced to another member of the National Assembly- which was his primary constituency- not to talk of other leaders in Government nor leaders in the ruling PDP. Maybe others got introduced, but I stand to be corrected when I conclude that Chief Obeten Okorn Obeten had no political succession plan. He had no vision beyond himself. He had an opportunity to put the Yakurr man on a united pedestal and on a sure footing for accelerated socio-economic and political advancement. He sacrificed that opportunity on the temple of his ego. Chief Obeten's political empire ended abruptly but predictably.

His exit from the scene created a lot of problems for those he left behind. A lot of his erstwhile supporters had a difficult time re-integrating into mainstream politics in Cross River State. The label "Obeten's boy" became an albatross for a majority of these young men and women. It still is. For political expediency, the Ijom ward from which Chief Obeten hails is condemned to political purgatory because they have had their eight years in the National Assembly. For political expediency, Ugep is at the receiving end of political manipulations by the reigning empire of Bassey Eko Ewa. After all, Ugep has had its turn under Chief Obeten Okorn Obeten! Small men with small minds have even resurrected the moribund EMIN. Only this time, two A's have been added to the hollow contraption to make it EMINAA! We must learn from our past in order not to repeat our previous mistakes. Obeten Okorn's representation was for the Yakurr nation. It was not for the Ugep people. Ugep people did not benefit anything that the rest of Yakurr people did not benefit under him. In our next discussion we would x-ray the current dispensation and try to see if we are learning from the mistakes of Chief Obeten Okorn Obeten especially against the back drop that some Yakurr people who have refused to think beyond their stomach have imbibed the notion that this is the "Ekori man's time". There is no such thing as that. The whole Yakurr suffers each time there is bad leadership. It does not matter where the leader might come from.

I am aware that some persons may not like the opinions I have expressed here. That will not change anything. If you have contrary opinions, feel free to express them in any medium of your choice. It's time for the Yakurr people to tell themselves the truth.

~~Thomas Ofem~~
Thomas Ofem aka Bob Tee is a Change Communications Specialist based in Abuja.