What Do Some Nsit Ubium People Really Want?

What Do Some Nsit Ubium People Really Want?

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By Clement Warrie
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I watched a video of a son of Nsit Ubium insulting the governor yesterday and felt greatly nauseous. Ordinarily, I should ignore the rant, seeing that it was spewed from the oral cavity of someone with whom any kind of riposte would presume a nonexistent intellectual parity. But this festering hive mind represents a pattern that must be rebuked immediately with a lesson from Napoleon Bonaparte’s history.

When Napoleon Bonaparte, born in a small town in Corsica, became Emperor of the French during the 1800s, his fellow Corsicans placed a burden on his shoulders. They expected him to act quickly and elevate their small island state to greatness. But Napoleon’s vision had expanded, and because of his busy schedule, his kinsmen grew impatient and began to grumble, accusing him of forgetting his roots and not doing enough for his hometown.

Years later when Napoleon met defeat at Waterloo and was exiled to Helena, Corsica was thrown into impoverishment. They finally understood that the great power-status they enjoyed was gone. In the following years, they began to celebrate their most famous son, building his statues and museums. They understood too late that his global fame helped put Corsica on the map.

The Biblical account in Mark 6:4 finds Jesus Christ, a man performing miracles and preaching a gospel that would alter the course of history, facing his toughest critics, not in Jerusalem or Rome, but in his own hometown of Nazareth. “A prophet is not without honor,” he cried, “except in his own town, among his relatives and in his own home.”

The question is; why are some people in Nsit Ubium so eager to compose the same elegy? Will they be content to write the same tired and tragic narrative, offering veneration to the man only as a posthumous tribute? Or build statues and monument instead of support that should have been granted in life?

To be clear, Governor Umo Eno continues to enjoy the overwhelming support of Nsit Ubium’s citizens, who are united behind his near and long-term vision for progress. This broad coalition is energized to work alongside him to bring these plans to fruition. But there are others, a handful of individuals, blinded by entitlement, who seek only to be pampered and spoon-fed. While this culture of entitlement mindset is not uncommon, it is counterproductive, unacceptable and cannot be condoned.

It should be understood that Governor Umo Eno is not a Governor of Nsit Ubium, he is the Governor of Akwa Ibom State. His mandate, oath, and duty are to over seven million people across 31 Local Government Areas. His ARISE Agenda, is designed to row all boats and not to anchor a yacht solely in his home port. Disparaging his strong performance based on narrow, local interests is pretty sad.

One wonders: are these grumblings justified? Is it because the entire length and breadth of Nsit Ubium lacks new projects or roads under construction, or its schools and healthcare facilities are remaining untouched, as if we have been forced to share infrastructure with other local governments?

These complaints and demands would be laughable if they weren’t baseless. And then you wonder: are they talking about the same governor who is championing rural development as if there is no tomorrow? A governor who’s given out more brand-new vehicles in two years of his government than any governor since Attah? I welcome fact-checkers on this. Or a governor who’s spent a staggering 2.79 billion in the just-concluded town square events to empower constituents with grants, equipment support to MSMEs, and transport assistance. And not long ago at Uyo township stadium, where over 10,000 youths were empowered in various ways to boost their businesses – all of this happening in an off-election season alone.

One is tempted to ask: what do some people in Nsit Ubium really want? A governor or a local government chairman? A leader for the entire state or a personal ATM machine programmed to dispense cash to them exclusively?

There is a folktale about a farmer who had a magic goat that excreted salt that made him rich. Impatient for more, he force-fed the goat until it died, leaving him with nothing. The lesson? Impatience and greed can destroy a blessing.

Today, Obong Victor Attah is revered as a former governor, and father of modern Akwa Ibom, not a governor of Ibesikpo Asutan. Leaders like Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Mr. Udom Emmanuel built on this foundation, elevating the state to national prominence with infrastructure that became the envy of others. This progress has even drawn praise from outsiders, like social media influencer Reno Omokri, who said, ‘I am not from Akwa Ibom… but I am proud, and even slightly envious of that state. Your leaders are a rarity in this country.”

My people of Nsit Ubium, we must do better. We are a blessed community. Remember, we produced not just a governor, but a performer, a leader whose legacy grants us a wealth far greater than any physical asset.
Ibibio has an adage; “anie ufok ama kod ufok amo atagha, mboho asin ikan.”

The call therefore is simple: unity. Our role is not to criticize but to defend. We must be his strongest advocates, not his faint-hearted critics. We know the pressure he faces better than anyone. So let us be the first to have his back, and the very last to ever stab it. Because when he wins, Nsit Ubium wins. Akwa Ibom wins.

Clement Warrie writes from Nsit Ubium