Ibibio: Ojukwu the Big Picture

BY SAM INYANG
Our facetious reactions to the recent demise of the Ikemba of Nnewi, Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu would have gone unnoticed. However, at
time like this, it is good to draw our attention to what we all miss when reacting out of impulse, we toe that line to promote hidden agenda tucked away in the reserves of our hearts rather than see the big picture, which people like Odumegwu-Ojukwu saw years back.
In this forum, any opposing voice that does not agree with our thinking is either worthless, a stooge, a sponsored writer and such a person is tagged with unprintable names, we often go deeper to abuse the person’s family, associates and community. We do not think or believe that people still have personal belief or opinion they are devoted to as conservatives, sometimes on the side of the progressive, if such still truly holds dear to our heart. Like in English, which is dynamic, some still speak the language using their mother tongue interpretation, while others religiously follow the Queens English form and rules. Most times, we look at global issues on the bases of our native ‘belief’, where grandmother had told us Effiong Udo Akpan’s family are evil do not interact with them. For instance in English we cannot hear odor or aroma, but in Ibibio we hear… nkop utebe, but most people still translate it directly when speaking English, I hear smell- to an English man this is no sentence, it’s meaningless. Do no mind my gyration; it’s my style of writing. We should see the big picture through it.
The big picture will make meaning to us when Ibibio stop disparaging themselves and their heroes, boldly take up the gauntlet to fight for their position, rightful place in this comity of Nation known as Nigeria. Fighting each other for a good cause could be acceptable, but when it is preposterous and trite, we have missed the big picture, the Ojukwu vision. Ours is internal wrangling, presently the big picture is nothing.
Recent events have shown that we are not yet integrated into the core leadership position in the country in spite of the paces covered by most of our sons and daughters at the centre. That one has become a recluse these days has nothing to do with fear but an action taken out of pity since we have perpetually accepted the Ayandele’s hypothesis of an atomistic society at war with itself.
No Ibibio man (we are talking about everyone in Akwa Ibom despite the claims that others are not from the Ibibio family, which to us is a baseless debate) has the heart and mind of our fore-bearers like Udo Udoma, Sampson UdoEtuk, Ntienyong Udo Akpan, Nyong Essien and others of their ilk. Like Ojukwu, they made mistakes, had frail personal lifestyles etc yet their minds hung on the emancipation of their people. They pursued it with vigor and rationally. They saw the big picture.
Today, we concentrate on tearing each other apart with no discernable idea or vision for building up the younger generation following us; these young men and women believe so much in our abusive utterances and have accepted them as foundation for our society. We have missed the mark, mark my word, with such mindset they will not be in the vanguard to take Akwa Ibom into the epicenter of Nigeria, we missed that point and it is too late for us to take the initiative again, and we have not help our children to buy into this consciousness. All we belabor about is fuss and baseless argument. This is no assertion current interactions with our youths in our project advancement confirmed this. All they care about is vengeance, victimization etc.
Whom can we really point at as the Ibibio hero of late, with the right approach, courage and sagacity of an Ojukwu. A man, who speaks with clarity of purpose and wisdom, either in defense or in pursuit of his peoples’ right; a man of no mean character, with no superfluous comic, but is tenacious and witty: Good team player with friends across the Niger, where the chess game holds sway. We can make other claims; say anything to show our prowess in tale bearing, yet empty in heart. The gap of division among us now is wider than in the past 10 years. Our so-called leaders are guilty too; personal aggrandizement is the in-thing, there is no true love for the people, the society or its progress, a legacy Ojukwu left behind. They are all blinded by wealth, money cannot do everything. Money can delay death calls, but cannot buy death.
What leaders are we even raising for tomorrow, leaders whose vision is sultry, those with tainted character and sticky fingers? There are no heroes anymore; the truth is lost almost forever.
By Samm Etuk