There is a common axiom which asserts that when you kill your giant, you rue over that loss when the need for him arises. But at that time, it would be too late to make amends.
Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, CON, vacated office as governor on May 29, 2015 having served for 8 uninterrupted years. While governor, he performed in a manner that exceeded expectation. He built infrastructure and built the human resource. He turned the State into a destination and endued people with a new mental attitude. He gave the hitherto nondescript State a pride of place in the Nation’s affairs and a new meaning and self-worth to its people.
Almost 4 years after he left office as governor, Senator Akpabio has remained central to the politics of the State and indeed the Nation. A friend once described him as the most polarizing factor in Nigerian politics. His further elucidation of that postulation is that those who love him do so passionately and those who hate him also do so fanatically but added that the latter hardly find any good reason to adduce for holding bile against him.
Akpabio, it is said is the most petitioned former governor with most of the petitions being politically motivated from within. But despite these surfeit of petitions, he has neither been arraigned in any court of competent jurisdiction nor indicted by any agency of government to suggest complicity in any corrupt act. But those who want his head on the slaughter have continued to agitate for him to be charged to court and even jailed on trumped up or spurious charges. What end would that serve? Is this the reciprocation for running an administration that changed the narrative of the State? What a curious way to celebrate a hero!
Leo Ekpenyong, an Abuja based lawyer, until recently preoccupied himself with one brief. The brief was writing petitions against Akpabio and pushing with every fibre of his being, an arraignment and conviction of a man he said fleeced the State mindlessly and left debts and woes for the people. Ekpenyong often mentioned mind boggling sums like NGN108billion etc. as monies alleged to have been openly stolen by Akpabio. He was a regular face on national television, court rooms in Abuja and the headquarters of Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), pursuing the mission of his heart which was the jailing of Senator Akpabio. One can wager a bet that if Akpabio was culpable of any malfeasance, Ekpenyong would have secured a conviction against him. But in all these, Akpabio came out clean signifying that he steered the affairs of the State within the ambits of probity.
Today Leo Ekpenyong has repented of his ill and hate induced haunting of Senator Akpabio. In a press conference he held in Abuja, he admitted that he was actually induced to haunt Akpabio and the petitions he used to write were based on insider information that could not be substantiated and which was why the petitions were always dead on arrival. Ekpenyong repented and recanted those insidious petitions and apologized openly to Akpabio.
But Akpabio’s traducers believe that this is not good enough. Trafficking petitions to EFCC has remained a relentless indulgence for those who think that Akpabio’s continuous liberty would hurt their political interest. To therefore curtail him, they must invent charges and incorporate them in a compendium of petitions to the Presidency. Inside source states that it was at this point that Mr. President advised the man to take his petition against Akpabio to the appropriate agency. The rumour of Mr. President trying to shield Akpabio is said to have been instigated by the petitioners with the anti-corruption crusader dismissing such insinuations as a farce. The Czar of anti-corruption has stated categorically that his government has no intention to protect any corrupt official.
One of the grundnorms of law is that it is better for 100 criminals to be set free than for one innocent man to go to jail. The theories of the conspirators are perhaps hinged on the notion that there is no way Akpabio could have ruled over the State for 8years without committing a jailable malfeasance. For these traducers, they must comb for something that can send him to jail. It should be noted that those who have a mission to serve distinguish between serving self and the people. Akpabio came and served the people. It is why all conspiracies targeted at him have failed, because his evidence of service are always there to bear him out. And I repeat the question, those who want him in jail, what is in it as gain? Let us not behave like the cattle that did not know the value of its tail until it was cut off. A common adage posits that it is better to have and quarrel with than not to have at – all.
Udeme Ankott writes in from Uyo
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