By Imoh Etimudo
Like Nigerians will say, Governor Umo Eno “don fall hands” if the truth must be told. Many people are “disappointed” with the happenings in Akwa Ibom State, and how things have turned out to be since he assumed office ten months ago.
There are things he does not need to be told. So many opportunities to make good use of but he prefers blow them off. Three weeks ago, he flagged off the distribution of free food to the vulnerable at Itam Central Market for Uyo and Itu Local Government Areas.
Based on his directive, a week later, the programme flag off was replicated in all the remaining 29 local government areas of the State.
But many pictures that have circulated on the programme, as seen in the social media, are as disappointing as they are shocking. One did not expect this from a governor at this age. That is why the question on the lips of many people is: “Are we sure this one is actually a politician?”
From Itam to Eket, Odoro to Oko Ita, Ibiaku Ntok Okpo to Etinan, Urua Inyang, Okepedi, Ikot Ekpene, Oron, Ikot Abasi, Ibeno , Uruan, Nung Udoe, Afaha Offiong and the rest of the local government headquarters where the governor and the different transition committee chairmen flagged off the programme, the story is the same.
Governor Eno had insisted that the free food distribution is targeted at the vulnerable, as are captured in the social register.
The pictures showed real vulnerable members of the society, most of them persons living with disabilities. Some of them had no hands, some without legs, some blind, while some were deaf and dumb.
As they filed out for the succour from the governor, they only succeeded in tapping tears of the people into the jar like a successful palm wine tapper had a filled day.
And it was like they had prayer competition. All of them prayed at the same time for the same man. It may not have been well with them but their enlivened mood of that day showed that it is well with Akwa Ibom State courtesy of Governor Umo Eno.
That same governor who is building the ARISE Compassionate Homes under his shelter programme for the poorest of the poor – focusing mainly on widows and their children. The governor believes such people also deserve the good things of life.
Governor Eno has committed nearly 20 billion Naira for the payment of gratuities to retirees in Akwa Ibom State most of whom served as primary school teachers.
Recently, he touched them in the chord by approving a timely increment of pension for pensioners who retired from from the State civil service before 2012 to meet up with the current economic realities of the country. By that, he has extended the lives of these old people by many years by dripping them with bags of joy and happiness.
But what does Governor Umo Eno really want? As a politician, the first thing that should have come to his mind should have been election. But when he helps people with neither hands nor thumbs, what will they use to vote for him?
When a governor spends sleepless nights to strategize on how to put food on the table of the blind, the cripple, and generally old and weak people, how will they pay him back as a politician? Is Governor Umo Eno truly a politician? Why can’t he think about what he will gain in going all out to put smiles on frowned wringlled faces?
The ARISE Compassionate Homes for widows and their children also betrays him as not being “politician enough.” Most of these children are below voting age, and the widows are often disinterested in politics obviously due to the vicissitudes of life on them. So, why would a modern politician “waste” resources on them?
The same goes for the retirees; most of them are old and sick. A great percentage of them do not get close to where election are conducted, let alone voting for the governor. That would have been the only way these beneficiaries of the governor would have paid him back. What else can they do for him?But he is committed to their welfare and happiness. When will Governor Umo Eno learn to be a politician?
Is Governor Umo Eno really a politician? Yes, he is a good example of a good politician, who is concerned more about the good of the people than his personal ambition, and does not allow service to the people to be predicated on what he stands to gain as a person, and particularly, as a politician.
That is also seen in the way he sprays projects across the 31 local government areas of Akwa Ibom State, without any scintilla of segregation on the basis of the number of votes he got from the respective parts of the State. To him, election are over, and governance is for all parties and people of Akwa Ibom State, whether they voted for him or not. Is Governor Umo Eno really a politician? Yes, he is a model politician.
Or how else do we explain a situation where a governor shows so much passion for the welfare and wellbeing of people who do not even have what it takes to pay him back; people who neither have the thumbs to vote for him nor the palms to clap for him? Just being good for free?
Granted that he hates blowing his trumpet, even with the fact that he has given these people enough air with which to blow his trumpet, they do not even have the energy with which to blow it. Governor Eno makes unconditional goodness to look attractive.
Therefore, those who expected the governor to divide and rule on the basis of personal gains, as would be expected from some politicians will continue to be disappointed, and positively surprised. The governor of Akwa Ibom State is a different kind of politician. He is development driven, selfless and compassionate!
Behold Nigeria’s model politician!
Imoh Etimudo writes from Itu Mbonuso in Ini Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.
