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| Obong Bassey Albert, formerly gov'ship hopeful; now aspiring for Uyo Senatorial District Senate seat |
By Osondu Ahirika
Oba Atokpe! Ise eeeeh!
His entry for the 2015 governorship race in Akwa Ibom state held the promise of a revolution in the offing. Obong Bassey Albert, the stylish, trendy, swashbuckling immediate past Commissioner of Finance, captured the imagination of many youths with his swag and his debonair comely looks.
Alas, the one popularly known as OBA took a dignified bow out, just before the battle erupts. The rupture of many dreams becoming a new nightmare.
There is a strong temptation to compare OBA's brief political odyssey to a candle in the wind. A wildfire, that spread so fast and quenched in a jiffy. Violent fires soon outburn itself shakespeare says, but this isn't exactly so. For me, this young Turk is akin to what Yorubas call Abiku. A political ABIKU, that is.
Oba Atokpe! Ise eeeeh!
His entry for the 2015 governorship race in Akwa Ibom state held the promise of a revolution in the offing. Obong Bassey Albert, the stylish, trendy, swashbuckling immediate past Commissioner of Finance, captured the imagination of many youths with his swag and his debonair comely looks.
Alas, the one popularly known as OBA took a dignified bow out, just before the battle erupts. The rupture of many dreams becoming a new nightmare.
There is a strong temptation to compare OBA's brief political odyssey to a candle in the wind. A wildfire, that spread so fast and quenched in a jiffy. Violent fires soon outburn itself shakespeare says, but this isn't exactly so. For me, this young Turk is akin to what Yorubas call Abiku. A political ABIKU, that is.
On his return to Akwa Ibom State on October 30,
2015, hordes of his anxiety stricken supporters were waiting eagerly to hear
from the horse’s mouth. Rumours were rife that, OBA had thrown in the towel. A
Damascus experience following a high octane meeting in Abuja with powers that
be had taken its toll. From his alight off the aircraft to the missing delight
in his countenance, the red light of caution was aglow for all to see.
Then came his address. He undressed himself of the gubernatorial garb, and solicited redress for his heartbroken disciples. Mr President has prevailed on me to give way for my kith and kin of Eket Senatorial District, and I can't be rude to say, 'No', to the Father of the Nation, if I should paraphrase his explanation. There was pin drop silence. With those words, a woman cried, "OBA anyong oooo!", translated, 'OBA is gone'. Of a truth he was gone, but is not a goner.
Then came his address. He undressed himself of the gubernatorial garb, and solicited redress for his heartbroken disciples. Mr President has prevailed on me to give way for my kith and kin of Eket Senatorial District, and I can't be rude to say, 'No', to the Father of the Nation, if I should paraphrase his explanation. There was pin drop silence. With those words, a woman cried, "OBA anyong oooo!", translated, 'OBA is gone'. Of a truth he was gone, but is not a goner.
How do I mean? This is by no means the end for
OBA, politically. That is where I liken him to an ABIKU.
Defined in the Wikibedia, "The word is derived from Yoruba: (abiku), meaning, "predestined to death", which is from (abi) "that which possesses" and
(iku) "death". Abiku refers to the spirits of children who die before reaching puberty; a child who dies before twelve years of age being called an Abiku, and the spirit, or spirits, who caused the death being also called Abiku."
However, it isn't as hopeless as it sounds. J .P Clark, a Nigerian poet in his poem titled ABIKU, sheds more light on this concept. We come to understand that, within the Yoruba, indeed African cosmology, the word Abiku really means, ‘spirit child.' It refers to a child who must die and repeatedly be reborn again and again.
Folks', I meant to say that, OBA is a Spirit Child of Akwa Ibom politics. After 2015, he will reincarnate. He will live again. As Jesus Christ taught, he who loses his life will gain it, but he who saves his life would lose it.
OBA has undoubtedly made a political impact no politician of his generation has made in Akwa Ibom. Before his political puberty, he is pampered to cede his ambition for national interest. He elects to comply with the principle of Party supremacy and concedes defeat, only to the resolution of his Party, the Peoples Democratic Party to zone the Governorship ticket to Eket Senatorial District. A loyal partyman, who does not see politics as a do-or-die affair. That nobility of action will speak for him in his second, third and fourth advent.
I would love us to share Clark's poem here. The poem ABIKU reads:
"Coming and going these several seasons,
Do stay out on the baobab tree,
Follow where you please your kindred spirits
If indoors is not enough for you.
True, it leaks through the thatch
When floods brim the banks,
And the bats and the owls
Often tear in at night through the eaves,
And at harmattan, the bamboo walls
Are ready tinder for the fire
That dries the fresh fish up on the rack.
Still, it’s been the healthy stock
To several fingers, to many more will be
Who reach to the sun.
No longer then bestride the threshold
But step in and stay
For good. We know the knife scars
Serrating down your back and front
Like beak of the sword-fish,
And both your ears, notched
As a bondsman to this house,
Are all relics of your first comings.
Then step in, step in and stay
For her body is tired,
Tired, her milk going sour
Where many more mouths gladden the heart."
Matters arise from this poem as I relate it to OBA. First let me abridge the poem with a simple, straight to the point explanation. ABIKU is a new baby who is reborn with so much hope. Yet, he is not here to stay. Season after season, he comes and goes never reaching his full potential. What Clark refers to as, '...reach the sun'. The family and home ABIKU is born into is an impoverished one, desperate for a new born king that could redeem them.
This child is recognized as staging a comeback because of the visible scars from the knife used to make incisions and carvings on it, the last time he came. Abiku, with scars at birth, being now made ugly, it will displease the gods and spirits to have him return to the spirit world. This makes the child stay alive and end the sorrow of the family that is burdened to bear that child over and over.
For OBA and his frustrated supporters, the obvious political scars of this 2015 abortion will stick for eternity. In his political chronicle, the blemish will stand him out, albeit, positively. That's why, on ABIKU's return with the scars, J.P Clark ends on a positive note: "As a bondsman to this house, Are all relics of your first comings. Then step in, step in and stay, For her body is tired,
Tired, her milk going sour
Where many more mouths gladden the heart."
OBA has assumed the burden of the metaphoric bondsman of Uyo Senatorial District, the teeming youths and indeed Akwa Ibom post the tenure of Eket Senatorial District. The relics of this abandoned first political journey, will plead his cause, to STEP IN AND STAY, the next time he shows up.
For those mocking OBA's exemplary conduct, I have to disappoint you. He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. Hope you got that?
In his book, 48 Laws of Power, Law 22 says, "Use the Surrender Tactic: " ...When you are weak, never fight for honor's sake; instead choose surrender... Surrender gives you time to recover .." OBA has done the right thing to surrender to the superior argument of what Obong Attah described as the 'Logical sequence' in rotating power among the three Senatorial Districts. Fact is, as popular and electable as he is, the odds were still stacked against him.
His sacrifice will pay-off eventually, as he becomes the new totem of keeping personal ambition in abeyance for the collective good in Akwa Ibom's politics.
I have heard some argue that, those who made such huge political propitiation in the past lived to regret it and OBA will shortly do so. I totally disagree. He will be rewarded and we will see it. I however have a word for OBA. He must realize that, he has left a great number of youths and women who thronged his romp stranded and marooned in political wilderness. While negotiating his exit into another realm, he should negotiate their entry into relevance without the associated stigma. These people must not be allowed to wallow in despair and disillusion.
Finally, OBA's conduct leaves a legacy that must be hallowed as a reference point and time-honoured tradition. It becomes at once, a lesson to those who made fighting dirty against OBA a hobby. Now that OBA has gracefully stepped aside, how empty he leaves them feeling.
OBA ATOKPE! Ise eeeeeee+oooo!
Defined in the Wikibedia, "The word is derived from Yoruba: (abiku), meaning, "predestined to death", which is from (abi) "that which possesses" and
(iku) "death". Abiku refers to the spirits of children who die before reaching puberty; a child who dies before twelve years of age being called an Abiku, and the spirit, or spirits, who caused the death being also called Abiku."
However, it isn't as hopeless as it sounds. J .P Clark, a Nigerian poet in his poem titled ABIKU, sheds more light on this concept. We come to understand that, within the Yoruba, indeed African cosmology, the word Abiku really means, ‘spirit child.' It refers to a child who must die and repeatedly be reborn again and again.
Folks', I meant to say that, OBA is a Spirit Child of Akwa Ibom politics. After 2015, he will reincarnate. He will live again. As Jesus Christ taught, he who loses his life will gain it, but he who saves his life would lose it.
OBA has undoubtedly made a political impact no politician of his generation has made in Akwa Ibom. Before his political puberty, he is pampered to cede his ambition for national interest. He elects to comply with the principle of Party supremacy and concedes defeat, only to the resolution of his Party, the Peoples Democratic Party to zone the Governorship ticket to Eket Senatorial District. A loyal partyman, who does not see politics as a do-or-die affair. That nobility of action will speak for him in his second, third and fourth advent.
I would love us to share Clark's poem here. The poem ABIKU reads:
"Coming and going these several seasons,
Do stay out on the baobab tree,
Follow where you please your kindred spirits
If indoors is not enough for you.
True, it leaks through the thatch
When floods brim the banks,
And the bats and the owls
Often tear in at night through the eaves,
And at harmattan, the bamboo walls
Are ready tinder for the fire
That dries the fresh fish up on the rack.
Still, it’s been the healthy stock
To several fingers, to many more will be
Who reach to the sun.
No longer then bestride the threshold
But step in and stay
For good. We know the knife scars
Serrating down your back and front
Like beak of the sword-fish,
And both your ears, notched
As a bondsman to this house,
Are all relics of your first comings.
Then step in, step in and stay
For her body is tired,
Tired, her milk going sour
Where many more mouths gladden the heart."
Matters arise from this poem as I relate it to OBA. First let me abridge the poem with a simple, straight to the point explanation. ABIKU is a new baby who is reborn with so much hope. Yet, he is not here to stay. Season after season, he comes and goes never reaching his full potential. What Clark refers to as, '...reach the sun'. The family and home ABIKU is born into is an impoverished one, desperate for a new born king that could redeem them.
This child is recognized as staging a comeback because of the visible scars from the knife used to make incisions and carvings on it, the last time he came. Abiku, with scars at birth, being now made ugly, it will displease the gods and spirits to have him return to the spirit world. This makes the child stay alive and end the sorrow of the family that is burdened to bear that child over and over.
For OBA and his frustrated supporters, the obvious political scars of this 2015 abortion will stick for eternity. In his political chronicle, the blemish will stand him out, albeit, positively. That's why, on ABIKU's return with the scars, J.P Clark ends on a positive note: "As a bondsman to this house, Are all relics of your first comings. Then step in, step in and stay, For her body is tired,
Tired, her milk going sour
Where many more mouths gladden the heart."
OBA has assumed the burden of the metaphoric bondsman of Uyo Senatorial District, the teeming youths and indeed Akwa Ibom post the tenure of Eket Senatorial District. The relics of this abandoned first political journey, will plead his cause, to STEP IN AND STAY, the next time he shows up.
For those mocking OBA's exemplary conduct, I have to disappoint you. He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. Hope you got that?
In his book, 48 Laws of Power, Law 22 says, "Use the Surrender Tactic: " ...When you are weak, never fight for honor's sake; instead choose surrender... Surrender gives you time to recover .." OBA has done the right thing to surrender to the superior argument of what Obong Attah described as the 'Logical sequence' in rotating power among the three Senatorial Districts. Fact is, as popular and electable as he is, the odds were still stacked against him.
His sacrifice will pay-off eventually, as he becomes the new totem of keeping personal ambition in abeyance for the collective good in Akwa Ibom's politics.
I have heard some argue that, those who made such huge political propitiation in the past lived to regret it and OBA will shortly do so. I totally disagree. He will be rewarded and we will see it. I however have a word for OBA. He must realize that, he has left a great number of youths and women who thronged his romp stranded and marooned in political wilderness. While negotiating his exit into another realm, he should negotiate their entry into relevance without the associated stigma. These people must not be allowed to wallow in despair and disillusion.
Finally, OBA's conduct leaves a legacy that must be hallowed as a reference point and time-honoured tradition. It becomes at once, a lesson to those who made fighting dirty against OBA a hobby. Now that OBA has gracefully stepped aside, how empty he leaves them feeling.
OBA ATOKPE! Ise eeeeeee+oooo!
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