By
Joe Iniodu
The world we live in is a
system, an organized structure credited to a creator. It is the height of
absurdity to maintain that the power which planned this world planned it ill.
The scripture records God as stating: “My thought for you is a thought of good,
not of evil”, referring to Christians whose faith in God may be forlorn based
on encounters and prevalent vagaries that may confront them. God thinks good of
man and the land but man oftentimes abuses self and mismanages the land
plunging creation into uncertainty and despair.
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| Governor Godswill Obot Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State |
God’s consistency and
faithfulness are manifest in the story of creation in Genesis. The systematic
sequel noticeable in some dualities like night and day; land and sea; man and
woman; day and night affirms Him as God of orderliness. Even when there is a
curve in the order, it is said to be for a purpose. Analysts of Nigerian
political life have used the Abacha era in Nigeria to typify such learning
curve. They hold the view that the Abacha administration exposed the hypocrisy
and lack of patriotism on the part of our political elites. It was clear that
most of them could not stand up to be counted when it mattered most. Like some
frightened squirrels, those who could not scurry to safety had to jettison
principles and compromise on all fronts. These were witnessed in the
five-million man match; the adoption of one man as sole presidential candidate
by all political parties; the widespread endorsement of Abacha by eminent Nigerians
etc. Nigeria had become one large closet of castrated men and timid women only
existing to be herded in any direction. But God was still interested in the
affairs of Nigeria and at an appointed time, He did His will.
There is time and season in the
affairs of man so as country and State. Sometimes man’s inordinate interest
attempts to interfere with God’s will defined in time and season. And since He
has given man free will which man egregiously abuses, society and humanity
often find themselves in adversity. Adversities come when man decides to use
his own wisdom and work outside the perfect will of God. God’s will for man is
progress, prosperity, good health, happiness and peace. The isolated and many
more constitute God’s menu for humanity. Of course the above are achievable
through good governance by a government that works in the perfect will of God.
The question perhaps maybe, how does one identify a leader and subsequently a
government that is in the perfect will of God?
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| Udom Gabriel Emmanuel AKS, Secretary to Government |
Just as the scriptures
admonishes the children of God to be discerning especially during the end times
as charlatans would proclaim God in deception, the electorates must be
vigilant, well informed and equally discerning as demagogues are already on the
prowl especially in Akwa Ibom State. And like the devil, they have come to
steal and plunder at the detriment of the voting masses. A scholarly
postulation notes that the price for any enduring democratic culture is eternal
vigilance. The people must therefore ask the right questions, verify the
antecedents of the people asking for their votes, examine their conducts and
weigh them against Christian tenets. They must evolve parameters which they
would use to assess the candidates. Such parameters must be a postscript of
God’s will.
Any Christian faithful would
attest to the fact that the world is not an empty space. There is a divine
force that is in control of the affairs of men. Of course many submit that
nothing happens without His knowledge. They further argue that there is no
happenstance in life. And that everything works as ordained by Him. These
postulations are difficult to contradict given the array of incidents one has
witnessed that are in cue with these thoughts. Take the instance of the advent
of Godswill Akpabio to the political space of Akwa Ibom. Even the circumstance
that introduced him to the politics of the State as commissioner has the
trappings of divination. When he proceeded therefrom to contest election as
governor alongside fifty-seven others, he was like a dark horse enjoying very
minimal reckoning. But God’s ways are not man’s ways. In time and season, He
does his will. Godswill Akpabio was His will for Akwa Ibom people and He
delivered him as governor to prove the kingmaker that He is in the face of all
oddities.
When Godswill Akpabio in 2007
petitioned God in his campaign pay-off or slogan, “Let God’s Will be Done”, it
was a prayer of the faithful typified in the scripture that says, “Ye who is
heavy laden, cast your load upon Me”. Akpabio did and the partnership has not
failed him. God has through him done His Will by raising the ante of the State
to a peak never imagined in such a short space of time. And because it was his
chosen time and season, He has made everything bright and beautiful. God has
shown faithfulness to Akwa Ibom people. He has shown that the state is in His
perfect will.
But the unbridled frenzy ahead
of 2015 is threatening our perfect will in God instead of consolidating it. Yet
it is another season that abounds with the manifest signs of His presence. If
we stabilize in His Will, then He would be with us. Emmanuel in the Bible is
translated as “God is with us”, Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, an accomplished banker
of world acclaim cannot be an accident on our political firmament. He is a
product of time and season. He is part of an ordained process designed to
uplift the State. He may not be a politician of the regular hue but he seems to
be another will of God for the State. He may not satisfy the run in the mill
cravings of a typical politician of our clime but he possesses what it takes to
advance the State in the areas of industrialization, capacity building, wealth
creation, employment generation, and improved revenue earnings, diversification
of the economy, virile civil service, strong private Sector and an improved
economy for the State. He has a robust pedigree that has acquitted him as a
successful manager of man and resources. He is young, eloquent, exposed,
educated and worthy to represent Akwa Ibom at any fora. Governor Godswill
Akpabio has taken the State to such enviable height that if we don’t get a near
equivalent, our fall would be a surge.
Many often ask the question,
what is in a name? The answer cannot be dismissive when we watch the meteoric
soaring of the likes of President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Godswill
Akpabio in their political careers. The three lexical items in the name Udom
Gabriel Emmanuel have strong Christian bearings. Even “Udom” translated as “Right”
has enjoyed a mention in Isaiah 41:13: “For I, the Lord thy God will hold thy Right Hand saying unto thee, Fear not, I will
help you”. While Gabriel is one of the host of angels, Emmanuel completes God’s
will in Udom with the scriptural and literal meaning of “God is with us”. The
name “Udom” has been given further but coherent semantic shifts. There are
slogans like “Think Right” with the implicature of “Right” being “Udom” but
here translated as “think properly”. This serves as an appropriate admonition
as every reasonable person is expected to think right in the knowledge that
wrong thinking is often regrettable. Perhaps, one of the most riveting of the
slogans is the one which says “Wad Udom, Akwa Ibom Ewad Udom” translated as
“Keep Right, Akwa Ibom Keeps Right”. The slogan further notes that when you
keep right, you avoid accidents and alludes it to “Udom” as portending
continuity and consolidation. Who says there is nothing in a name?
The paraphrased quotation that
there is a tide in the affairs of men which taken from the flood leads unto
fortune was espoused by a renowned philosopher. It is such tide that Governor
Akpabio seized and turned our captivity into joy. Today Akwa Ibom stands on a
delicate balance, to either move in the direction of a well defined and
articulated course of progress or regress into the atavism of ethnicity,
bigotry and the base instinct of hate. Prosperity would judge us by the choice
we make and harshly if it is outside the will of God. This season calls for
such reflective thinking that would liberalize our thoughts and cause us to
take actions that would promote the interest of the State. This is what these
time and season require.
Joe Iniodu is a public affairs
analyst.
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