Akpabio’s Recent Interview: The lamentations of an embittered loser

Chief Kingley Ikpe, Abak

“It is the unsaid things we say that speaks louder than those we say” – Anonymous

Days ago, the Minister for Niger Delta Affairs, Godswill Akpabio is said to have hosted a group of journalists in his hometown and made some spurious comments making him sound like a broken record.

Among his assertions were disparaging comments about himself looking like one who fell among robbers when he joined the All Progressive Congress (APC), untruths that he was not invited to the burial ceremony of Governor Udom Emmanuel’s late father, the American embassy did not deny him visa, he borrowed money to go to law school, he was warned not to install Udom Emmanuel as successor, he will represent the whole of Akwa Ibom till he dies, Nigeria owes Buhari an apology and other things which were not necessary.

Akpabio we know is gifted with the gab of talking – an endowment he sometimes uses to his disadvantage.
A lot of times, we do not say certain things, not because we fear to say them but because the utterance of them may lead to us being seen as a child, a failure, an attention seeker, a loner, embittered and even a loser.

Overtime, actions have spoken louder than words and the manner in which we express ourselves have often said more than the words we say in itself. This is undoubtably the reason many leaders locally, nationally and internationally succumb to the scrutiny of their speeches by their media aides and sometimes leave the job of speaking about their achievements to them.

This is however not the case with Senator Akpabio who would not resist saying whatever comes to his mind at any place or occasion he has to do so, to a point that he even creates an occasion if such does not come to him when we feels like talking.
This has overtime presented him as an embittered, expired, lonely yet dangerous fellow with a lot of venom to spit if accosted or challenged.

Perhaps Akpabio does not know that the honour which he retired with as Governor has diminished and that his reign as the Niger Delta Minister does not hold much fulcrum compared to when he was governor – all thanks to his careless talks about what he did and did not do in office which we have heard a million times.

He should also be told that his absence at the Late Gabriel Nkanang’s burial (though not important) has painted him as one who is truly embittered and prideful. As a matter of fact, Akwa Ibom people were over satisfied with the dignitaries who graced the occasion, all of whom were on their own, formidable forces which his ego would never meet-up.

He should never have mentioned that no seat was kept for him in a place where people were struggling to even stand. Was he thinking that “his seat” would be kept sacred and covered like a statue in his absence till the end of the event? No way!

His assertion that he was warned by the former Borno State Governor and ex- PDP Chairman, Ali Modu Sheriff and an undisclosed Bank MD, not to choose Governor Udom Emmanuel as his successor is yet another indication of lacking what to say. What are the bearings of his musings by the way?

Is Governor Udom Emmanuel not discharging his functions creditably? Are there no projects counting in thousands to Udom’s credit as much as he had? By the way, Governor Emmanuel has taken time to complete the projects he abandoned and paid debts he owed in his tenure which he (Akpabio) never did to his predecessor. Nobody cares what he thinks of the governor so long as Udom Emmanuel is working. We are content. Let him keep his kwashiorkor feeling to himself.

Besides, his allegation was confirmed to be false where he said that the former PDP Chairman spoke to him when he came to the State to receive his Ph.D Honoris Causa Degree during the period he was contemplating handing over to Governor Emmanuel.

A source who placed a call to the University of Uyo disclosed that Ali Modu Sheriff was not given any academic award by the institution and that the then PDP Chairman was the former Bauchi State Governor, Adamu Muazu and not Modu Sheriff.

I do not care whether or not he was denied visa. That again sounds like what people who lack what to say talk about; its his personal issue. I do not care about the honours from whichever institution he got them. There are a thousand and one awardees in Nigeria whose houses are laced with awards yet, they do not make noise.

It doesn’t matter who Ojukwu’s daughter is marrying in Akwa Ibom. Inter-marriages with the easterners and other tribes of the world started before Akpabio was born.
The projects he can not stop talking about were all done with Akwa Ibom’s Money. Why does he speak as though he executed them with his pocket money? Is there any of those things which another has not done?

All of these self-aggrandizements will only continue to show Mr. Minister as a ranter who’s full of himself.
We knew when he played Moses and we knew when he was Gideon but as it stands, the Akpabio we knew has far played Nebuchadnezzar with his actions and utterances and the consequences of such stage play will in time, manifest as it did in the Bible.
One does not need to slit a knife on another’s neck before being called a murderer, there are many ways to kill a man.

No one is stopping him from talking since he wont stop but he should be careful not to kill his already dwindling integrity with unneedful talks that are not seasoned with salt.
He should rather concentrate on the name-redeeming works he is doing at the NDDC, channel his energy into project implementation and seek the opinion of his aides before going out to demean himself before right-thinking members of the public.