By Nestor B. Udoh
Do not attempt to correct me. I did not mean to say: the “philosopher” called Godswill. What I mean is actually what I wrote: “Philosophy”. But isn’t it odd to say a man’s name is a Philosophy? Chances are that it is. It is odd, especially in the tiny, oil rich Nigerian State of Akwa Ibom, where the name Godswill, even without adding the surname “Akpabio,” sends chills down the spines of many, and in others, provokes an intense pleasure, the type that results from a kind of masturbation.
But how is the name “Godswill” a philosophy?
To illustrate, let us take a look at other names that became philosophies in their communities.
In 1965, a man called Lee Kuan Yew took over the reins of power in Singapore. He had the vision, or could you say, a philosophy of transforming Singapore from a third world to a first world country. By the time he left office 35 years later in the year 2000, Singapore had turned from a small colonial trading post into a thriving Asian Metropolis with the world’s number one airline, the best airport, the busiest trade port, and the world’s fourth highest per capita income. To boot, Singapore boasts, even today, of the best Civil Service in the world. But let us come home to Nigeria.
To the average Yoruba man, Obafemi Awolowo, whose wife, his “jewel of inestimable value” was buried penultimate week, has assumed the status of a demi-god. When he declared free and compulsory education for all children in Western Nigeria, leaders from other regions in the same country scorned him. They not only proffered truck loads of excuses why free education could not work, they laughed to scorn scantily dressed Yoruba Children who studied under mango trees, motor garages and all manner of structures that could provide a shade.
Awo carried out other fundamental reforms that scored all manner of firsts. Today the sweet rewards of his philosophy are there for all to see. The Yorubas are way ahead of the rest of the country in virtually any imaginable field of knowledge.
Let me illustrate, graphically, the fruit of this vision from my field of study. Today, you cannot be a consultant in any area of medicine in Nigeria without going to genuflect in front of high profile professors in your field in Lagos and Ibadan, as these two mega cities harbor the headquarters of the National Postgraduate Medical College of Nigeria and that of the West African College of Physicians respectively. And this also happens in virtually all professions. It may interest you to note that the fathers of these high profile professors are those scantily dressed children of Awo’s free education.
It was Henry Kissinger who said that normally prudent, ordinary calculations can be overturned by extraordinary personalities. These men, despite all odds, could squeeze water from stone to quench the thirst of their people.
One may ask: what do these people have to do with Godswill Akpabio? Everything. Akpabio during his tenure as Akwa Ibom state governor, acquired the minds of these two colossal figures. I should know. For all of 6 years, I have listened to him at close range at meetings, courtesy calls, political campaigns, private discussions and other fora too numerous to mention. These two names have recurred, like a decimal, in most of his speeches. It is begging the question to state that these two leaders have become a philosophy in their different societies. And over the years, Akpabio has mirrored the minds, personalities and philosophy of these men. The philosophy behind his “uncommon transformation” and the free education for all children of school age resident in Akwa Ibom State, bear eloquent testimony. Godswill has therefore become a philosophy of sorts.
But a leader is, when all is said and done, a human being. There has to be a distinction between his actions, inactions, philosophy, achievements and his personal nuances that stem from his innate frailties which are concomitant on human nature. Elsewhere, citizens and followers distinguish between these things, and sometimes make jokes of the frailties of their leaders, while glorifying their achievements. Adolf Hitler may have killed 6 million Jews. But he is credited with funding the research that led to the development of the Volkswagen Beetle car. The typical German today only makes jokes of his murderous tendencies, albeit, to the chagrin of Jews who were the guinea pigs in his laboratory of the absurd.
In America, Bill Clinton a great American president, was involved in an amorous indiscretion with one Monica Lewenski, to the discomfiture of Americans. His wife, Hilary (Bless the Godly Woman) rose in his defense. Most importantly, when the American House of representatives voted for his impeachment, the senate voted otherwise, and he consummated his tenure. Years after, Bill Clinton lifted Barrack Obama’s hand for the Presidential job during the Democratic Party Primaries for a second term. The rest, as they say, is history.
Now, who is Obama supporting for the next Democratic Primaries? Hilary Clinton! For those who do not know, this is the wife of Bill, the man Americans refused to hang for sexual indiscretion. So, who would be surprised if she goes on to become the next American President, and the first female for that matter?
In our State what do we find? People dissipate quantums of otherwise useful energy in making frivolous capital of this or that misdemeanor committed by Godswill Akpabio. They always remember to forget that this man, at great pains bequeathed unto this state, legacies not seen by other states with equal quantums of petro-naira, doled out on monthly basis to all states from our quixotic center.
We are not here saying that we excuse any leader who decides to lead with the mind of a child. Nor are we saying that the electorate does not have the freedom to take such a leader to the cleaners for their untoward behavior. Rather, we insist that the world is sometimes unfair to many leaders. You arrogate the powers of God to a man when you know he is human. Yet, when he exhibits some inherent tendencies peculiar to this nature in the course of his egregious duties, you harp only on his mistakes, and pretend not to see all the enduring good his sacrifices have brought to society. It is amazing. But this is the irony of our confusion, the height of our insincerity, the comeuppance of which if we are not careful, may hang on our necks someday, like an albatross.
As I wish Godswill Akpabio a belated happy 53rd birthday, I want to draw his attention to the dedication page of the book “My odyssey” by Nnamdi Azikiwe. He wrote:
“Dedicated to those who continue to do good in spite of man’s ingratitude”.
I rest my case
Nestor B. Udoh is a Consultant Public Health Physician.
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