Udom’s commitment to the people

If outward commitment to carrying out religious obligations are a measure of one’s religiosity, then Udom hasn’t been found wanting, as he is said not to miss his regular Sunday services, except when the demands of office do not permit him the time to do so.

Recall that about one and half years after assuming office, the governor escaped death right inside a place of worship, when a new church building he went to inaugurate collapsed, killing quite a good number of worshipers. His plan to build a 10, 000 capacity church building is in line with his effort to keep the state on the religious path that has enabled it to triumph in the face of numerous challenges, some of which have been created by its leaders.

In 1983, while speaking at his valedictory church service at Qua Iboe Church, Edgerly Road, in Calabar, the late Dr. Clement Isong, who was about to bow out as governor of the then Cross River State, had said the greatest lesson he learnt during his four-year tenure as governor was that to be a successful politician in Nigeria, one must be able to call black white, and call white black. He vowed never to advise any of his children to go into politics in Nigeria. Isong was too decent, polished and refined a man to have dabbled into politics in the first place.

Udom has not been a ‘successful’ Nigerian politician, in the late Dr. Isong’s understanding. This is because he does not know how to call black white, or call white black. It is even more so because his quiet, calm and warm disposition is at variance with what the average Nigerian politician is known to be – all noise but little action. His has been little noise but more action.

The governor’s commitment to the people of the state has seen him execute projects that have direct impact on their lives. Perhaps the reason not much seems to be heard about his achievements outside the state is that they haven’t been accompanied by the propaganda that has become the hallmark of performance, especially at state and federal levels.

But the people of the state know the truth. They know that Udom is working. They also know that, in contrast, some of the so-called legacy projects that were supposed to have been executed with much fanfare and propaganda, which have left the state mired in huge debts, were nothing but a scam that put the state’s money in the pocket of an individual, as it has emerged.

Udom’s tenure has been a test of his commitment to the two ‘constituencies’ that really matter – God and the people of the state. In another six months or so, these two constituencies will decide whether or not he has remained true to the oath he took in his first coming. They are the ones that will judge him based on his performance so far. Thankfully, the governor knows this quite well, the reason he has remained focused on delivering on his promises.

Let nobody imagine that they hold the key to the governor’s second term in office. Akwa Ibom is not a state where an individual assumes the position of an emperor because he had the good fortune of holding office, which allowed him unfettered access to the resources of the state – a state where people hold public office at the pleasure of one individual.

We have seen it happen in other states, where somebody plays God, turning a deaf ear to pleas to allow a governor go for a second time as if he has the power of life and death. Akwa Ibom is not that state.