Bob Ekarika, son-in-law to former governor Victor Attah of Akwa Ibom, transmutes from a virulent critic of the current Governor, Godswill Akpabio, to singing his praise
By Emmanuel Una /Uyo
He was basically the last man standing from the motley crowd that once bestrode the political landscape of Akwa Ibom State, when Obong Victor Attah (Attanyin) was governor. If there was a contrary view to that held by the government of Akwa Ibom State since May 2007, none seemed sharper, or louder, than Bob Ekarika’s. His was a strong voice, which many people listened and were attracted to, especially since he belonged to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The son-in-law to Obong Victor Attah, governor of the state between 1999 and 2007, Ekarika was one of the strongest politicians of that era. And he held many juicy appointments to prove it. At different times he was commissioner for Health, and Works, dean of commissioners in the state, and was seen as Attah’s protégée and heir apparent. That was until Obong Ufot Ekaette, the current Niger Delta Minister and Ambassador Sam Edem, former Niger Delta Development Commission chairman thwarted Attah’s planned political hegemony by securing a narrow victory for Obong Godswill Akpabio in the PDP governorship primaries, in 2006.
Since the exit of his father-in-law as governor, Ekarika had been vociferous in his opposition to virtually every policy enunciated by the current administration in the state. When Akpabio, in 2008, announced N8.8 billion as the cost of constructing a proposed new Government House, he promptly dismissed it as unnecessary considering the fact that Attah recently built one. “That the cost of building a single house is N8.8 billion is not true. And why a new Government House? What has happened to the one that is there now? That money could as well have been used in attending to more pressing needs of the people of Akwa Ibom State,” he told journalists, in Uyo, in 2008.
When Akpabio explained that the real amount for the building was N2.5 billion while the rest was for landscaping and beautification of the edifice, Ekarika wondered how the cost of beautification could be higher than that of the edifice and declared that the government was being economical with the truth. Many people who had been following events in the state were therefore taken aback penultimate weekend when Ekarika described Governor Godswill Akpabio as the best thing to have happened to the state in recent times.
At a get-together organised in Government House Uyo, on Saturday 21 February, for the alumni of University of Calabar, Ekarika said Akpabio has done very well so far in his policies and programmes. “We in Akwa Ibom State, are lucky to have him. He is a very charismatic man, very accommodating, very focused, very dynamic, excellent in thinking and in everything. And I want to assure you that by the time His Excellency leaves this state, of course, there is going to be a marked difference,” he declared
Describing the Governor as “my bosom friend”, Ekarika, who had been on the war path with Akpabio ever since he lost the gubernatorial ticket, said he had dropped every animosity against the governor; and further expressed the need for a closer relationship. “If there is anybody in this state or under the sun that thinks he would separate me from His Excellency, you are telling a lie,” he declared. Acknowledging that Akpabio was determined to ensure a better environment for everyone in the state, the former commissioner for Health added: “The journey so far is very good.” Earlier in the day, Ekarika and Akpabio were seen walking hand-in-hand at a public function, a spectacle many interpreted to mean the end of hostilities.
“As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “we are not struggling for anything any longer. I am very okay. I am successfully married with two children, who are also Americans. If I cannot do anything for them now, as soon as they get to American Embassy, they are no more here. So what am I struggling for? What is His Excellency struggling for? He is struggling to create enabling environment for all of us to progress.”
He also used the occasion to debunk rumours which made the rounds sometime ago that Governor Akpabio is not a lawyer. “When His Excellency changed from Barrister Godswill Akpabio to Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio,” he recalled, “ some people started rumouring that he has never been a lawyer. I laughed because His Excellency finished in 1987 and was called to Bar in 1988. So, when people were talking, I was keeping quiet because this is my bosom friend.”
Going down memory lane, he said: “For those of you who did not know, when His Excellency came to the University of Calabar in 1983/1984, he came to meet me as the President of Annang students. It was my singular privilege and honour to welcome him into that environment. And not only that, as the president of Annang students, I was able to produce a president from my ethnic nationality and also produce him as the speaker of the Students’ Union Government. It was not a small feat. If we were not politicians, we would not have attained that; and I have to give it to him. That is why they say birds of the same feather must always flock together”. Some people in the state are at a loss as to what may have informed the sudden change of mind by Ekarika. Intriguingly, Ekarika has said that he will not accept the job of a commissioner from Governor Akpabio, but that he could take any other appointment!
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