Negative Parasites in Udom's
Government Destroy Ikot Ekpene
It is on record that Ikot Ekpene, a steadily developing town and land of history and cultural heritage in the south of the Niger Delta of Nigeria was preferred by the British colonialists, for experimenting local government system in West Africa as far back 1951. Among other reasons, the introduction was to bring governance nearer to the grassroots and enhance local populace participation in policy-decisions and eventual development in the region. Also, the imperial authorities' choice of the place for the project was clearly not unconnected with strengthening the frontiers and broadening the horizon of the socio-cultural institutions of the region thereby systematically weakening the monopoly of the British imperial forces in the political space of the place.
With its successful experimentation, an initiative, which was enhanced by the political consciousness and socio-cultural doctrines of the people, other countries in West Africa fell in love with the system and integrated it into their political governance structure.
But almost seven decades after the inauguration of the system, Ikot Ekpene, the cradle of the system, has failed to depart from the pre-colonial status and embrace meaningful modernity, a situation believed to be enhanced by physical elements of unpatriotism and negative parasitism, which are within the government of the state at all times. Business opportunities in the place remain a monopoly of strangers. Over 80% of physical properties in Ikot Ekpene are owned by the Igbo while our people who use their ill-gotten opportunities to dine with the government lavish their resources in creating enmity with their brothers and sisters at home.
These elements find themselves in any successive governments and seek unsolicited relevance, for self-aggrandisments. In any government they attach themselves, they make sure that they apply all means to assassinate the characters of other people before the government of the day to get favours, not minding any unforeseeable implications. Unknown to the government under which they perfect their ill-conceived manipulations, they share their loyalty with the oppositions leading to
outright betrayal of confidence with their 'pay masters'. In the actual sense, they are practically unproductive to the government that feeds them. All they offer to the governor of the day are lies and propaganda making them number one blackmailers and domestic champions who cannot impact the governor's political life and propel him to the next level. In the actual sense of the word, these people cannot allow the governor to succeed in making the successor that would maintain the political lineage of succession in governance. They build up a solid cabal that secretly mounts strict oppositions to His Excellency's visions and focus rather than enhancing them for maximal transformation.
Such executive betrayers and destructive elements are seen as political prostitutes who parade the corridors of every successive government in Akwa Ibom State seeking for relevance.
From the administration of governor Godswill, they remain either as advisers or commissioners and they are too cunning for a progressive society. But they team up with their secret cabal to pull down the incumbent like what happened to Akpabio that made them to become what they are today. Just as they ridiculed Akpabio and eventually betrayed and pulled him down at the polls, Governor Udom's will not be an exception. Now, as they are dining with Udom, their concern is how to destroy and condemn other people to make money.
Based on their deceptive skills and manipulative acumen, successive governments in the state often rely heavily on them and the government of the day is deceived to believing that they are worth associating with and they can contribute meaningfully to the development of any community.
The way they lock others out of important decisions and access to the governor further reveals their hypocrisy. They block other people's fortunes and bar their opportunities but show their cabal members the favours they don't even earn and deserve. Their open display of arrogance, hypocrisy, clumsiness, greed, nepotism, executive irresponsibility suggests they are thickly diseased with misdeeds.
The reason Ikot Ekpene is not growing is that these people in government who are from the senatorial district are outright blackmailers and betrayers who manipulate their ways into juicy positions for their personal aggrandisements. Their service lack momentum sounding good on papers but a disaster in practice..
They lack the electoral capacity to deliver up to 100 people for the incumbent's re-
election.
Watch out for the full list of these negative parasites in governmet, from Ikot Ekpene senatorial district in particular, with their profile, in the second part of this publication