Open Letter to Assam Assam: Why you must apologize to Elder Gabriel Nkanang..A thing or two for us to learn
Dear Assam Assam:
Ordinarily, I won't like to join issues with you on your anticipated gubernatorial run, because majority of the discerning and dispassionate Akwaibomites have already declared your proposed run as 'DOA' -Dead on Arrival. People who market disloyalty and sharpen a kitchen knife with which to stab their benefactors at the slightest provocation usually end up revealing a paucity of character- and no one entrusts a serious enterprise to such an individual.
Ask Dick Morris- a former Clinton Advisor who cuddled the Republicans and revealed sacred and deeply personal information he was privy to, as President Clinton's loyal and admitted member of the Kitchen Cabinet after he was sacked by Clinton, having been caught frolicking with prostitutes and allowing the said prostitutes to listen in on conversations bordering on national and security issues. Having been celebrated by the Republicans, today, Dick Morris is in political wilderness, shunned and detested by men and women of goodwill, who cant countenance a man with such slimy character.
Your recent vitriolic grenades and unwarranted vituperations unleashed on your benefactor, yes, I emphasize that word 'benefactor' has shocked and bewildered many of us, who knew what level of confidence and trust Governor Godswill Akpabio reposed in you. If you thought by attacking Gov. Akpabio you are earning some political capital, sorry to disappoint you, you have instead wasted whatever little proportions that may have remained in that department. I am not the only one who is shocked and embarrassed by your action- quite a number of people, including those who know you deeply have expressed their shock and dismay at your behavior.
As I said initially, this piece is not on your planned gubernatorial run, but to pointedly rebuke you and encourage you to do some homework as a lawyer, the next time you wish to attack someone who is an icon, a proud father, an intellectual colossus, a shaper and mentor of minds, body and soul to a generation of achievers. Mr. Assam, please do some serious homework, before revealing such lack of basic element of public commentary- that of ascertaining your facts before displaying such confounding and crass claptrap.
In an interview you granted a local tabloid in Uyo, earlier this week, you described the father of the Secretary to the State Government-Elder Gabriel E. Nkanang as " an illiterate in the village" and this is where you crossed the line and got my pulse all riled up. I feel like by attacking the venerable educator, under whose guidance a generation of people from my community of Awa clan in Onna local government Areas have found their voices, charted their professional paths and today are illuminating various career paths with the fire of education and intellectual flourishes Elder Nkanang had unleashed and activated in us, you have attacked us,- we his grateful student and I will not allow you to let such lies pass as conventional wisdom.
Mr. Assam, Elder G. Nkanang whom you ignorantly descried as "an illiterate in the village" is a foremost educator whose products today litter every sphere and layer of the mainstream Nigerian enterprise from banking, to law, to journalism , to engineering- just mention it! Elder Nkanang mentored young men and women and imbued in them a strong sense of character-again I emphasize that word CHARACTER, a deep sense of personal responsibility, good moral foundation and an abiding faith in the endless opportunities that God has imbued in us all. He inculcated in us, a culture of discipline, of giving respect to our elders and having an acute sense of right and wrong- these are values that will stand between success and failure, between, being educated but empty on the character side, between being loyal and holding a knife to your back, prepping to stab those who provide a cushion and pathway for you to aspire and dream.
Look at his products- starting from his son-the Honorable Udom Gabriel Emmanuel- the Secretary to the State Government. You will agree with me, that Honorable Udom Emmanuel at his youthful age, has archived what some in their 60s are still struggling to decipher and comprehend, and from all indications, the Will of God in his life is about taking him to another layer of responsibility. He combines a sharp and discerning mind with the fear of God, a man of impeccable character,deeply loyal, dependable and trustworthy. I do not wish to go over his resume here, you can look that up yourself.
Without sounding immodest here, I owe all that God has made possible for me to archive- to the quality of education I was exposed to, under the tutelage of Elder Nkanang and anyone attacking him, will be seen and regarded as attacking the very core and essence of what I represent. Today, there is hardly any young man and woman in Awa clan of Onna Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State who is doing well in their respective stations of life who was not a product of the schools Elder Nkanag headed and provided us the platform to dream and dare. Asam Assam, you don't call such a man "an illiterate in the village".
My advice to you is to try all you can,to apologize to the Elder Nkanang and seek his forgiveness. In politics, even though all is fair game, here in America in spite of the slice and dice, in spite of the mud and slime , in spite of the ideological in-fighting and brick-bats that are thrown at each other, there is a little line politicians don't cross, it is called the zone of privacy and that zone encapsulates primarily, the family. Politicians who attack family members of their opponents invariably never recover from such lack of judgment. By attacking Eder Gabriel Emmanuel Nkanang, Assam Assam, you have crossed the line and you must apologize and ask for forgiveness. I strongly urge you to do this, so it may be well with you.
Best regards,
Ekerete Udoh
(A grateful ex-student of Elder G.E. Nkanang)
New York/Lagos
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