Obong Bassey Inuaeyen, a native of Nkari in INI Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, is a businessman of many parts and former Governorship aspirant, who also took shot at elections into the Senate. Today, he is the Chancellor of Ibom Patriots, a forum of Akwa Ibom elder statesmen projecting the Akwa Ibom project beyond borders. In this interview with Ibom Telegraph, he speaks on his political ambition, his relationship with Governor Udom Emmanuel and sundry matters. Excerpts:
Most people thought it was almost uhuru that you were going to grab the 2007 Senate ticket for Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District but something else happened. Would you like to tell us the undercurrents and intrigues that led to your not getting to the Red Chambers?
Thank you. I hope I will also use this opportunity to put to rest some of these speculations and rumours about my Senate interest before and during 2011. In 2003, I actually indicated interest to go to the Senate and I bought the PDP form to go to the Senate that year but when the people of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District set up a zoning committee headed by late Chief Iyanam, that position was zoned to Abak Division and that put paid to my ambition as at that time. Then in 2007 when Obong Victor Attah’s administration was ending, I had interest to run for the Governorship of Akwa Ibom State and Barrister Emmanuel Enoidem, Inibehe Okorie and Inibehe Okopido approached me asking that I drop my ambition for the Governorship to clear way for the emergence of an Akwa Ibomite of the Annang extraction. I agreed. I accepted their proposal and decided to drop my governorship ambition and go to the Senate but my question to them then was; when you say we, who are the ‘we’ and what are the elders of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District saying? Have you consulted them? Then somebody answered and said no, this is you and I answered no, you cannot just be you because you have to get the elders to also agree to this and besides, when I drop my ambition who am I going to support? They left and told me they will let me know. And since they left, as I speak today, they have not returned because they couldn’t answer that question.
So, I was still waiting for the answer before I could take necessary steps to withdraw from the race. Then, the next thing was that Hon. Nelson Effiong, Dr Etido Ibekwe and Chief Ukata Akpan- three of them were principal officers in the House of Assembly as at that time- came to me saying they were from Governor Victor Attah, this was in 2007. They said that they had met with Governor Victor Attah and that he indicated to them that he would want me to run for the Senate and they also advised me to go and see Obong Victor Attah. I tried severally without success. In fact, part of my efforts took me to South Africa to meet with the Governor so that I can hear from the horse’s mouth, because that was the only authority who could tell me to withdraw or not to withdraw from the race.
You were very close to Governor Victor Attah then. So, why did it take such huge effort to see him?
Well, you know when you are a Governor, you have so many things to think about and take care of and you can be very busy and at such you can even forget your friends. I understood the situation. So, I couldn’t really meet with him but then I had briefed my campaign managers that if I go to consult the Governor and he tells me to withdraw from the Governorship race and run for Senate, that we will convert our campaign to Senate campaign. Of course, eventually I saw the Governor but I did not go and tell him I want to run for the Senate. I went to him and told him that I came to consult him that I want to run for the Governorship position of the state. He took the drink I brought from me and assured me that I will be seriously considered, that I am qualified to run for the Governorship of this State ,that the only problem he will work out is how we, the Ikono/INI people, will get the Senate and then Governorship for the first time when we have the majority, our Annang brothers and sisters. So, I told him that it was for him to decide and I left. The Governor never, at that point, told me that he wants me to withdraw from the Governorship race and go to the Senate, which was what I expected and if he did that I would have accepted it. So, that did not happen and I continued with the campaign for Governorship. I have heard rumours and stories around me that I was asked to run for the Senate and I refused. The question is who did? The Governor then was Obong Victor Attah who was our leader and the only one with the power then, and so that side ended.
By 2010, 2011, the then Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, now Senate Minority Leader, actually asked me that he wants me to run for the Senate seat in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District and I said okay, because this came from an authority and he was in a good position. Of course, we set out and worked so hard to achieve that. Like you said, we were very close but political intrigues and other things played out and overwhelmed my position and, of course Senator Aloysius Etok was asked to continue. Senator Akpabio and I had met and discussed this and it was no longer an issue, two of us met and agreed that bygone be bygone and I actually assured him that this time around, I will support his second term bid because the last one I did not. I did not support him because I was upset and that is where people get confused about whether I supported Udom or not but I did support Udom. The only person I did not support was Senator Godswill Akpabio and it was out of anger. That is over now and I hope this explanation also ends all the speculations and rumours.
Barring the fact that you have sorted things out with Senator Akpabio, I don’t know if that also applies to Obong Victor Attah, would it be safe to say that the two leaders successfully betrayed you?
I wouldn’t say that Obong Attah betrayed me because he never discussed it with me. The only thing I got disappointed a bit was when he told me one day that he called me to come and run for Senate and I refused because I wanted to be Governor which he never did. I told him he never did that and I asked if he was the source of the rumours and he said no that he told General Akpan to tell me. Luckily, General Akpan was there and General Akpan told me that Obong Attah never did but I told him that I came to you with a drink and I did all other things I was supposed to do politically to consult you when you were in a position to simply say drop, maybe because in politics people try not to offend another but for me I don’t share such belief. And maybe that is why I am having many political troubles because I say things the way they are, the way I feel, so it is up to you to decide. So, Obong Attah never did and if he did, I would have obeyed him. He was the Governor then. So, I would not say I was betrayed by the then Governor but at the same time let me also state clearly and categorically that I hold no grudge against any of the two leaders for one simple reason. When I set out to contest for those positions, I knelt and prayed to God. My prayer was simply God that if this is from you, let it be and if it is not from you, take it away from me. And of course it didn’t happen, so I took it that God didn’t want it. So, I am fine with it and I hold no grudge against anybody. But I only sometimes get offended when people who are supposed to be very responsible in the society would go and make a statement, which they know is not factual, to say that Bassey Inuaeyen was asked to run for Senate but he refused. It is a nice political story to tell but then how true is it? I have explained today and that is what truly happened.
It takes a very wealthy man to make attempts at those offices unsuccessfully and still stay afloat financially. I mean wealthy in terms of the capacity to manage shock and wealth in terms of large heartedness to forgive. Would you say you fit into that mould of the definition of a wealthy man?
Well, I don’t think I fit into the first criteria, which is financial wealth. In terms of large heartedness, I do and that has been my strength. I try to see things from the other person’s perspective and I also have the capacity to forgive. Financially, don’t let anybody deceive you, in this part of the world, if you are running election it will impact on your finances and you have to cope with the vagary of it all. So, I made a personal choice and I lost and so I have to live with it. I don’t hold it on anybody, I accepted it all.
On the build up to the 2015 elections, specifically in 2014, there was also this talk in town, though not so many people knew of the robust relationship that existed between you and the current Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, dating back to the funeral ceremony of your mum which brought together all the leaders in the state and the Governor stated that his relationship with you went beyond politics, but the rumour mill was agog that you were not in support of Mr. Udom Emmanuel. Can you talk on this?
Well, Governor Udom Emmanuel and I have a relationship that predates politics. When he was called to become Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government (SSG), I was one of those whom he discussed with and I encouraged him to come and serve his motherland. So, as a matter of fact, immediately he came in as SSG despite my frosty relationship with Governor Godswill Akpabio then, I still went to him to thank him for making Udom Emmanuel the Secretary to the State Government and I told him that Udom Emmanuel is my brother and that position is still subsisting till tomorrow and for years to come. Governor Udom Emmanuel remains my brother and my Governor today.
There couldn’t have been anything further from the truth than those speculations and rumors and of course you do know that in politics you have people who might consider you a threat to their own ambition or to their own political space, they will do anything possible to bring you down. It is not true that I did not support Governor Udom Emmanuel but before Governor Udom Emmanuel showed interest, I knew of his interest and ambition to run for the Governorship. I had commitments with others.
Will you like to mention the other?
I do not think it is necessary, but let me say this. In politics, no politician wants to float. You must have a candidate and you must belong to somewhere and at the same time, no politician likes to be ignored. I was ignored by the party that I also helped to sustain in this state. So, nobody was talking to me and I was just there but others, who saw value in me, approached me. Of course, they were all from the PDP as at that time but there was one person I promised never to support and I told him that. But I had said in my mind that I believe we had zoned the Governorship seat to Eket Senatorial District and that Eket people were not wrong to be in expectation that it was their own turn. So, when it was suggested that Governor Akpabio was supporting candidates from Uyo Senatorial District, I disagreed.
You did, even as at the time the current Governor had not indicated interest?
Yes, I did and we went on to form a group called the Leadership. The Group held its first meeting in the residence of Obong Ufot Ekaette. Obong Ufot Ekaette was the Chairman of the group and I was the Secretary General and our first meeting was the very day the then First Lady, Nnenyin Alison Attah, was buried and after the burial we all went to Obong Ekaette’s house. I have the document of the meeting with me. At that meeting, we all agreed there that we will support a candidate from Eket Senatorial District and that we will not support anyone from Uyo Senatorial District. We held series of meetings after the first one and we also took a decision that we may not support any candidate presented by then Governor Godswill Akpabio and this came as a suggestion during discussion in the heat of the meeting.
Was that decision borne out of hatred or was it like a consensus agreement?
No, don’t get it complicated. It was in the heat of discussion that somebody suggested.
So, it was not a position of the group?
Yes. You know, there is a saying that you don’t follow the length of a snake to set fire else you will end up burning your own house because the length might be so long that it reaches your house. I did not have an idea that my brother would show interest. Maybe I was not taken into the house and confided in earlier enough. So, I had commitments with other aspirants from Eket Senatorial District. I also had commitment with a particular candidate from Uyo Senatorial District in case the then Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, insist on an aspirant from Uyo Senatorial District. But it was a personal thing. But in the whole, I preferred a candidate from Eket Senatorial District.
So, when eventually I got to know of my brother’s interest in the Governorship race, I told him to give me a little time, let me go and unbundle myself where I was already engaged and this got some politicians to start speculating that I didn’t support the current Governor. But I am happy that there are politicians in this state who will agree that I used to come to them to canvass support for Governor Udom Emmanuel and there are many people that I put into the Udom Emmanuel Campaign Organization and I told them that Udom may not come from the same place with me but he has been useful to me during my stay in Lagos and he regarded me as a brother. So, there is no way I would not have supported him but my only problem was that I would never support Senator Godswill Akpabio for Senate and even at the Ikot Ekpene Township Stadium during Governor Udom Emmanuel’s declaration, I stated it clearly that I am supporting him because I know him and that I wasn’t supporting the party and I worked towards that. I don’t want to mention names but there are people that will not deny that I was the one that put them in the campaign team. But there was a problem, I also went to Governor Godswill Akpabio then to give me a role to play in his election but he did not consent to that and so I had to do the bit I could within my own small ability.
In fact, I had all the campaign uniforms. I attended all the political rallies wearing those uniforms. But the problem also was that when I get to the rally, the organizers will deliberately refuse to recognize and acknowledge my presence. It didn’t matter to me because that wasn’t my reason for going there. Mine was to show my support in my little way. But then, politicians started speculating that I didn’t support the current Governor. The speculation started from my own home, INI Local Government Area. I remember when Governor Udom Emmanuel went on his first consultation visit to Chief Otu Robert to inform INI people of his intention to run for the Governorship, he told them there that he is from INI by association and that he has a brother here who is Obong Bassey Inuaeyen. In politics, that could have infuriated some people but I left and did my best and as God would have it, Governor Udom Emmanuel being a sincere person acknowledges my relationship with him at any point. So, if anybody goes to him to blackmail me before him, it is up to the person but all I know is that I am in support of Governor Udom Emmanuel. I supported him before and now,I am looking for space to play a prominent role for his re-election.
