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Onofiok Luke: Friendship San Frontiers By David Augustine

Sometime in 2014, a notable member of the All Progressive Congress, who is not actually based in the state, was to bury his mother-in-law. He reached out to friends and associates. A few weeks to the occasion, not many came around to even ask how things were going. One day he called and asked me what manner of man was Onofiok Luke, then just a member of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. I was confused as to why he would call, just to ask me about the composition of another man. Prodded further he told me that Hon Luke, not just constantly called to ask how he was coping with the preparations, but had donated a cow and offered other assistance. The APC chieftain was even more amazed by the fact that both belong to different political parties in a state where to visit a brother who is remotely suspected not to be “loyal” to the powers that be, amounted to outright disloyalty.

Luke went a step further by personally attending the funeral ceremony. His attendance at the ceremony made even more impression on the crowd gathered at the event because just across the road to where the event was holding was the residence of a former commissioner, who was directly related to the bereaved family, but could not make it across the road because an APC member was involved in the burial.

In December 2013 during one of his now famous constituency briefings the young man stunned the gathering by his audacious attempt at reconciling the duo of Senator Effiong Bob and Mr. Umana Okon Umana, two brothers torn apart by politics. It was already a feat for him then to have brought the then Secretary to the Akwa Ibom state government, Mr Udom Gabriel Emmanuel and Umana, who was still smarting from his Gestapo-like style removal from the office Udom Emmanuel was then occupying, to attend the event. Prelate Isaiah Isong prayed for the peace and reconciliation of Umana and Bob that day to the admiration of the mammoth crowd. Whether the peace and friendship Onofiok Luke wished for the two men, he described as his “fathers”, lasted is neither here nor there, but the sheer magnitude of that project of reconciliation is what matters.

The young man who today, by the special benevolence of God, is saddled with the responsibility of leading the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, is a man possessed by the spirit of love, humility and respect. He does not just preach those virtues, but he practices them to their breaking limits.

Even in his elevated position, he is not weighed down by officialdom, neither is he shackled by the demands of protocol. He simply refuses to be bothered by the airs of office to maintain a stream of friendship he has built and sustained over time. He knows neither political boundaries nor ethnic dichotomy. He is just simply Onofiok Luke and the other person is simply another of God’s wonderful creation.

On December 21, 2016 the Rt Hon Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Onofiok Luke assembled a large crowd of friends, constituents, associates and admirers across Nigeria for this year’s edition of his constituency briefing. While I personally acknowledge the essentials of the money and materials given out to his constituents on the occasion, I am inclined to believe that the real thing of everlasting importance was his attempt at building bridges of friendship across Nigeria.

From home, the protocol list was intimidating. There was nothing that betrayed his political leaning because the gathering was just a gathering of people sans politics. He displayed uncommon strength to have made Obong Victor Attah attend the event in person. Attah was not alone. Air Commodore John Ebiye was there, and so was Col Yakubu Bako. Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga was there and so was Group Capt Sam Ewang, an APC national icon.

Even though the event was primarily for his Nsit Ubium people, Paramount Rulers from the three senatorial districts of the state were fully on the ground. The atmosphere was charged by the sheer number of the who-is-who present, all drawn together by the young man’s force of personal charm. Those who still see politics as warfare were disappointed to see friendship on display.

Eleven Speakers from across Nigeria were at Nsit Ubium. They include those of Adamawa, Rivers, Enugu, Imo, Cross Rivers, Kwara, Kaduna, Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Abia, and Kebbi. These political leaders cut across political parties and regions of the country. They did not come because Luke is the speaker of AKHA, they came because he had cultivated friendship. It is not really about him as Onofiok Luke, but a new dawn of friendship between those leaders, their states and Akwa Ibom state. They definitely took home a little bit of Akwa Ibom state with them back to their different states.

The youths came. They came from the North, East, West and South. They were leaders of students’ bodies, leaders of communities and youth influencers across the nation. The respected and influential Ijaw Youths Council chairman, Comrade Eradri was there; an acknowledged factor in the deepening of the relationships between ethnic nationalities within the South South region. Those youths with national visibility, including top-notch National Youth Council leaders, Youth parliamentarians, African and Commonwealth youth leaders, National Students leadership, were all well represented. It was an occasion of friendship building and ample opportunity for the youths of the state to interact with their pears from other parts of the country and explore the possibility of twining and forging of bonds of friendship.

The Yar’Adua family came in their official capacity as friends of the young speaker. The Matriarch of the family and former first lady, Hajia Turai Yar’Adua was represented by a younger brother of the late Nigerian President, Col Abdulaziz Yar’Adua. Other members of the family were also there on their personal capacity.

Some people given to the over-riding interest in material things may be asking, of what benefit is the presence of these Nigerians to the state. The benefit lies in the social impact the visit would have on the image of the state and the amount of networking and castles of unity built between the peoples of the state and other parts of the country. For those of them coming to the state for the first time the impression they would go back with will last them a life time. I am sure many of them may have learnt a lesson or two in leadership from their host. They may have learnt that a Nigerian leader could muster the amount of resources that Speaker Luke mustered in the interest of the less privileged in our communities. They must have gone home with the warmth and the carnival-like mobilization of the people they witnessed at the occasion. They must have learnt that in our state, politics is not a kill and go vocation as many politicians in the country make it appear.

The visitors must have been astounded by the magnitude of empowerment that went to the people. They will have gone home to tell it to their own people that a legislator could give out 10 mini buses to ten women and followed it up with another 6 cars given to 6 other women. They, I am sure, must have gone home to tell it to the people that the young man gave out 10 motor bikes to 10 young men and followed it up with another N100, 000 each to 10 other men to start up new businesses. They will have gone home to tell it to their people that the speaker gave another set of 50 youths N50, 000 each to support their existing businesses. They will go home and tell their own representatives that in Akwa Ibom state, a representative of the people gave N100, 000 each to 10 women to start their own businesses and followed it up with another N50, 000 each to 20 women to support their existing businesses. They will go home and tell of the love for the women they saw in Akwa Ibom state that made a young man provide N50, 000 worth of petty trading start-up materials for 10 women and followed it up with another category of 10 women who received N100, 000 to support existing businesses.

Those Nigerians, I am sure will still be talking about the 10 sewing machines for 10 women; 10 hair-dressing equipment with a generating set received by 10 women and 10 vulcanizing machines for 10 youth given out by the Speaker of the Akwa Ibom state House of Assembly to his constituents.

The visiting Speakers from the over eleven states that witnessed the event will be scratching their heads as to how to explain to their own people that a colleague of theirs in Akwa Ibom state gave out 5 Nigerian Law School scholarships to 5 youths and gave a bursary of N20, 000 to 100 students, in an era when bursary awards had been scrapped from the vocabulary of governments. They will be wondering how to explain that Mr Speaker gave scholarship awards to 10 indigent students from his communities worth N100, 000 each that would run for three years.

They will go and tell their own state governors that the wife of the Akwa Ibom state governor provided a chunk of the money and materials distributed on the occasion. They will tell their governors to also be as supportive as Gov Emmanuel, who was not only personally present, but made personal donations.

These are positive things the visitors have come to see and they will continue to talk about them any time the state is mentioned.

In an era of hate-suffused politics; where insults are freely hurled about; where violence is routinely incited by political leaders, the example of Rt Hon Onofiok Luke should be encouraged. He was neither afraid to mention his gratitude to the contributions to his life by the immediate past governor of the state and Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, nor was he frightened to also mention and acknowledge the contributions of Umana Okon Umana to his life at some points in the past.

That is the essential part of a man built to create love and build bridges of understanding; that is the constitution of a man whose show of love and friendship transcends status, class, ethnicity, and religion. That is the composition of a man at home with the crippled and the blind as he is with kings and emperors. That is the makeup of a man comfortable with the guys in the streets and the guys riding the crests of high achievements. That is Onofiok Luke, the man they call “The Peoples Speaker”.