WHEN on Thursday, 10 November, 2011, my attention was called to a news story sponsored by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) in some national dailies on why the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) should withdraw the honorary degrees it awarded Governor Godswill Akpabio of Akwa Ibom State and the Minister of Petroleum, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, what came to my mind was “our dear Lai is at it again, ever-reactionary.”

The ACN’s National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, and his reactionary prowess, often times on issues that are needless, are not unknown to many Nigerians, and who would blame a man trying to satisfy his bosses by acting on their ‘say-so?’ Lai, many people would believe doesn’t  LIE but his penchant for finding needless opportunities to comment in the media ranks second to none in the country, and often make some of his avoidable errors of judgment obvious. Therefore, whenever I read any of Lai Mohammed’s reactionary political ‘ballistics’ they often were not bereft of sentiment and unnecessary emotions, and nothing less would have been expected from the ACN, a party that is highly parochial and has continued to fight an unwinnable battle in Akwa Ibom State.

This time, not only has the ACN goofed by calling on the NDA to withdraw the honorary awards given to Mrs Alison-Madueke and Governor Akpabio, who is their main target having roundly defeated ‘Asiwaju’ and his disciples in Akwa Ibom State at the polls and before the judiciary, the defence for such call is apparently not pungent enough. By going to the press with such weak defence, the party exposed its sentiment, or if one may ask, would the party have said the same thing if the award had been given to one of their governors who apparently trail behind Akpabio in achievements and delivery of democratic dividends?

Reading such statement credited to the ACN, one will only be forced to begin to mention the innumerable efforts and achievements of Governor Akpabio in the past four years and some months that justified his being awarded an honorary degree in Management Science. Wait for it, why would the ACN and especially Lai Mohammed even make such call seeing that there was never a moment that the award was proclaimed to be given for what Governor Akpabio had done for NDA? It was in recognition of his management acumen as evident in the transformation that has come to Akwa Ibom; a transformation so visible that the people rejected the ACN and its broom-wielding lords, who they knew would return them to lives of servitude and stagnation.

Ranging from the physical sector to health and education sectors, the governor has changed the face of the state and has brought smiles to the faces of the people. Several completed projects and ongoing developmental efforts are in Akwa Ibom for the ACN and Nigerians to see. In four years, Governor Akpabio gave governance in the country a new meaning, achieving feats that some of the leaders of the party could not achieve in their times as governors of some states in the South West. And in recognition of these countless development projects, the governor had before the NDA award, received numerous awards and recognitions such as the Gold Humanitarian Services Award which is the highest national honour in Niger Republic, Tribune’s Governor of the Year 2010, ThisDay’s Emerging Tiger Award, and the United States Congressional Award on Service to Humanity. These awards are the incontestable evidences of why Akpabio deserves any award he may be given in Nigeria today and for some time to come, unlike some of the ACN leaders whose works will not stand the test of time due to deceit and treachery.

Governor Akpabio, principled and determined to redefine governance, does not go about Africa in search of awards he does not deserve; he obviously has moved Akwa Ibom State out of the doldrums and changed its status to one that is enviable and first among equals. He has achieved a feat that only a great manager can achieve, and it is for this that he was given an honorary degree; a development that punctures ACN’s argument about the impropriety of NDA’s honour for Akpabio because some eminent Nigerians, who we hold in high regard, are yet to be honoured. The Academy may only be waiting for a better time to honour these people, at least, there was no caveat that the awards end this year or next, even the ACN leaders and governors may get their recognition from the body if they deserve such for it is known that Lai Mohammed’s dripping pen of anger and mischief would have ceased to write had Governor Bola Tinubu been honoured with a honorary degree, wait, but in what?

One may conclude by saying that as a student, the ACN failed in its research about the NDA Awards because it started with a wrong premise and based its inferences on an ignoble hunch, bypassing the paths of rigour, tenacity and objectivity, which are necessary qualities of valid research. And since it has failed woefully by calling that an honorary degree well-deserved, mark honorary, be withdrawn, it cannot be said whether it can be trusted with a nobler task of governance and that is why Akwa Ibom people have and will always work against the party, for they know the worth of their performing governor.

The failure of the ACN’s self-styled research has also been evidenced by the fact that come Monday, 14 November, 2011, Governor Akpabio will be honoured as a Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), showing that Governor Akpabio deserves all the awards he gets, for his achievements are second to none in the country.
• Udoedehe writes from Shomolu, Lagos State.

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The Lie (Lai) Lied Again Today
written by Hamilton, November 14, 2011

Before the ink on which you penned this piece has dried Lie (Lai) came up today with suggestion that GEJ should put the removal of fuel subsidy to a referendum. My question is "does ACN practice what it preaches?" Why did Fashola not put the increment of school fees at LASU from 25K to 300k to a refeendum/ Like get the students to vote on the increment. What of the tolling of the Lekki - Epe road. Why did the ACN governor not put that to a referendum. Perharps ACN thinks there should be different rules for the party and different rules for other parties. That is why, whenver ACN wins in court, the judiciary becomes the last hope of the common man, but when they loose, the judiciary becomes corrupt. What hypocricy!!!!!!!!!

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