•Rep. Unyime Idem and Deputy Governor Akon Eyakenyi
The crowd was as far as the eyes could see. It was a sea of heads everywhere you turned. Inside and outside the 12 massive domes of tents was probably the largest number of guests that this community had ever hosted.
You could hardly find a space to put your feet and walk around without pushing and shoving. Practically, all the movers and shakers of Akwa Ibom politics and business, new and old, were at hand. The only space left was taken up by thousands of items including cars, minibuses, motorcycles, sewing machines, gensets, hair dryers, welding machines, electric mixing machines, soap making machines, farming tools and other equipments, all up for donations by Rep. Unyime Idem, who represents Ukanafun and Oruk Anam LGAs in the Green Chamber of the National Assembly.
He is not just an outstanding lawmaker. He stands out. He is a lightning rod or some would say a trailblazer in many ways, but today, he politely calls himself a jinx breaker. And he seems to be the man with a Midas touch, too. In his four years plus as a national lawmaker, this is the third time he has returned back to his constituency in a big way, with massive empowerment and capacity building programmes and donations.
Today was perhaps the most grandiose. It took the full colour and paraphernalia of a State function when the deputy governor, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, who stood on for Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, arrived bumper-to-bumper with the State PDP chairman, Elder Aniekan Akpan, to a tumultuous welcome by the enthusiastic crowd. It was difficult to fathom that all the items arrayed across the arena today were a donation by one man.
This occasion, held in the hinterland of Ikot Akpa Nkuk, headquaters of Ukanafun LGA, was actually a celebration of the incredible legacy of Rep. Unyime Idem, a renowned telecommunications businessman and federal lawmaker, who has effectively represented the people of Ukanafun and Oruk Anam LGAs, and was rewarded by a re-election recently in a territory that the held the ace in the last National Assembly. His re-election spoke volumes not just about his clout but also of his credibility and general acceptability by his people.
Presiding over the occasion as Chairman was Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien, the political leader of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District, founder of the Ritman University, Ikot Ekpene and Chairman of the-pan Niger Delta Elders Forum, PANDEF. He said he was ‘most grateful’ that the dividend of democracy has reached Ukanafun and Oruk Anam through the quality representation of Rep. Idem.
Sounding sombre and nearly emotional, he reflected on the top-notch performance of Rep. Idem and said if all political office holders were to return to their constituents the way Rep. Idem does, Nigeria would be a better place for rural people. At a point, he broke into vernacular and lauded what he called the ‘real sacrifices’ Rep Idem makes to touch lives. He urged constituents to encourage him to do more. “Unyime Idem “has gone far beyond and exceeded all expectations”, Senator Essien said.
The co-chairman of the occasion was another political heavyweight. He is the political leader of Uyo Senatorial District, the pro-chancellor of the University of Benin, the owner of the famous Comfort FM Radio Station, Uyo, and the famed “political guarantor” who provided the “political collateral” for the electoral victory and success of Governor Eno Administration.
On a good day, Senator Effiong Bob is taciturn, a man of few words. Not today. It was impossible to witness the size and magnitude of generosity of Rep. Idem and not overflow with emotions.
“You are an asset to Akwa Ibom State. You are exceptional, a man for the future. You are doing so much for young people, not only in your constituency, but all over Akwa Ibom State. You support every Akwa Ibom person no matter where he comes from. This is a testimonial, a blueprint that others must copy from, “Senator Bob said.
His speech was followed by a deserving applause. There were many other goodwill speeches and messages from key political actors that followed from Rep. Clement Jimbo of APC, representing Abak, Etim Ekpo, Ika constituency, and Rt.Hon. Eno Akpan, the political leader of Ukanafun LGA, Hon. Samson Idiong, House of Assembly member representing Oruk Anam LGA, to mention a few. All of them pointed to the stellar performance of Rep. Idem, who has been nationally acknowledged and honoured repeatedly by several respected institutions as ‘a leading voice for good’ in the National Assembly.
A few months ago, he was announced and recognised as The Most Valuable Parliamentarian for sponsoring the Highest Number of Motions in the 9th Assembly. Before then, the Independent Newspaper, a top national daily, voted him The Best Federal Lawmaker from South-South Nigeria. The Nigerian Union of Journalists, NUJ, in 2022, gave him the award of the Best Federal Lawmaker on Community Development. The House of Representatives Press Corps, who are eyewitnesses and monitors of the output of each Rep, gave him another award as the Most Outstanding Lawmaker in Constituency Development and crowned him as the Apostle of Motions. Rep Idem’s awards are too many to count here. But mention must be made of the Ahmadu Bello University Alumni Association that awarded him with the prize of the Best Lawmaker in the Green Chambers, and the Ibom Pride Award that came from the Akwa Ibom State Association in the United States, AKISAN.
As a national parliamentarian for four years and six months, he has altogether sponsored 22 bills and 28 motions and executed 52 projects and programmes in his constituency. The State PDP Chairman, who hails from the same constituency as Rep Idem, testified that the lawmaker is exemplary. “Unyime Idem has done very, very well. We, as a party, affirm that he has done very, very well, “Elder Akpan said, surrounded by his Exco members.
Rep. Idem’s footprints are found nearly everywhere on the sands of his constituency. They included construction of roads, bridges, classroom blocks, solar powered street lights, vocational skill centres, homes for physically challenged and widows, Agro-based infrastructures and training centres, digital libraries with hundreds of computers, water boreholes powered by solar, as well as markets, hospital equipments and textbooks/exercise books for various schools in his constituency.
Even before he became a national lawmaker four years plus ago, philanthropy was his forte, and that’s what the governor said through his deputy, Senator Eyakeni, at the occasion. “The governor is very happy with what God is using you to do for your people, not only now that you are in the public service but even when you were in the private sector”.
The deputy governor, speaking for herself, described Rep. Idem as a Mega Rep. As she put it: “I was also in the 9th Assembly with Unyime Idem, and I can attest to the fact that he is good at the job. He is Mega Rep. We are proud of him. The governor of Akwa Ibom State is proud of this Rep and would have really loved to be here himself if he were not outside the State an important assignment He holds this lawmaker in high regard, more so because his empowerment programme today is in line with the ARISE Agenda of Governor Umo Eno Administration”.
Many would agree that Governor Umo Eno and Rep. Unyime Idem seem to have quite a bit in common beyond the ARISE Agenda. They are both successful businessmen who gatecrashed into politics very recently. They are both committed church workers in their different denominations; one in All Nations Christian Church International and the other in the Living Faith Church, aka Winners Chapel. They are both generous givers to the poor. They are both passionate about skill acquisition and empowerment of rural youths and women. They are both humble and result oriented gentlemen. They also share a similar story of rags to riches, poverty to property, and village to villa.
In the case of Rep. Idem, he came from the poorest of the poor families in Ukanafun LGA. His father could not even afford a mud and thatch roof house in his village, Usung Atiat. He wore the same worn-out and weather-beaten, blue and white school uniform for four years from JS1 to SS2. He used to trek for four hours a day to school. He had no textbook till he completed secondary school. He worked as a cleaner in a bakery at Aba, even at the age of 14, all of which are not too different from the childhood experiences of Governor Eno.
And I put this question to Rep. Idem yesterday, December 20, 2023, at Ikot Akpan Nkuk: “What do you think you have in common with Governor Umo Eno”? His answer was short, sharp and took me by surprise. “Two of us are products of grace”, he said.
*Anietie Usen is Senior Special Adviser (SSA) on Media to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State. He is also a regular contributor to The Frontier.
