‘Uwem-Obong Ankak
Writing the word ‘late’ or referring to Akparawa Ubon Jimmy Akpan in the past tense has been the most traumatising experience for me. The mere fact that I cannot escape the dreaded word or circumvent the reality that he is no more would never be seen or exchanged those wisecracks, which gives me goose pimples. It still appears as if one is in a dreamland to be woken by some earthly distraction.
But, this is real. My bosom friend (more of a brother), man Friday and one I can proudly say knew me more than my blood relations, and vice versa is no more! He succumbed to the cold hands of that unwanted and dreaded visitor, death.
Though we started primary school the same day in our village school, we weren’t close until we began to engage in those youthful fancies. I remember that he rescued me from ‘camp fire’ in our first Boy Scouts outing in primary three! While those who stood by, including our Scout Master thought I was brave and ‘Always Prepared’ as the scouters will say, he was the only one who saw that fire had caught my shirt and that my struggle to pull off the shirt was no act of bravery! Well, I escaped with minor blisters on my back.
I also remember that I helped to rescue him from being beaten black and blue by a bigger boy, a relation of a new teacher who just came to the school. We joined forces and taught that boy a little lesson, though I had to endure regular knocks on the head by that rascal anytime he cornered me alone. But, it was not all miseries though. We equally enjoyed (sometimes) sharing elevated platforms where the first three in a class were lined up for applause when our headmasters announced class results at end of term ceremonies. Those who attended primary school in the seventies would understand this rare honour.
The National Common Entrance saw us in different secondary schools. He headed for HOWAD, Calabar, while AGRAMS in Ukpom was my port of call. We kept in touch and usually looked forward to comparing note at the end of school term. He wouldn’t miss bragging about his school chapel and ‘white men’ who taught them, and the well-stocked library. Thankfully, we also had all that in my school, so the bragging was even.
As we were preparing to leave secondary school, our common primary school teacher and mentor, the late Mr. I. B. Akpan, had advised us to study Law. We went for it and dreamt about how we will dazzle people in court, and even organised mock court sessions. But JAMB and the corruption and nepotism in admission policy of the University of Calabar then deprived us of a slot. So, we lost that year and had to pick up temporary jobs.
By this time, our interest in reading Law had waned considerably. But, our shared interest in reading novels, periodicals, newspapers and magazines, both locally and international, remained. Our schools’ Libraries provided us those facilities. The James Hardley Chase series, Sydney Sheldon, Mills and Boon, Onitsha Market Literature series were our favourites. We could discourse plots, themes and were proud to announce how many we have read. In the Nigerian Chronicle, a Cross River State-owned publication, we followed writers like Ray Ekpu On Sunday, Etim Anim’s This Life. Dele Giwa’s Parallax Snaps in the Sunday Concord newspaper was also a must-read for us. George F. Will column in America’s Newsweek magazine gave us the international angle to our quest for information and knowledge.
And so, I wasn’t surprised when he showed up from Calabar one evening and announced to me he had picked up a form to read Mass Communications at then Polytechnic, Calabar, then seen as the home of Mass Communications training. I was glad for him but equally told him that my maternal uncle (who schooled abroad) was working to get me to study in the United States of America. I showed him the Test of English As Foreign Language (TOEFL) form I had filled. In no time, he had gained admission to Polycal while I waited to go to the USA. Unfortunately for me, the admission letter arrived after the provisional period had elapsed at the New York State University, no thanks to our postal system then.
Well, I was to join him (on his prompting) at the department of Mass Communications, Polycal much later. We lived out our young adulthood, partly fueled by the state bursary, which we enjoyed. You can as well blame yourself if you missed out in your youthful times. He came out and after a stint with some local media houses, moved to Lagos. Here he pitched tent with the Punch newspaper, and later Champion and along the line, expanded his educational frontiers to the University of Ibadan. He stayed on the maritime beat.
I was always on his mind because, after my course in Calabar, he encouraged me to join him in Lagos. I did. I stayed with my cousin at Palmgrove area because he had no apartment of his own then, but I soon joined him in Olodi Apapa, where our big godfather, and Uncle, Prince Ime Umoren, had arranged for any job seekers visiting Lagos from home. Other colleagues who have become lifetime friends, like Akpan John, Alvan Ewuzie equally joined us in this neat apartment. We all kept the rule of moving out once we were settled in our jobs to make room for new comers.
I ‘acclimatised’ soon and hit the grounds of Lagos with his tacit support. I soon landed a job and used the opportunity to expand my educational base, landing in Edo State and Akoka, Lagos and strutted organisations like Complete communications, The Guardian Newspaper, National Sportslink and a spell at Pulse Communications, an integrated marketing communications. We equally did our bit of the professional unions. While he became the President of Maritime Reporters Association (Maran), I emerged as Chairman of Sports Writers Association (SWAN), Lagos Chapter and Assistant Secretary, Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ). He made most of his mark at socio-cultural organisations leading Ibiono Ibom in Lagos, Vice President, Akwa Ibom Association in Lagos as well as Chair, Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, Lagos Chapter, among many other selfless engagements, while I did a bit of my own, practically being headhunted by him to those roles. Oh, I almost forgot, he even married his beautiful wife, Esther, through my girlfriend then! He once drove away a girl he thought was not good enough for me as a wife!
This historical voyage is to show how far we had come. You can see how we watched each other’s back and give encouragement and support where it mattered. Though we had our share of those disagreements in the more than 40 years we have been closely associated, we understood ourselves, our values and understanding of humanity. We had issues with anger though that waned, as we grew older. In our disagreements, a few people would want to intervene. “Don’t mind those twosome. They will always settle their differences,” Usen Inyangmme or Etim Ekanem would say
So, you can imagine how I felt when I called him and he told me he was not feeling good, and thinking it was the common malaria/typhoid ailment, I sauntered to his place to see that the sickness was more serious. Alarmed, we tried all we could to save his life. But, lo and behold, this unsavory story. It hurts to the marrow, but I am consoled by the fact that he lived his life well, served humanity and his God.
Take a bow brother and friend. May you find favour in the bosom of the Almighty God.
• Ankak is a childhood friend and professional colleague of late Akparawa Ubon Jimmy Akpan.