Uwem-Obong Ankak
The people of Ibiono Ibom, a proud and historical community in the north east of Akwa Ibom State, will today, November 22, roll out their drums, cymbals and all to celebrate their monarch, His Royal Majesty, Okuku Ime Udousoro Inyang as he clocks 75 years. They will use the auspicious occasion to take stock on how far they have come and the milestones which they have attained since this cerebral royal father mounted the throne of his forefathers, first as the Okuku Utit Obio in 1989 and the first Paramount Ruler of Ibiono Ibom in 2003 and which staff of office was presented to him by then civilian governor of Akwa Ibom State, His Excellency, Architect, (Obong) Victor Attah
In a community which has produced, in February 1954, Dominic Ignatius Ekanem, first Bishop of the Catholic church in all of Anglophone West Africa, only second in Africa, to Don Affonso of Congo who was ordained under the reign of Pope Leo X (Florentine Medici)(1513-1521) and who later became known as Dominic Ignatius Cardinal Ekanem, having been elevated to the position of the first Catholic Cardinal in Nigeria; a community which birthed General Philip Effiong, the second in command in the hierarchy of the short-lived Biafra Republic; a community which boasts of a plethora of professors in universities in Nigeria and across the world; a community which harbored the venerable Mary Slessor, the Scottish missionary who made tremendous impact in the stoppage of the killing of twins in eastern Nigeria; a community with the best brains in commerce and industry owing to their early contact with ‘white’ men; it can be deduced that choosing Dr Ime Inyang as a paramount ruler was well thought out, as the accounts narrated in subsequent paragraphs will show.
Born in November 22, 1942 in Ikot Udom, Utit Obio, Ibiono Ibom, Edidem Ime Inyang started his elementary school at Lutheran Mission School at Ikot Essiet, Ibiono Ibom in 1949, proceeded to St. Paul School, Aba (present Abia State) and completed in 1959 and later attended the University of Nigeria, Nsukka where he qualified in Public finance. He is a Chartered Accountant and fellow of Public Finance who has held various Accounting positions traversing various public services, retiring as Deputy Director of Finance and Account in 1994 in the Akwa Ibom civil service. He was, at some point, in his life trajectory, equally drafted into the Biafran war where he rose to the rank of Major!
But, his ascendancy to the throne of the Okuku Utit Obio and later Paramount Ruler of Ibiono Ibom was foretold at his infancy, in fact before he was born. There were epochal signs, events and happenstances that heralded his birth and which culminated in eventual enthronement as the king. First, the mother had a troubling pregnancy. The woman, who hitherto, had been docile and respectful suddenly became wild to the husband and people around her, culminating in her being sent away to the husband sister’s home for a safe birth. And that also informed the name he bears today, Ime (Patience), which was an admonition from his Aunty to her brother (Okuku’s father) to always be patient with his wife, which she perceived was carrying an extraordinary child.
Again, there was an incident where in his infancy, his mother kept him in the custody of his grandfather, Okuku Inyang Akpan Afia, on her way to the farm, and infant Ime cried ceaselessly for hours and every entreaty to pacify him failed. The man bathed, fed and carried him and danced around the compound but the child refused to be pacified. And in exasperation, the grandfather removed his crown (Ntinya) and put on the infant’s head, and he immediately stopped crying.
Also, young Ime took ill with sores on his legs, and every medication, both orthodox and unorthodox administered on him failed to heal him. At that point, a Diviner was sought, who revealed ethereal and spiritual connotation of the ordeal he was going through. And when certain spiritual healing was prescribed and performed, which had to do with the stool of his forefathers, the sores healed miraculously. At work as a civil servant, he was often accused of infractions that happened even when he was on vacation but often exonerated after investigations and apologized to.
He was convinced that the stool of his forefathers were behind his travails both at home and workplaces when the founder of the popular Brotherhood of the Cross and Star, Olumba Olumba Obu in Calabar, Cross River State predicted to him that he was destined to occupy the throne of his forebears and should make immediate preparation to mount the throne. And when he began the preparation to mount the throne as Okuku Utit Obio, some of those travails disappeared.
Today, this epitome of the culture and traditions of the Ibiono Ibom people, a community founded in 2500 BC and known to have migrated from Asphina in Palestine and dispersed during the biblical Tower of Babel, who came to the present location through Sudan (BANTU) to settle first at Ibom in Arochukwu in present Abia State, with a landmass estimated at 2763 square meters and over 700,000 inhabitants crowded into 333 gazetted villages, (with about 118 villages not captured), with nine distinct but not contiguous clans and only two officially recognized by government, has bequeathed himself well by reinventing the cultural, social, political and economic life of Ibiono Ibom people.
Today, Ibiono Ibom people are proud to have a paramount ruler who has built back their confidence. Indigenes of Ibiono Ibom at home and in the diaspora are very proud of this enigma. He has not only reengineered the socio-cultural and economic life of the people but is a very strong voice in Akwa Ibom State, and Nigeria as a whole. He is a regular face in many national and international fora where issues of finance, governance structure and due process are discussed. He has presented various informed academic papers on tax reforms, revenue mobilization and economic management. And when he became the Chairman of Akwa Ibom State Traditional Rulers Council in 2011, he introduced various reforms which were to help government to attain socio-cultural, economic and political stability.
The greatest attribute of this polyglot, who speaks all the major languages in Nigeria fluently, is his passion for the promotion and elevation of indigenous languages and the preservation of the heritage of not only Akwa Ibom people but Nigeria at large. He believes in the development of people and a personal philosophy which has shaped his thinking. It goes “I have seen the true meaning of One in All; All for One; and One for All. I have come to appreciate the ever present bridge between times as well as between geographies, the bridge between the ancient and the modern and that between the east and the west or the north and the south. I have known, not believed, that the only thing that transcends time and space is the one Almighty God”
Happy birthday, Edidem!
•Uwem-Obong Ankak is an indigene of Ibiono Ibom and a Public Affairs Analyst based in Lagos, Nigeria