But if you are not a careful observer of the currents behind the headlines, you may think the cacophony in Akwa Ibom now is merely about the 2011 elections or the state governorship.

A little trip down memory lane will put the matter in a proper perspective. Since September 23, 1987 when Akwa Ibom state was created by the administration of Gen. Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida till May, 2007 when Obong Godswill Obot Akpabio took over as governor, no one outside the majority Ibibio has governed the state, whether civilian or military.

To date, the state has had nine chief executives, the last two being relations of the founding fathers of the Ibibio State Union (ISU). The roll call is thus: Col. (later Senator)  Tunde Ogbeha; Col. (later Gen.) Godwin Abe;  Group Capt. Idongesit Nkanga, Obong Akpan Isemin, Lt. Col. Yakubu Bako, Navy Capt. Joseph Adeusi, Group Capt. Jonah Abiye, Obong Victor Attah and now Barr. Akpabio.

Of these nine, three have been Akwa Ibom indigenes of Ibibio stock i.e. Nkanga, Isemin and Attah, their cumulative years in office totalling 12 years. But thank God for democracy, an Annang man was elected governor in 2007, and by May 29 this year, Akpabio would have spent four years as governor. But suddenly, four years are too many, and all hell has been let loose to contain him; thereby limiting him, and his Annang ethnic nationality, to one gubernatorial term.

If Akpabio’s immediate predecessor, Obong Victor Attah, had not been allowed to complete his two-terms of four years each, perhaps, the Akpabio-must-go-at all-cost campaign might make sense. But as it is, it does not. And this is strange because the ideals of fair-play, freedom and equal opportunity, which inspired the struggle, for not just an Akwa Ibom state, but “an Akwa Ibom Homeland where everybody is at Home,” is being sacrificed at this very hour at the twin-alters of greed and injustice.

A return to history will help here too. The Akwa Ibom story started on April 28, 1928, with the founding of the Ibibio Union (IU) at the Mission School of the Qua Iboe Church, located on No. 2, Abak Road, in Uyo.  The point must be made that “The Ibibio Union” was an expansive and generic term which embraced the ethnic Ibibios as well as their intermediate brethren ie the Annangs and Oron ethnic nationalities.

The objective of the union was to better the lot of the generic Ibibio nation within the context of the evolving multi-ethnic Nigerian state as well as give the “Ibibioman” a say in the ensuing reality of aggressive, inter-ethnic competitions which was leaving him with the short end of the stick.

In time, thanks to the introduction, growth and harsh realities of regional politics, the Ibibio Union metamorphosed into a political force and transformed itself into the Ibibio State Union (ISU), a potent platform that enabled it to enter the fray of political activism by 1948.

Its maiden executive board was, thus, all-embracing; with Chief Nyong Essien as the pioneer President-General, and founding members like Messrs. Robert Udoaka Umoinyang, Samson Udo Udiong, Samson Udo Etuk and Effiong Okon Eyo as well as Chief Bassey Udo Adiaha Attah and Hon. Ibanga Udo Akpabio ably supporting.

And in 1953, the Calabar-Ogoja-Rivers (COR) State Movement was born at Afaha Oku, with an illustrious Ibibio son, late Chief (Justice) Egbert Udo Udoma becoming its Secretary-General. Elected the President of the Ibibio Union since 1947 ( a post he was to hold till 1961), Udoma had started networking with like-minded people outside the Ibibio enclave like Chief Tony Enahoro, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Joseph Tarka, Chief Akanu Ibiam and Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim amongst others.

In 1958, Obong Effiong Okon Eyo, then a vocal member of the Eastern House of Assembly (EHOA) on the platform of the Action Group (AG) took the COR State agitation to the London Constitutional Conference, where he argued his cause passionately. An Annang man, who believed wholly in the larger Ibibio cause, he paraphrased the Bible to coin the dictum: “Seek ye first the kingdom of your own state and all other things shall be added unto you.” It was with this that he charged the COR state agitation and exhorted his compatriots to forge ahead.

In 1976, Cross River and Rivers states were created, but by now the agitation for an Ibibio state or “homeland” had become unstoppable. So in 1978, during the Constituent Assembly debates, the trio of Messrs. Donald Etiebet, Wills Obong and Okon Idoiwood tabled the matter once again before the August gathering of the nation’s 49 wise men.

About the same time too, leading traditional rulers, under the leadership of the then paramount ruler of Etinan, Obong Simon Tom Akpan-Nsubong, met and signed a resolution giving force to the advocacy of their political children.  But the creation of Akwa Ibom state would not come under the Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo regime. And for that matter, neither would it be under the two successor-administrations of Alhaji Shehu Shagari and General Muhammadu Buhari. It was during the tenure of Gen. Babangida, and specifically on September 23, 1987 that the Akwa Ibom State dream became a political reality.

It is not every time that pioneers of a cause labour in vain so it is interesting to note that the son of Chief Adiaha Attah would later rule Akwa Ibom state upon its creation as its eight chief executive while the nephew of Hon. Ibanga Akpabio, would succeed him as the state’s ninth governor in the person of Obong Apkabio.

So if all along, fairplay and justice has driven the Akwa Ibom Project, which is bigger than any individual and predates all these political parties, why is everything we have achieved over the years, including inter-ethnic harmony, being torpedoed?

The change of baton in the state in 2007 was significant in many ways than one. Like in many states across the country, it was historic because it was a successful civilian-to-civilian transition. But unlike in some states like Benue, Kogi and Kaduna, the May 29, 2007 hand-over was historic because it engendered a power-shift from the Ibibios to the Annangs via a democratic process.

Till date, equal-opportunity agitators in states like Benue, Bauchi, Kaduna and Abia are using Akwa Ibom as a model of inter-ethnic harmony where demographic advantage is not used to intimidate the minorities, but is rather deployed to the enhancement of inter-tribal cohesion, unity, peace and stability.

Atia wrote from Uyo, Akwa Ibom