Senator Ita Solomon Enang was born on August 23,
1962. He hails from Ididep, in Ibiono Ibom Local
Government Area of Akwa Ibom State. Enang became
a councilor in 1987, and a member of the Akwa Ibom
State House of Assembly in 1992. He was elected to
the House of Representatives in 1999 where he
served for three consecutive terms (1999-2011). After
spending 12years in the House of Representatives,
he was elected to the Senate in 2011 to represent the
Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District of Akwa
Ibom State.
On Saturday December 27, 2014, Sen. Ita Enang
granted an unprecedented two hours interview to a
private radio station in Akwa Ibom State, Planet
Radio 101.1 FM Uyo. For the first time in over
15years as a federal legislator, Sen. Enang spoke
frankly about the state of affairs in Akwa Ibom State
and took a sweep at the Governor Godswill Obot
Akpabio-led administration and openly opposed the
governor’s unholy third term agenda using his
stooge, Udom Emmanuel, as a veil.
The interview as expected has generated so much
controversy and debate especially on social media
within and outside Akwa Ibom State. This is so
because the now vociferous and outspoken Ita Enang
has always been a pro-establishment politician. His
incurable leaning towards the prevailing unjust
system is very notorious.
However, in terms of intellectual erudition, legislative
dexterity and clear appreciation of the dynamics of
law making, Senator Ita Solomon Enang is the best
that Akwa Ibom State has ever produced, and one of
the finest lawmakers in Nigeria. Admittedly, Enang
knows it all when it comes to the workings and
operations of the legislative arm of government.
There is absolutely no basis of comparison between
Ita Enang and Obong Bassey Albert, the former
Finance Commissioner in the Akpabio regime, that
the PDP has chosen to replace him in the upper
chamber in 2015. That is if at all the PDP wins at the
poll given the obvious popular anger against the
party by the masses in the state. To compare Albert
with Ita Enang is equivalent to comparing a primary
school pupil with a university professor.
However, Ita Enang is a very selfish, unprincipled
and greedy politician. Though Bassey Albert is
equally an unprincipled and very greedy politician,
unlike Enang, Albert understands the magical effect
and importance of the politics of stomach
infrastructure; a bane that is fast eroding the
remaining modicum of sanity in our polity and
electoral culture.
All these while, Ita Enang had closed his eyes to the
evils of the Godswill Akpabio regime. He preferred to
dance to the tunes of the little god of Akwa Ibom
State when his people needed his articulate voice the
most. Enang had practically mortgaged the rights of
those he was elected to represent for personal
political aggrandizement.
When the goings was good, he clapped for the
emperor without any sense of decency and iota of
shame. Then, he never whispered against the
atrocities committed by his ally and saw nothing
wrong in the crude looting of Akwa Ibom State. He
went about as if there was nothing wrong in his
state. As far as he was concerned, Akpabio had done
so well for Akwa Ibom State.
Now that he has been denied the opportunity of
going back to the Senate for a second term, he has
suddenly remembered that Akpabio’s performance is
not in any way commensurate with the huge
allocations accruing to the state. He now wants us
to ask probing questions and rise against the
Akpabio dynasty.
What a wicked, hypocritical and shameful cacophony
of an expired politician! Our people are no fools, they
know that his vituperations are self-centered and
utterly frivolous. We cannot carry placards for him
because he was never, he is not, and will he will
never be our hero. Let him suffer the afflictions
brought on him by the ghost of stewardship alone.
When Godswill Akpabio in a shameless display of
nepotism robbed Ita Enang’s constituents of the
presence of the newly approved Federal Polytechnic
for the state which was originally approved for and
meant to be cited in Enang’s hometown in Ididep,
Ibiono Ibom LGA of Uyo Senatorial District, and
wickedly hijacked it to his own village in Ukana Ikot
Ntuen in Essien Udim LGA of Ikot Ekpene Senatorial
District he kept quiet and played ‘Mr. Loyalty’ in the
hope of getting a second term.
Today, the same Enang is angry that Akpabio
frustrated all federal lawmakers from the state from
getting PDP return tickets to the National Assembly,
except those from his District and tribe.
The same Sen. Ita Enang that is today saying that the
Akpabio’s stooge, Udom Emmanuel, is not acceptable
to the people had previously endorsed Udom as the
right man for 2015. Then, Udom was not Akpabio’s
third term agenda.
We, the sensible and liberated people of Akwa Ibom
State, do not need a Senator Ita Enang to tell us that
Akpabio is evil. We do not need his tutelage on the
mass looting of Akwa Ibom State by Akpabio and his
family. We do not need Ita Enang to speak for us. We
have always known all the things that he is making
arrogant and selfish noises about. So this teacher
should stop teaching us nonsense (apologies to
Fela).
This should be a lesson to the political class; that
betrayal is not good. As the most popular legislator
from Akwa Ibom, Ita Enang have all it takes to call
Akpabio to order but he never did.
As a proud indigene of Itu Local Government Area of
Akwa Ibom State that Ita Enang has been
“representing” since 1999, I know how unpopular he
is. Ita Enang is known and celebrated in Abuja but
hated at home. He has never won in a free and fair
election. Effective representation is more than
speaking fanciful and seductive English in Abuja
without more, it encompasses defending the
interests of the constituents.
During the massively rigged 2011 general elections, I
was one of those that played a significant role in
ensuring that Sen. Enang lost at my pooling booth.
Of course, he lost woefully. In the end, he was
declared the winner by INEC despite the known fact
that he was defeated on ground.
Ita Enang is claiming that he has given out
scholarships to his constituents and that he will
never be tempted to publish names of the
beneficiaries. But that is a big lie. Throughout my
university days in the Faculty of Law, University of
Uyo, I never heard of any such scholarships.
I did not just passed through the university, the
university passed through me. So there is no way
such scholarship scheme would have existed for
students of my constituency that Ita Enang has been
“representing” for the past 15 years without my
knowledge.
Though on principle I do not accept scholarship
grants from politicians and the government, I would
have at least knew one beneficiary of Sen. Enang’s
scholarship scheme.
Ita Enang is completely out of touch with his
constituents. He should first account for the huge
constituency allowances he has received since 1999
as a National Assembly member before asking
Akpabio to account the billions that has accrued to
Akwa Ibom State in allocations.
How can a lawmaker that does not have any
traceable pedigree of standing on the side of his
people suddenly call for mass action against the very
monstrous, corrupt and oppressive regime that he
had always dined with?
What a wicked, hypocritical and shameful cacophony
of an expired politician! Our people are no fools, they
know that his vituperations are self-centered and
utterly frivolous. We cannot carry placards for him
because he was never, he is not, and will he will
never be our hero. Let him suffer the afflictions
brought on him by the ghost of stewardship.
Our mumu don do!
By Inibehe Effiong- Inibehe Effiong is a Human
Rights Activist based in Lagos, Nigeria.
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