by By Anthony Bisong Attah
On the 23rd of March, 2020, I got a call from Okan Peter to speak on CRBC TV. I declined the invitation because it was on a national issue I didn’t consider too interesting. We both laughed when I assured him that I was going to be available to discuss on critical issues affecting the State. Hitherto, I have been his guest on Sparkling FM and we’ve met at different occasions at FAD FM, Calabar.
The news of his demise on the 31st of March, 2020 rented the State media space for a long time. This was due largely because of his visibility as a rising media guru. I knew Okan first on the 16th of September, 2017 when he covered the launching of my party, the Young Progressives Party YPP in the State at the Transcorp Hotel, Calabar. He demonstrated unaccustomed passion and dedication to his job as he straddled the Pearl Ball hall with his camera to ensure every detail of the MISS YPP COMPETITION was properly captured.
I’m not good at writing or even commenting on the dead because of the emotions it evokes especially to the family and their loved ones. However, each time I recall events before the demise of my friend, two things readily strikes my mind; one, he spent many years as a volunteer staff of CRBC and just when he was absorbed into the system as a full staff he became a victim of the 2500 Civil Servants who’s names were delisted from the State payroll since September last year. He was set to attend the screening interview that was postponed on the 24th of March before he died one week later. Secondly, he was still being owed by the State Government for the role he played during last year Carnival Festival themed ‘Humanity’.
I was shock as I watched our Governor, His Excellency, Sir Benedict Ayade weeping profusely in the now viral video during the inauguration of the State Anti Tax Committee. For the avoidance of doubt, the terms of reference given to the committee chaired by Bishop Emmah Isong are not new to Cross Riverians at all. We are already used to the empty rhetorics and the theatrical distraction of weeping by the Governor. Maybe he would have been a better ‘undertaker’ than an Executive Governor, knowing that weeping alone without action has never solved any problem. A Governor that cannot weep for owing Civil Servants a whopping nine months salary arrears and 5 months unpaid stipends and Honorarium to those who toiled day and night including personal Financial commitment to see to the success of the State sponsored Carnival should not weep at all. A Governor that withholds over five years gratuity of retired Civil Servants in the State should not think that shedding ‘Iguana tears’ is a safety valve to negotiate public sympathy and gain citizen’s confidence.
We are tired of seeing our Governor admit his failures openly with tears as smokescreen to cover for his negligence and incompetence. We prefer to see our Governor braze up to the challenge of governance by minimising cost and deploying lean state resources to areas that directly affect the citizens.
Like my late friend, Okan Peter, several other Cross Riverians have died without being paid for several months and others have gone without enjoying their Honorarium after several months of labouring to make the 2019 Carnival a success story. A lot of retirees have died and others consigned to inhuman conditions after giving 35 years of meritorious Service to the State. These are the things that should make a good Governor to weep.
My friend Okan is gone already but he left a family behind. I pray the Governor pays his Honorarium to his family and get a member of his family to replace him in his place of employment or elsewhere. That’s the best way to immortalize a young man who died on an empty stomach while serving the State.
Comrade Anthony Bissong Attah
State Chairman (Chief Servant)
Young Progressives Party, YPP, CRS
NB. Opinions Expressed Here Are Strictly That Of Anthony And Does Not Represent The Lumine News.
