By Des Wilson
Scotch Whisky is one of the earliest brands of whisky that those who came in touch with the personnel of the British Empire knew. Its name is Johnnie Walker, a world famous blended Scotch Whisky produced in Kilmarnock, Scotland, and it always carried the message: ‘Born 1820 – Still Going Strong’. His Royal Majesty, Abong ECD Abia, the subject of our Bitter Pills, was born on the 11th of November, 1936, and is ‘still going strong’.
HRM Abong ECD Abia means different things to different people. Many of his contemporaries remember him as that young, adventurous boy who transferred himself from one primary school to another and from one secondary school to the another. He is said to have been struck by the ‘Wandering Spirit’ because he hardly spent any regulated period of time in any place, from school to the work place. This led one of his friends to ask me when he became the paramount ruler whether I thought he would not abandon the stool and step into other areas.
In Nigeria, being alive to become a septuagenarian is even considered a rarity as most Nigerians hardly live up to their sixties, and that is why the average life expectancy is 55. For one to get to 60, 70, or 80 seems a miracle, not to talk of being 90 and above. Nigeria has one of the youngest populations in the world. It has a median age of roughly 18.1 years with over 60% being under 30.
The Paramount Ruler of Eket, His Royal Majesty, Edidem Etim Charles Daniel Abia has a tall reputation far above his natural physical endowments. As a student, he was very controversial, and by his admission, he was also stubborn. He is loved and hated for various reasons.
Many remember him as the first Accountant General of the South Eastern State in 1967, and later as a super permanent secretary who was both feared and loved. The saga of his orchestrated sack by Col. Olu Bajowa, a stand-in governor, when Brigadier-General U J Esuene went on his annual leave, still elicits creative fictional small talks in some circles. This sack which was not based on any known civil service rule violation, used the activist social scientist and then secretary to the State Government, Prof Essien U Essien-Udom, a legendary Harvard-trained political scientist from the University of Ibadan, to execute the plot because many thought ECD was too proud. The aftershock of that event re-echoed in the melodramatic plot at the send-forth party for Prof Essien-Udom at his departure from Calabar. At that event, when it was time for the respected professor to make his response, the band struck the national anthem and everybody stood at attention, and the professor sauntered out with his pride hurt, and the military having its way. The party was over.
As it is well chronicled in Abong ECD Abia’s biography, when Brigadier General Esuene hurriedly returned from his annual leave, he cancelled the sack of Abia, but the enfant terrible voted with his feet.
HRM ECD Abia could even be seen as a cat with nine lives. When he retired from the civil service and started his business, his ‘enemies’ seemed ranged against him even when there was no visible private sector in the state. It became difficult for him to successfully do business with government. Given to an enterprise culture, he swung into an import-based trading business, to boat-leasing transportation enterprise, and from the bottling of a popular American soft drink in Eket, and to road construction. He tried to make sense of the life around him, and added to his trauma, came his early marriage which was visited by a disconnection primed by a near Spartan-like lifestyle where he became father and mother to his children. His quarry escavation site and rock crushing business in Akamkpa also ran into trouble but perhaps the most traumatic for him, was the collapse of the Dr Pepper Bottling Company in Eket which provided employment to young persons and successful distributorship business to elders and persons in the old Cross River State and surrounding states. This was the first Dr Pepper Bottling plant in Africa. Its location near the Eket Airstrip operated by Mobil Producing Nigeria, was an added boost to visitors who flew in from Lagos either as guests of the state or staff of the oil company now operated by Seplat Energy.
He then turned his attention to traditional and cultural matters, and again when the village headship position in his village of Usung Inyang became vacant. He again ran into another cauldron of intrigues with unpredictable elders running with the hare but hunting with the hounds. Some openly supported him but behind, they also voiced opposition to his candidacy.
With the passing of Abong Oduonyie of Afaha Clan, ECD became the indisputable candidate for the throne in Eket, having become the Clan Head of Idua Clan after the demise of HRM Dr Timtingiko Papa Udo Enodien. The belief then was that he would soon join his ancestors given the frequency with which the Ekid people had to bury their paramount rulers.
But here he is,10 years after his installation, still making waves – coordinating the chiefs in the Eket Traditional Rulers Council, helping to ensure peace in his domain, making efforts to quell and reduce communal violence, serving as an eye of government in his local government area, stabilising the chieftaincy institution in Eket and in Akwa Ibom State. He is equally helping to regularise and standardise the cultural lists for funerals and weddings in order to curtail the indiscriminate disposal of ancestral lands to meet the demands of the two commonly stressful events.
Edidem ECD Abia, the Atta of Ekid Afid, the village head of Usung Inyang, and Clan Head of Idua, the largest employer of labour in Eket land before now, and the indomitable leader and spokesperson of Ekid people and former Chairman Board of Trustees of the foremost socio-cultural group in Ekidland, Ekid People’s Union, the quintessential leader of the people who, like the Scotch Whisky, is still going strong at 90 years, and as choice wines becomes tastier with age, has indeed become wiser and more repectable in his kingdom, and in Akwa Ibom State at large. Yagh itong unwem usong fi!
