Features 18
Daily Times Nigeria Friday, April 17, 2015
Aba–Ikot Ekpene road has reduced accidents by 95 per-cent
Ikot-Ntuen:
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Southern Senatorial Districts that made up the old Cross River State during the 2nd Republic, is under Ukana Clan. There are two main family lineages in IkotNtuen, namely Nto-Udoh and Nto-Ntuen; the immediate family of the governor is Nto-Udoh and the Local Government Area is Essien Udim. The compound of the Akpabios where the governor was born is one of many family
Independence:
‘We worked underground after Awo’s arrest’
compounds facing the Aba–Ikot Ekpene Road on both sides of the road; a road the Governor has transformed into an express road resulting to a transformation which natives here estimate that the massive network of roads have reduced the accident rate on this particular road by 95 per cent. But whether deliberately of inadvertently, Akpabio’s family house does not compete in affluence and architecture with most buildings along the Ikot EkpeneAba and Abak roads in this vil-
lage, many of which call pictures of the exclusive ‘Park & View’ (Park View) estate in Ikoyi, or those exclusive houses in Lekki peninsula both in Lagos, except that these houses are not as large and expansive but the roads here really beg the question of which is the city, and which is a village? The plainness and traditional life of the family was further revealed when our correspondent walked around the compound and found, behind the simple palace eastwards, a typical village kitchen with a young man
frying processed cassava into gari the way it was discovered and produced many centuries ago. Like all other family homes, everywhere wore bright colours with architectures that took away the connotation of ‘village’ from Ikot Ntuen and the transformation is so pronounced that a visitor commented ‘it appears there is no poor man in this village!’ The governor has set an ambience that has catapulted everyone who had never experienced city life or expected to be
a city dweller to rise up to the challenge. Mr. Ukobong Isaac of Ikot Obio Eema in Etim-Ekpo Local Government Area which shares the same boundary with Essien Udim LGA put up a good defense for his Governor. While acknowledging we are in Nigeria where y the notion is charity begins at home, Isaac defended Akpabio’s rebranding of ‘Ikot’, not only in Ikot-Ntuen but in other local government areas of the state.
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crisis took place, I followed Awolowo. “At this point, I talked with some like-minded friends to let us start a youth wing of Awolowo’s Action Group party. We were all living at Mushin, near the Railway Station at that time. So we started contributing money, about 2 Shillings every pay day. That was how we formed the Action Group Youths Association which started at the
Railway Station, Mushin; that was in 1962.” What gave rise to the Youth Association idea? “During the Akintola-Awolowo crisis, we felt Awolowo was not well treated, so we decided to sensitise and gear up the people, especially the market women, to support Action Group party, and we couldn’t do that individually, so we needed a party and that was
how the Youth Association idea came to my mind. “The take-off was very successful; we had five branches, five units in each ward. Each unit sent two delegates to the Central Executive meetings which held every Sunday.” Though the concept was his, Mosanya was not the first chair-
uana of Sokoto, Tafawa Balewa. But I so loved Awolowo’s ideology the most that I became endeared to him. “I was reading the Daily Service newspaper, and later the Tribune newspapers regularly; later the Sunday and Daily Express and Sketch. In 1962 when the Asongo
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