PAGE 48—SUNDAY VANGUARD, NOVEMBER 25, 2012
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Akwa Ibom politics and disastrous Writers’ confab *Raji, Ushie in war of words ..As ANA wins writers’ village judgment By Uduma Kalu .............
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Participants at the event Nwachukwu- Agbada, Denga Abdullahi, his deputy and DM Dzukogi, his Secretary General practically accused the state chapter of dereliction of duty for failing to fund the convention as it promised. The national body, he said, had financed the event alone. But Ushie would not hear that. Immediately after Prof. Pius Adesanmi finished his keynote speech on Literature, Security and the Social media, Ushie stood up as if he wanted to comment on the lecture but ended up denying Raji’s statement, saying his state generated N2.1m for convention. But Raji said the ugly incident has shown that ANA will throw up new criteria for hosting ANA conventions. In his words, he said, “I should add
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t has never happened before. But in Uyo,Akwa Ibom State, before writers and in their annual convention, the president of the Association of Nigerian Authors ANA and his chapter chairman, Dr. Joesph Ushie had an open verbal confrontation because of the miserable convention witnessed in Uyo. Happily, the association won the case it had with a developer over its land it lost and has paid N10m judgment cost to the litigant. The association also explained that it sold part of the 62 hectare land for the payment and is now negotiating for the development of the said land. Indeed, writers are generally a pessimistic people. So, when Akwa Ibom won the hosting right in Abuja, some of the the writers bathed in the mythical Akwa Ibom hospitality, while others feared that the government of that state would give them a cold shoulder. While the optimists harped on the promises ANA Akwa Ibom made in Abuja which made it grab the hosting rights for the national convention, many of the members feared that that the state had no literary culture, and that its government was not known for supporting any literary activity, neither was there any well known literary figure in that state who could push for writers’ welfare as is the case in other parts of the country. In fact, the worst fears came when it was announced that the state’s Deputy Governor had resigned, and that was in the week next to the convention. In the end, the pessimists won. The government did not only ignore the proposal for sponsorship from the Akwa Ibom ANA, it absented itself from the opening ceremony and did not send a message and was not represented. It ignored all mails sent to it concerning the convention, including a request for a meeting by the ANA national executive. It totally ignored everything the writers did at the four day- convention held from November 8-11. “It was typical Eastern region’s or South South governments’ behavior”, one of the leaders of ANA said. He was however cautioned that Rivers State has interest in the literary, Cross River in Carnival, Delta in literature and Enugu in festivals. Yet, some writers wanted to blame the state chapter for the disaster. In fact, the national chairman, Prof Remi Raji who was having his first national convention in that state had verbal altercation with the state chairman, Dr Joseph Ushie. Raji, in his welcome address, from the podium where he sat with Ushie, Odia Ofeimun, Akachi Ezeigbo, JOJ
However, Vanguard investigation discovered a political intrigue in the Akwa Ibom house that wrecked the writers’ confab
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that what we have witnessed in the past two days is after all not new. This, I have been reliably informed, would be the third time that the National executive of ANA would be taking over the execution of the annual convention...” Vanguard had gathered that the proposal for funding was received by state Governor Godswill Akpabio in the presence of the prelate of the Methodist church. Akpabio was said o have immediately sent the proposal to the commissioner for finance for vetting.
The commissioner was alleged to have invited Ushie, his former student. Ushie according to our source went with some members of his executives and defended the budget. But the commissioner, it is further alleged sliced the budget from N70m to N50m and then sent it back to the Governor with a memo and recommendations. That was on May 28. After then, noting was heard from the Governor till the end
of the convention. Then began the long wait and push for Akapbio to release the fund. Meanwhile, the date was fast approaching. The branch, hoping on Akpabio, mobilized itself. Ushie said the chapter wanted to come out with an anthology of short stories among other projects. It also wanted the best treatment for the writers to confirm to the state’s mythic hospitality.
Worthy Mothers Excel Them All... T
his book has 105 pages and it’s a Step Out of Creative publication based in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This is the first book by Mercy Tola Ojumu. From the beginning of the book, it is obvious that the author has great burden for women. Not just ordinary burdens about issues that relate to their lives, but issues that can be linked spiritually to the word of God. In this book, it is her dream that women should emulate the biblical virtuous woman and that whoever is able to do this is a worthy woman who has excelled in wifehood and womanhood. In the text, she sees diligence as an outcome of a serious Christian life which should be the hallmark of all Christian women. You do not have to read too far into the book to discover the nuggets of truth and life in the book. It is her opinion that many women deliberately neglect their responsibilities as mothers and wives because they cannot look into the future to see the rewards of being worthy mothers in their family, neighbourhood, states and nations. The book admonishes that mothers and wives must desire to be virtuous like
the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31:10-31, who was described as being worth more than rubies. In clear terms, it will be seen that she clearly
suggests that women would be celebrated by the world if only they play their worthy part. So on the flip side, women should arise – they should pray as never before, fervently for their families – they should be bold as never before to stand against all forms of evil – they should be courageous and not give up in the face of adversity. It is so interesting to see the various examples and testimonies in the book. They all go to prove that if women learn to endure, they will eat the fruit of the land and be blessed. Moreover, the outcome of their hard work, diligence and dedication will be a Godly home, well behaved children and a great nation.