INI EMEMOBONG IS A SMALL BOY

“INI EMEMOBONG IS A SMALL BOY”: SENATOR NELSON EFFIONG’S GAFFE.


While answering questions during an interview he granted to Planet 101.1fm in Uyo recently, the Senator representing Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District (also known as Eket Senatorial District) in the National Assembly, Rt. Hon. Nelson Effiong referred to the State Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Comrade Ini Ememobong as a “small boy who knows nothing about the party and is not even up to two years in the party”.

While I acknowledge that persons of low repute and questionable character usually resort to twisting of facts as a strategy to avoid the truth, it is necessary and for the sake of the listening public also who may not be well informed about political developments to put it in very clear terms that Senator Nelson Effiong’s description of Comrade Ini Ememobong is totally false and baseless.

While there may be various reasons for the Senator’s vituperations against the learned PDP State Publicity Secretary, I however choose to assume that the troubled senator could be doing so out of ignorance. It therefore behooves me to respectfully put him in the right path as the light of truth is illuminating enough to dispel the darkness of ignorance and lies.

It will be of interest to Senator Nelson Effiong to know that Comrade Ini Ememobong’s membership of the PDP predates his emergence as State Publicity Secretary of the party. Not only has he been a longtime card carrying member of the party, he has been very active and resourceful unlike a certain individual with an appalling record who has been in the news of recent. He also has not been a metropolitan politician but is active even at the grassroots. Usen Ndon Community and the entire Ward 4 in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area of the state where the former student leader hails from can attest to this.

May I bring to the notice of Senator Effiong that the “small boy” of his was meritoriously appointed as a member of the NEPAD APRM National working committee as far back as 2008 and he served the state in that capacity.

A letter of appointment appended by the then Secretary to State Government attests to this. This same small boy spoke for the party at various platforms in the campaign build up to the 2011 general elections and did same in 2015. In 2014 he was appointed into the Presidential Campaign Organization and discharged his duties competently. He has been president of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS). People who understand the workings of unionism know what occupying such an office means. He has been SA on Students Matters, SA Political, and now party secretary.

Over the years Comrade Ini Ememobong has worked tirelessly to propagate the ideals of the party at every opportunity. He is famous for his usual door-to-door campaign where he takes the message of PDP to each house in Use Ndon during electioneering periods.

This he does voluntarily and of course you know he does not do it empty-handed. Ini had long built and maintained a budding relationship with the people of Ibiono Ward 4; a relationship that goes beyond electioneering periods. He visits the village regularly and with his lean resources lends a helping hand where needed. Permit me to mention a few: he sponsors O’level and UTME preparatory classes for children from his ward; he pays school fees even to the tertiary level; he assists in medical fees, house rent, daily wellbeing, and so on.

Take a day off, visit Use Ndon and you will see an appealing village hall finished to taste. You will also see a paint factory undergoing construction. You will see women who have undergone various stages of skills acquisition. You will see youths who have undergone paint production training, cocoa farming training, just to mention but a few.

The people of Ibiono ward 4 have Ini Ememobong to thank for these. How else do you think the party wins massively in polling unit 7, Ini Ememobong’s polling unit despite the presence of the State Secretary of the APC who also votes in that unit? The people of Ibiono Ward 4 have enjoyed the benefits of the PDP over the years through the instrumentality of Comrade Ini Ememobong the “small boy” according to Senator Effiong. However, I doubt if the people of the Senator’s ward can speak in such glowing terms about him.

Apart from his numerous contributions to the party through sterling services to his people, Comrade Ini Ememobong has paid his price as well for the struggle of the party. In 2011 he was a casualty of the PDP vs ACN crisis in Ibiono. As a matter of fact, his vehicle was completely destroyed. God saved his life. This did not deter him as he pressed on. His philanthropy has spread beyond Ibiono Ibom LGA. He is detribalized and has been of immense benefit to various people from different parts of the state and beyond.

Ini has achieved all these not as an election aspirant but as a “member” of the party and Senator Effiong’s small boy. Should the Senator’s big-man record not surpass these especially being someone who has occupied juicy positions through the party?