UKANAFUN: EVIL HARVEST IN VULTURES’ PARADISE

By Ofonime Honesty

Perhaps by the time you get to read this piece,
another murder victim would be laying stiff in a
pool of his own blood.

Yours truly isn’t a prophet
of doom, but at times like this, any carnal being
can accurately predict goings-on. And for the sake
of those who just arrived from Saturn or other
distant planet, the situation report is that
messengers of death are holding sway in Ukanafun
Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

Yours truly is bitter! Embittered by the actions and
inactions of these power drunk beasts
masquerading as political leaders. We know who
they are - they feature prominently on the pages of
newspapers, airwaves and television screens.

They speak glibly about being true ambassadors of the
people. They go to church with hordes of hired
camera men in a bid to force a false impression of
holiness down our throat. And the gullible see
them as icons and role models.
How did we arrive here? A proverb posits that if
you don’t restrain your neighbour from eating
dangerous insects during the day, his coughing fits
will not allow you sleep in the night. Dear readers,
this snare was avoidable but we decided to walk
into it.

We ignored the voice of conscience. We threw decency to the swine. Political orgasm stole
our common sense.

Today, here are the
consequences: politically motivated killings,
maiming, kidnapping, robbery, rape and whatnots.

Life hasn’t been the same ever since politicians
realized that some youths can be easily conned
and brainwashed.

Just throw few wads of Naira
notes at them and watch them outperform Satan in
the business of wrecking havoc. That is how bad
things have been!
Truth is, Ukanafun was reduced to a garden where
evil is propagated.

The evil seeds blossomed into
evil fruits. Now, the grim reaper is gleefully
supervising an evil harvest.
The manifestation of evil was headlined by the
politically motivated killing of Ukanafun icons like
Engr. Albert Ukpanah.

The masterminds felt
emboldened. They popped expensive liquor. They
said ‘to hell with anyone who holds a divergent
political view.’

They later beamed attention on
another Ukanafun icon, a former Deputy Speaker of
the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Obong
Okon Uwah. He was beaten to death by youths at
the Ukanafun community of Nkek. As the flagbearer
of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the
House of Assembly race in 2015, Uwah was
campaigning for votes in an area regarded as his
opponent’s stronghold. Politicians were nabbed
and charged to court.

After series of legal
gymnastics, the case has stalled.
Having eliminated those they labeled as threats to
their insane political ambition, they, in
collaboration with non-Ukanafun persons, allotted
political positions to themselves.
Little did they realize that someday, karma will
visit. See, Karma is so unforgiving. Only that many
innocent people have also become victims,
otherwise I would have loved this evil harvest to
continue.

Gory is the fact that these youths who are nothing
but poorly fed attack dogs of politicians are
invoking curses upon themselves. These days, if
they don’t kidnap, they will kill or maim just for
peanuts. Even the traditional rulers have been
chased out of town.

In January 2017, Chief
Emmanuel Jim Umahaeyo of Ikot Nta Eneng Obom
community was shot dead. It was later understood
that the assailants had earlier threatened to kill the
village head over issues relating to control of
revenues from the village’s oil palm plantation.

They also gunned the youth leader of the
community, Esitime Emmanson Brownson.
The consensus belief that these boys are remote-
controlled from high places was concurred by the
Akwa Ibom State Police Command on the heels of
the murder of Obong Ime Willie Atakpa, who until
demise was the Secretary, Ukanafun Transition
Committee.

The Police in a press statement
revealed that Mr. Abasiono Udomfu, the Ukanafun
Transition Committee Chairman (as he then was),
contracted the assassins who murdered Obong
Atakpa, adding that he was marked for elimination
for opposing Governor Udom Emmanuel’s plan to
grant amnesty to members of a particular cult
group. Dear readers, are our ears okay?
There is no fun in Ukanafun.

Ukanafun is under
their grip. They decide who survives or not. What
a vultures’ paradise. They don’t even fear God. On
Sunday, July 2, 2017, three people including a
woman were reportedly dispatched to great
beyond.

Monday, July 3, 2017, another person was
gunned down. Nobody knows whose name is next
on their bloody list of targets.
It has really been a harvest of evil. He who sows
evil reaps destruction.

There must be equal
reaction to every action. When the grim reaper
visits, things can never remain the same. We know
how this malady started but no one knows how
and when it would end.
Well, must Ukanafun be allowed to continue rotting
in the hands of these traitors? A sane answer will
surely lead us on the path of redeeming the lost
glory of the land.

May God heal Ukanafun!

(Ofonime Honesty is a journalist.

honestyofonime@yahoo.com

+2348025286082)