URUE OFFONG/ORUKO L.G.A. ELECTION: A MOONLIGHT TALES (PART ONE)

Urue Offong/Oruko L.G.A. was created by the military regime of Gen. Ibrahim Babangida on 23rd September, 1991.

According to the 2006 census report, Urue Offong/ Oruko has a population of more than 71,159 people and landmass of 127.5 km2.

There are 33 villages in the LGA, and they are grouped into six (6) clans. The clans are: Okpo, Ibighi, Okiuso, Ubodung and Ukwong. It has two development areas of Urue Offong and Uruko.

Urue Offong/Oruko since its inception in 1991 has had male chairmen (both elected and appointed). Fortunately,
in June 2015 a first female transition chairperson was appointed to be in charge of the affairs of the LGA.

In this post, I will be analysing the tenure of Princess Precious Selong, the Transition Chairperson of Urue
Offong/Oruko L.G.A while comparatively drawing biblical
examples of political women who fought for the total emancipation of their people.

QUEEN ESTHER (ESTHER 5-8.)
The Heroine of the book named after her, Esther was a young Jewish woman living in exile in the Persian. The character of Esther serves as a positive role model for our generation.

Esther had King Ahasuerus as her eventual husband and Mordecai, her cousin.

The kings Prime Minister named Haman convinced the King to give him power to deal with the Jews as he pleases. Using the King’s own signet ring, Haman, after
securing the king’s accent, issued an edict ordering the Jews, including women and children to be killed and their properties plundered.

Esther, in her little capacity, helped the Jews overcome the genocides at the risk of her own life. Esther’s scheme exposed the evil Haman and she saved her people as recorded in the scriptures.

Consequently, King Ahasuerus hung Haman on the high gallows Haman built for Mordecai. Later on, Mordecai
became Prime Minister in place of Haman.

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA (1 KING 10:1)
When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship with God, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. Arriving Jerusalem with a very great caravan – with many gifts.
When she saw the wisdom of Solomon, the palace he built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cup bearers,
and the burnt offering he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed.

After praising King Solomon for what she saw, she gave Solomon expensive gifts of greater worth and in return
King Solomon gave her all she desired, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and return to her people.

The tale of the Queen of Sheba’s visit to king Solomon has undergone extensive elaboration, and has become a subject of a woman in politics searching for good counsel (wisdom) and building strong aliens to help her people with good governance.

QUEEN JEZEBEL (1 KINGS 21)
The name ‘’Jezebel’’ is used to describe a woman who flouted the society’s conventions, who wielded stolen
power, who ordered people to be killed - an utterly wicked female being.

Biblical Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab; she was a daughter of king Ethbaal of Sidonia, another name for Phoenicia, home of the Mediterranean’s greatest sailors.

In other word, Jezebel came from a royal household, so she was familiar with political intrigue. Some scholars
believe Ahab married her in order to access international trade via the Phoenicians route.

1 Kings 21 supplies us with a story of a certain Naboth, a landowner whom Jezebel plotted and killed so that her
greedy husband Ahab could gain possession of his only possession.

Queen Jezebel is also credited with ordering the slaughter of God’s prophets and gossip, so that she could install priest of Baal in their place. With the rise of
historical – critical method for interpreting the Bible, Middle East Expert and author Lesley Hazleton, in the historical tale of a “wicked harlot” portrays her as a cultured cosmopolitan ruler defending herself against a
FUNDAMENTALIST and an ACTIVIST Prophet Elijah.

At the end, her wickedness finally caught up with her as she was eaten by dogs after being thrown down from the
tower.

...AS RELATED TO MRS SELONG, HER PREDECESSORS AND URUE OFFONG/ORUKO LGA.

The first ever caretaker chairman of Urue Offongg Oruko, Late Mr. Tioro Anwana appointed during the military regime of the sole administrator of Akwa Ibom State, Lt. Col. Yakubu Bako with the little resources available to the LGA which was less than six hundred and
fifty thousand naira as at March 1994 – March 1996, built a primary school block at Eyulor Oro village; he also completed the Urue Offong/Oruko health centre that his predecessor Chief Dr. Esio Oquong Udo started but could not complete due to the expiration of his tenure.

Students bursary were paid on time and part of the fund used in building the Urue Offong Oruko council hall was paid by him. He encouraged women empowerment by providing fertilizers to boost agriculture in the LGA.

Built a skill acquisition centre for cassava processing in Oyubia which he could not complete due to the expiration of his
tenure. Note: this was an appointed chairman like Mrs Precious Selong.

In 2007, Chief Okpoyo Etifit became the transition chairman of Urue Offong/ Oruko LGA for a period of one year and few months. During this time, he
successfully built a perimeter fence around the Local Government council.

He also renovated the council
building which was dilapidated to a near-collapse. He paid bursary to students as at when due and also drew electricity to Ukuda village – still, this was a transition
chairman like Mrs Precious Selong.

Surprising as it may be, Mrs Selong has been in the government for a long time, working with the State Chairmen of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) such
as Late Chief Joe Ating, Late Chief Tony Emenyi. She was a deputy to the immediate past elected chairman of
the LGA, Chief Okon Tom Osung whose tenure saw the beautiful edifice and the new look of the Local Government Council and also built a beautiful built town in Oruko development Area. Hate or like him, Chief Okon Osung’s achievements will stand the test of time.

It is very disheartening that the woman who was Hon Okon Osung’s vice has allowed that beautiful edifice to be
dirty without any care whatsoever; grasses are growing on the interlocking at the council premises while the
surrounding of the council’s premises is fast becoming a forest.

More painful is the knowledge that this same woman is campaigning to be elected to occupy the executive seat of the LGA. I would love to understand a point here; can it be possible that someone who hasn’t done anything for the LGA in her over two years as transition chairperson
would start performing magic if elected for three years? He that is not faithful in little can such ever be faithful in much? The saying ‘’what a man can do, a woman can do better’’ does not seem to work in this case.

It’s sadder that the chairperson has employed the DIVIDE AND
RULE SYSTEM in her government where she is trying to play with the collective intelligence of the elders and
learned people of Urue Offong/ Oruko.
Bad as it may be, she has no regard for the masses and the media – this is evident when she illegally detained one Samuel Duncan in the DSS net for three days for a fair reportage he had made. It is so sad that our chairperson does not fit into the case study of the biblical Queen
Esther and Queen of Sheba.

Conclusively, when a woman is desperate and over ambitious to seize power and use it ruthlessly, no matter her good side, she will suffer the misfortune of being
remembered in graphics only written to portray her rudeness.

Francis Otioro:
An Activist in his own capacity