On the night of 22 December 2006, Godwin Agbroko, a veteran journalist and Chairman of the Editorial Board of “This Day” newspapers was gunned down by unknown gunmen, at Daleko fly-over, Iyana Isolo, Lagos, on his way home from work.
A little over a decade earlier, he was on a working trip to Cross River State, as Editor of “The Week” magazine. On a hot afternoon, perspiring on the queue at the NITEL office, Ogoja, while waiting to use one, out of the only two telephone booths available to the entire populace at the time, the Editor, kept wondering aloud. He repeatedly asked, “Where is Ogoja?” Agbroko had heard of this Ogoja way back in his early school days. He remembered that such famous names like Chief I. I. Murphy, Chief M.E. Ogon, Chief F. L. Adinye, Chief M Ugbut, Dr. S. E. Imoke, Chief K. J. N. Okpokam, Dr Okoi Arikpo, Chief J, U. Jumbo etc, all, of blessed memory, were associated with this town. He recalled that this was the home of Chief M.T. Mbu (aka The Star of Ogoja), who at the time of this trip was representing Nigeria as an Ambassador in the faraway Republic of Germany.
All these names were synonymous with the politics of the First Republic. In the 1960s, these budding politicians held their own at both regional and federal levels of government, and successfully charted a course for Ogoja in the hazy labyrinths of post-independence scheme-of things. With the understanding, cooperation and support of their colleagues from the majority ethnic groups, they had prepared Ogoja for the challenges ahead. There was a promise of great things and better days ahead.
Ogoja’s minority status was adequately highlighted through the charisma and sagacity of her elected and unelected leaders, and in no time, her plight became an item on the agenda for national discourse. With the creation of the Mid-West Region in 1963, as a result of the clamor for self-determination by the minorities of the Western Region, the issue of a separate Region for the eastern minorities of Calabar, Ogoja and Rivers also gathered momentum.
However, from the events that culminated in the Civil War, it became apparent that Ogoja’s interest would be better served by an Ogoja State in a united Nigerian nation. But General Yakubu Gowon’s May 27, 1967, broadcast which gave the country a 12-State structure failed to meet the aspiration of Ogoja people. Rivers State was created. Ogoja State was not. Rather, Ogoja was to remain part of a South Eastern State, where her minority problems were further aggravated by a new canopy of discrimination foisted on her by the emergent majority power blocs within the new State.
Several notable scars left on the people’s psyche by the new oppressors still linger in memory. One was the flogging of some traditional chiefs in Ikom on the orders of the military governor, then Col U J Esuene. Their offence was that they presented a welcome address that sounded “insulting” to His Excellency.
The other scar was the eleventh hour reversal of the decision to site a Campus of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in Ogoja. The foundation stone for this project had earlier been laid by General Gowon during a State visit. One of the excuses for this reversal was that Ogoja had no public electric power supply. While the Campus was relocated to Duke Town Secondary School, Calabar, the proposed site was later converted to an Army Cantonment. The Campus later became the University of Calabar.
The 1987 carving out of Akwa Ibom State from Cross River State did not have any positive impact on the fortunes of Ogoja. Instead, the town was simply elevated to the unenviable status of being the only old Provincial capital in Nigeria which remained a Local Council headquarters till date.
In this circumstance, Ogoja continues to lack the basic infrastructure, amenities and the capacity that can support and facilitate rapid and socio-economic growth. So, how can one stop lamenting over the tragic tale of the “Forgotten Province of Nigeria”, which is the best description for the geographical space occupied by the present day Abi, Yakurr, Obubra, Etung, Ikom, Boki, Ogoja, Yala, Bekwarra, Obudu and Obanliku local government areas? This is the land mass that constituted the old Ogoja Province.
The last time Ogoja was taken seriously at the national level was during the Senate Presidency of Dr. Joseph Wayas, a position zoned to the southern minorities as a token of appreciation for the massive electoral support given to the then ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) during the Second Republic. Since then, it appears Ogoja has been absent each time the national cake is shared.
During the military era, so many seemingly impossible things happened in the polity that repositioned many erstwhile disadvantaged sections of the country, and turned their development fortunes 360 degrees around.
Take States creation, for instance. The exercise became like a leisure game played by power brokers in the evenings alongside tennis and squash. Local Council Areas too were carved and handed out as birthday gifts to “deserving” elder statesmen and “loyal” aides. Could it be that Ogoja elder statesmen were not adequately disposed to the powers-that-be? Were there no “loyal” aides among Ogoja sons in khaki uniforms? It is the belief of some school of thought that Ogoja’s growth has been stalled because her elder statesmen, political and opinion leaders are not united on the Ogoja State project. Those who are still undecided on this matter may wish to take a trip to nearby Ebonyi State, or even Nasarawa, a little up north.
In 1991, when the then military president, Ibrahim Babangida visited Cross River and toured round the State, he was said to have been perplexed at the large land mass covered by local council areas, alleging that he had not been properly briefed on the issue of local council area creation. He was said to have been baffled by the gross underdevelopment of Ogoja. But he returned to his seat of power in Dodan Barracks, and nothing positive happened thereafter.
Traversing the length and breadth of old Ogoja Province, one is scandalized by the plight of a dejected citizenry, living amidst abundant resources yet struggling to float above poverty level. Today, Ogoja cuts the image of a malnourished child, overtaken in growth and size by younger siblings. When Ogoja town was a flourishing Provincial capital, Gboko, for instance, was an obscure Divisional Headquarters in Tivland, from where the late Chief J.S Tarkar called the shots for the emancipation of his people.
These days, Ogoja children fall over each other struggling to secure admission into tertiary education institutions in Gboko for career advancement, while motorists in Ogoja also readily rush to the same Gboko for car repairs. This to say the least is very disheartening.
So many intriguing questions arising from so many developmental problems keep plaguing the minds of citizens of old Ogoja Province. For instance, they wonder why their rural roads remain in perpetually bad conditions, hampering easy evacuation of farm produce to markets.
When they think of the nuisance which goes by the acronym NEPA (or is it “Power Holding”?), Agbokim Waterfalls also begins to seriously bother them. Why can’t this place be made to generate hydro electricity power like Oji River in Enugu State? They are at a loss that, after more than thirty years of existence, the former Federal School of Arts and Science, Abakpa, Ogoja, now degraded to a Senior Science Secondary School, could not metamorphose into a Polytechnic like her counterpart in Mubi, Adamawa State.
It pains the citizens, each time they pass around and see tall grasses, lizards and other reptiles taking over the buildings of the supposed Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) offices in Ogoja.
In fact, they wonder when this project will commence operation. They just can’t understand why they annually toil so much on the land and produce great quantities of agro-raw materials like cocoa, palm produce, cassava, pineapples, bananas, yams, rice, etc, which are sold at give-away prices to buyers from neighboring States, yet, there are no hopes for the establishment of any agro-based industry in the area, to at least, add value to their labor.
The people are just as confused as they are dumbfounded about the do-or-die approach to the quest for power by political office seekers, especially new-breed politicians, even as the ordinary man’s quality of life keeps depreciating steadily. As it were now, the old province is bedeviled by such vices and societal ills like communal wars, electoral violence, youth restiveness, drug abuse, prostitution, human trafficking and many others.
Citizens are looking forward to when leaders of Ogoja will bury their differences, come together and put her on the proper path of development. They are itching for a time when they will become adequately disposed to hold these leaders accountable. They wish to be better positioned to continually seek answers about the developmental problems currently drowning Ogoja.
Maybe at the appropriate time, they can recall the late journalist, Godwin Agbroko from the great beyond, bring him for a second working visit, show him around, and boldly and proudly tell him: “This is Ogoja!”
Culled from Bette, P.N (2023) A Father’s Prophecy, Lagos, Platinum Media Company (Chapter 8)
Nandi Bette, a Senior Citizen, Educationist, and Author writes from Ogoja in northern Cross River State.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Peter Nandi Bette, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.