Ini could be one of those rare personalities whose absence from the corridors of power would make it feel as though integrity itself is vanishing from public life. His presence within the ruling class of Akwa Ibom State offers a powerful reminder that even among politicians
often surrounded by sycophants and opportunists, there are still young men who manage to retain the nobility with which humanity was created.
Governor Umo Eno’s defection to the APC was not born out of conviction that the party is delivering democratic dividends. Rather, it was a reaction to what he perceives as a presidency intent on abandoning democratic principles and subverting the will of conscious Nigerians citizens yearning for a just and truly evolved nation, a new political turn that seems to be creating a one party state which would eventually give only one man the rare opportunity to run for an office without opponents, just like it has been happening within the Local Government System across the country.
In today’s Nigeria, calling for a new social, political, and economic order often makes one look like a rebel. It is almost criminal to desire a better country because such calls are interpreted as demands to change the personnel who preside over this dismal status quo. We are left with one painful choice: support illegality and enjoy a temporary peace, even as we inch closer to the lowest depths of national decay.
Though Nigeria is not officially at war, the daily taken out of innocent, armless citizens by militias, unchecked by the military and ignored by the state, suggest a nation under siege. The republic has been overrun by transgressors, from public offices to street corners and into the deepest hinterlands.
In this climate, people like Ini remind us that defection to a party responsible for this collapse should not be glamorized, no matter the political calculus. The nation suffers from a shortage of principled young people. Yet here stands Ini, a commissioner, willing to risk his career for the sake of principle. His integrity may cost him now, but like any seed planted in good soil, the harvest of his courage will come in due time. When it does, it will elevate him not just as a man of character, but as a cultivator of a new political ethic.
Ini has renewed my hope. He stands as living proof that even a Nigerian youth who walks the corridors of power alongside the architects of our nation’s decline can still possess a heart deeply committed to good governance.
— Odey Otunu