By Emmanuel Nicholas
I read in full the 149‑page volume of the book ‘Attah Resource Control” authored by Obong Victor Attah and edited by the renowned journalist Dele Sobowale, the first edition of which appeared in 2004 and a revised edition in 2018 so as to verify, from the primary source, the extent of Senator Udoedehe’s contribution to the struggle that has made Akwa Ibom the leading oil‑producing state.
A careful comparison of the two editions convinced me that Senator Udoedehe’s name and deeds do not appear in the book’s account of the struggle. Among national legislators, the text singles out Senator Udoma, Senator Ita Enang (then a member of the House of Representatives), and Senator Emmanuel Ibok‑Essien; it does not credit Senator Udoedehe with any leading role.
The chronology is important. On 5 November 2002 the Federal Government sought recourse to the Supreme Court over the onshore‑offshore dichotomy; the Court’s decision was adverse to Akwa Ibom.
During that period Senator Udoedehe led a protest against Governor Obong Victor Attah’s advocacy for resource control.
He did so as head of an oppositional formation based in Abuja, commonly referred to as the “Abuja Front”, which, by all accounts, was organized expressly to oppose Governor Attah and was in receipt of substantial support from the Federal Government to cast Attah in an unfavorable light.
On 2 May 2002 Governor Attah delivered a public address at Ibom Hall entitled “We Had Nothing Personal Against Mr President,” a speech intended to rebut the allegations leveled by Senator Udoedehe’s Abuja Front.
The Abuja Front had accused Governor Attah of acting against the President and thereby causing developmental setbacks and the withholding of federal allocation to Akwa Ibom.
In that address, Attah reminded the public that President Olusegun Obasanjo, when he spoke in Akwa Ibom on 12 April 2000, had promised that derivation payments would be increased to 13 percent in accordance with the law; yet when payments commenced two months later the Federal Government honoured only 7.8 percent.
That truncated payment, moreover, was credited only for onshore production and excluded offshore wells ,hence the anger of many governors who felt betrayed, and the determination of Attah to contest the shortfall.
If Senator Udoedehe now seeks to appropriate for himself the mantle of “hero” of resource control and of the struggle over the 76 wells, the evidence should be produced.
The campaign for a full 13 percent derivation was led in the Senate by Senator Ismaila Mamman (though the payment mechanism remained contested under the dichotomy) and was later advanced in legislation by Senator (Prof.) Iya Abubakar, then chairman of the revenue committee;
the Federal Government challenged that parliamentary initiative in court.
At the very moment when decisive parliamentary and gubernatorial leadership was required, Senator Udoedehe, who was in the National Assembly, did not distinguish himself as a leading advocate for the cause.
It is disingenuous, therefore, for Senator Udoedehe to attempt to claim authorship of a struggle in which,by the account of Attah’s own book and contemporaneous records he played an oppositional role.
Posting old photographs and selectively edited videos on social media cannot substitute for a verifiable record of public service and sustained advocacy.
If Senator Udoedehe truly sought to contribute to the welfare and development of Akwa Ibom, the appropriate moment to demonstrate that commitment was during his tenure in the National Assembly, not through plaintive social‑media laments designed to smear Governor Umo Eno.
Governor Umo Eno has, by all indications, welcomed the counsel of elder statesmen and those with relevant experience; had Senator Udoedehe wished to engage constructively, a simple call to the governor’s office or a request made through the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. Enobong Uwah, would have secured an audience.
Instead, the public theatrics and the selective invocation of archived images read as a political project aimed at diminishing the governor’s reputation rather than as a sincere effort to aid the state.
Senator Udoedehe should therefore desist from laying claim to laurels he did not earn. One cannot credibly style oneself a “hero” of a struggle one actively opposed or sought to undermine.
To attempt to appropriate the legacy of Obong Victor Attah ,the figure who the record shows spearheaded the resource control agitation and fought for the interests of the state,is not merely misleading; it trivializes the efforts of those who stood steadfastly with Attah, including Senator Udoma, Senator Emmanuel Ibok‑Essien, and Senator Ita Enang.
Senator Udoedehe should not attempt to harvest an image He did not cultivate.
He should not instrumentalize the issue of the 76 oil wells for perennial political ambitions. Viral videos and recycled photographs will not impede Governor Umo Eno’s mandate or erase the documented leadership of those who truly fought for Akwa Ibom’s resource rights.
