Connect with us

News

Leadership like fire: Akpabio’s path to greatness

Published

5 days ago

on

By Sufuyan Ojeifo
History, in its long and patient arc, is a master storyteller. Its finest tales often begin with conflict rather than applause, with accusation rather than acclaim. Before the garlands and the gratitude, there is the crucible, the fire through which greatness is tested and purified.
The recent wave of false accusations against Nigeria’s Senate President, Senator Godswill Obot Akpabio, belongs to this ancient pattern.
Far from diminishing him, they place him squarely in the historical company of giants like Socrates, Mansa Musa, Patrice Lumumba, and Nelson Mandela, whose trials became the prelude to vindication.
In every civilisation, those who dared to challenge convention were first rewarded with suspicion. Socrates, the Athenian philosopher, was condemned in 399 BC on the charge of corrupting the youth and defying the gods.
Whereas, his true offence was the audacity to question the complacency of his city. He unsettled the powerful and embarrassed the comfortable. The state silenced him, but not his truth.
Today, the same Athens that sentenced him to death has his statue in its squares, while his false accusers are completely forgotten, condemned by history to nothing more than an ignoble footnote.
Socrates’ calm dignity before false judgement still echoes across millennia, a reminder that time is the ultimate judge of moral worth. Akpabio’s silence in the face of lies carries the same wisdom: that one does not wrestle with shadows when history itself is one’s witness.
Nigeria’s Senate President now finds himself walking a road well-travelled by men whose lives became lessons in perseverance. Like Socrates, Akpabio has been accused not because he has failed his people but because he has dared to lead differently.
Indeed, his reforms, his capacity to command loyalty, and his influence in both national and regional politics have unsettled old networks of privilege. Yet his focus remains unwavering, on legislation that strengthens governance, on national stability, and on the quiet labour of statecraft. In a country often distracted by noise, Akpabio embodies the rare discipline of purpose.
In another era, across the deserts of the Sahara, Mansa Musa of Mali experienced a similar misunderstanding. When he embarked on his legendary pilgrimage to Mecca, he displayed the wealth of his empire with generosity that startled the medieval world.
To some, it was extravagance. To history, it became evidence of unmatched vision. His empire flourished through learning, commerce, and faith. His name still shines centuries later, unblemished by the gossip of his age. Likewise, those who misread Akpabio’s grand development strides mistake ambition for arrogance. They fail to see that behind the public works and the national projects lies the spirit of reconstruction, a man rebuilding systems, not just seeking applause.
Patrice Lumumba’s ordeal in the 20th century brought the tragedy of false accusation to its most brutal form. The first Prime Minister of an independent Congo was accused of sowing division and branded an extremist. As the world now knows, his crime was clarity, the insistence that Africa’s freedom must not be dictated by foreign powers. His enemies silenced his voice but could not extinguish his vision.
Today, Lumumba’s name inspires every generation that seeks to reclaim African dignity. The same pattern of vilification, born of fear and envy, trails every reformer. When Senator Akpabio’s detractors peddle falsehoods, they reveal more about their own insecurity than about his record. It is the familiar resistance of the old against the birth of the new.
South Africa’s long night under apartheid produced another target of defamation: Nelson Mandela. For decades, he was called a terrorist and enemy of the state. Yet, in his quiet cell, he found the strength to forgive those who condemned him. When he emerged, he transformed his nation without bitterness. His victory was not only political; it was also moral, a triumph of the human spirit over injustice. Mandela’s story teaches that the mightiest response to falsehood is patience.
Without claiming a direct similarity of their situations, Senator Akpabio’s restraint, his refusal to engage in personal recrimination, reflects Mandela’s lived philosophy; that true leaders answer falsehood with performance, not theatrics.
It is tempting to view each accusation against Akpabio in isolation as a passing political quarrel. Yet to do so would be to miss the deeper rhythm of history. Great leaders are not defined by what is said about them in the heat of their time, but by what is remembered of them when the noise has faded.
The allegations that swirl around Akpabio today are not evidence of guilt but signs of significance. Insignificant men are not worth defaming. As the musician 2Baba once sang, “If nobody talks about you, then you are nobody.” The very ferocity of the attacks against Senator Akpabio is proof of his stature and the disruptive power of his vision.
Reflecting on this lineage of misunderstood greatness, one sees that accusation is often the final refuge of the threatened. Akpabio’s career, from transforming Akwa Ibom State into a model of modern governance to repositioning the Senate as a stabilising institution, represents a continuity of purpose that even his critics cannot deny.
Akpabio has brought maturity to national politics, forged collaboration across divides, and demonstrated that leadership can be firm without being fractious. His calm under pressure and his devotion to national unity have become the quiet pillars of Nigeria’s democratic consolidation.
Clearly, these attacks are not the measure of the man but the echo of his impact. The history of leadership is littered with names once maligned and later sanctified. Socrates’ trial became the cornerstone of philosophy. Mansa Musa’s misunderstood generosity defined a golden age. Lumumba’s persecution gave Africa a martyr. Mandela’s imprisonment forged a moral compass for humanity. Senator Godswill Akpabio stands among them, a contemporary figure walking through the same furnace of falsehood towards the same horizon of vindication.
To see Akpabio merely as a politician under attack is to miss the larger story unfolding. His journey is a lesson in patience, endurance, and the power of moral steadiness in the face of hysteria. As Nigeria searches for stability and renewal, Akpabio’s conduct offers something rarer than rhetoric: a model of composed leadership that refuses to be baited into bitterness, let alone the flitting satisfaction of viral outrage. He is writing, through action rather than argument, a chapter that future historians will read with admiration.
The crucible of false accusation, then, is his initiation into greatness. Every great leader must pass through the fog of misunderstandings before emerging into the sunlight of vindication. For Senator Akpabio, that sunlight is inevitable. When the passions of the present have cooled, and the record of reform stands tall against the smallness of slander, Nigeria will see him for what he truly is, a nation builder tested by fire, a visionary misunderstood in his own time but destined for vindication in the fullness of history.
Posterity, which has already cleared the names of Socrates, Mansa Musa, Lumumba, and Mandela, will do the same for the Uncommon Transformer. For in the grand tribunal of time, truth always wins its appeal.
● Sufuyan Ojeifo is the publisher and editor-in-chief of THE CONCLAVE online newspaper.

Share this story:
Related Topics:
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

News

Trump threatens military action in Nigeria over killing of christians 

Published

4 hours ago

on

November 1, 2025

By

**U.S. President issues stark ultimatum, warns of possible armed action against Islamic militants

 

United States President Donald Trump has issued a severe warning to the Nigerian government, threatening to halt all American aid and potentially launch military operations in the country if attacks on Christians continue.

In a statement released Saturday night on Truth Social, Trump delivered an ultimatum that escalates tensions between both countries, threatening direct U.S. military intervention in Africa’s most populous nation.

Advertisement

READ ALSO: Tinubu fires back at Trump, says Nigeria rejects religious persecution 

“If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump declared.

The American leader indicated he has already directed military officials to begin preparations for potential action in Nigeria.

“I am hereby instructing our Department of War to prepare for possible action. If we attack, it will be fast, vicious, and sweet, just like the terrorist thugs attack our CHERISHED Christians!” he stated.

Trump concluded his statement with an urgent warning to Nigerian authorities.

Advertisement

“WARNING: THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT BETTER MOVE FAST!” he said.

The threat comes just one day after Trump redesignated Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern” over alleged religious persecution, a move that drew swift condemnation from President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

In his Friday response, President Tinubu rejected the characterization of Nigeria as religiously intolerant, stating that the country “stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty.”

The Nigerian president emphasized that his administration has been actively engaging with both Christian and Muslim leaders since 2023 while addressing security challenges affecting citizens of all faiths across the country.

Trump’s latest statement marks a dramatic escalation in rhetoric and raises serious questions about U.S.-Nigeria relations and the potential for American military involvement in West Africa.

Advertisement

Share this story:
Continue Reading

News

FG unveils ₦33bn payout, recruitment drive to appease aggrieved doctors 

Published

6 hours ago

on

November 1, 2025

By

The Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare has revealed major financial relief measures and workforce expansion plans aimed at resolving persistent grievances among healthcare workers, especially those in the Nigerian Association of Resident Doctors (NARD).

In a Thursday statement, Minister of State for Health Dr. Iziaq Salako revealed that President Bola Tinubu had authorized accelerated payment of outstanding dues to health sector employees, including NARD members.

According to him, as of Thursday, October 30, an additional ₦21.3 billion had been transferred to the IPPIS account, and payment to beneficiaries had commenced.

READ ALSO: Resident doctors declare indefinite nationwide strike over unmet demands 

Advertisement

He added that another ₦11.995 billion is being processed for release within 72 hours to settle other outstanding arrears, including the accoutrement allowance.

Dr. Salako explained that these payments are being made in line with the approved salary structure for the health sector.

The Federal Government has additionally issued special waivers permitting large-scale hiring of healthcare workers across federal tertiary institutions to combat the effects of brain drain and excessive work hours.

He noted that this recruitment drive is part of a broader strategy to ensure that Nigeria’s health facilities are adequately staffed, safe, and equipped to deliver quality healthcare services to citizens.

Regarding continued discussions, Dr. Salako stated that collective bargaining sessions are ongoing with the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA)—NARD’s parent body—alongside the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NANNM).

Advertisement

Dr. Salako emphasized that these interventions reflect the Federal Government’s unwavering commitment to safeguarding the rights and welfare of health workers, ensuring industrial harmony, and upholding the uninterrupted delivery of quality healthcare services to Nigerians.

These developments follow NARD’s October 26 announcement of plans to begin an indefinite nationwide strike from November 1, 2025.

Disclosing this in a statement, NARD President, Mohammad Suleiman, said the strike directive was issued after the expiration of a 30-day ultimatum earlier given to the Federal Government over unresolved demands.

The decision was reached after a five-hour National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held on Saturday.

“The NEC has marshalled out minimum demands, strike monitoring directives, and ‘no work, no pay/no pay, no work’ resolutions needed for a successful execution of this action,” the statement reads in part.

Advertisement

Share this story:
Continue Reading

News

Tinubu fires back at Trump, says Nigeria rejects religious persecution 

Published

6 hours ago

on

November 1, 2025

By

 

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has issued a response to US President Donald Trump, asserting that Nigeria rejects religious persecution.

The statement came after Trump’s Friday announcement re-categorizing Nigeria as a “Country of Particular Concern.” Trump alleged that Nigerian Christians face existential danger and promised American protection.

READ ALSO: Trump raises alarm over killings in Nigeria, declares country “of particular concern”

Advertisement

“Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands of Christians are being killed,” Trump said in a social media post on Friday.

President Tinubu replied on Saturday through social media, underscoring Nigeria’s dedication to religious freedom.

“Nigeria stands firmly as a democracy governed by constitutional guarantees of religious liberty,” he said.

“Since 2023, our administration has actively engaged with Christian and Muslim leaders alike and continues to address security challenges affecting citizens across all faiths and regions.

“The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into account the consistent and sincere efforts of our government to safeguard freedom of religion and belief for all Nigerians.

Advertisement

“Religious freedom and tolerance are core tenets of our collective identity and shall always remain so. Nigeria opposes religious persecution and does not encourage it.

“Our constitution guarantees the protection of citizens of all faiths, and our administration remains committed to working with the United States government and the international community to deepen understanding and cooperation in protecting communities of all religions.”

Share this story:
Continue Reading

Trending