Cacophonous noise is often mistaken for performance in Nigerian politics. A political officeholder will gesticulate wildly, stand on his head, take selfies at refuse dumps, and perform other unusual acts simply to be seen as active.
They are adept at using words and optics to capture attention. In reality, however, this is mere make-believe; no substance, no real work.
Let me tell you a story of two politicians. One seems to be a man of MAKE-BELIEVE; the other is a man of REAL WORK.
The man of make-believe appears to be Rt. Hon. Dr. Dan Akpan, a former member of the House of Representatives. He recently took to the microphone, firing verbal missiles.
His vocabulary was spicy, peppery, and full of fire. He paints a picture of poor representation in Akwa Ibom North East Senatorial District.
The one under his attack—Senator Aniekan Bassey—has responded not with a press conference, not with a fiery broadcast, but with something more powerful: a compendium of achievements.
A tsunami of projects and empowerment so vast, so detailed, it makes you want to stand up and shout “Hallelujah!” No exaggerations!
Let’s dive into this wonder bank of performance.
Close your eyes and imagine this: A Senator who within two years has sponsored eight bills and six motions in Abuja. Good. But then, the same Senator flies down to Akwa Ibom and becomes a doer of everything.
He installs N222 million worth of ICT Centres in eleven schools across eleven local governments. From Salvation Army Primary School, Ekom Iman to Presbyterian School, Mbiabong.
He registers over 3,000 students for UTME, giving scholarships, preparing them for a computer-based world.
He trains farmers, giving them N50 million grants. Trains women on yam and cassava processing. Disburses another N50 million. Supplies N200 million worth of fertilizer to 500 farmers. Trains youths on modern oil palm farming, gives out seedlings, and backs it with a whopping N200 million grant!
We are talking about half a billion Naira in agricultural injections alone.
He is not done. He offers a N100 million grant for youth leadership training, 80 million Naira for petty traders, 50 million Naira for supernumerary training, and free digital skills training with starter kits.
He then transforms into DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF EMPLOYMENT. Securing jobs for his people in NCDC, the Nigerian Army, Police, FAAN, the Federal University of Technology, even the National Assembly itself! He sends youths on all-expense-paid capacity trips to China!
A member of my family is a beneficiary of his federal job placement.
He then puts on the medical cape, facilitating free medical outreaches with surgical operations, free glasses, and free drugs across the district. He supplies health centres with essential commodities.
He becomes SOLAR POWER MINISTER, installing solar lights across the district, building solar-powered boreholes in villages.
He builds roads too.
And oh, he donates luxury cars, tricycles, motorcycles, and motorised ploughs.
Now, back to our man of words, Dr. Akpan. He shouts “Absentee!” But how can a man be absent and yet his footprints are on every road, in every school, on every farm, in every hospital in Uyo Senatorial District? Is this the absence of a spirit? A ghost building boreholes and sharing billions?
This is where the story gets interesting. Dr. Akpan holds up a mirror to accuse Senator Bassey. But wait, let us gently turn that mirror back to Dr. Akpan. What did we see when he was in office?
They ask: “Where were your own lists? Where were your own Bills and Motions?”
Matthew Isemin, in a Facebook post, described the tirade as “an empty pot shouting at a pot overflowing with soup and assorted meat!”
Senator Aniekan Bassey has presented his evidence—a dizzying, overwhelming avalanche of it.
The people of Uyo Senatorial District are the judges. They will judge by the reality they can touch, the school their child attends, the water they drink, the money in their pocket, and the jobs they do.
For me, as a storyteller, I am captivated by the sheer scale, the ambition, the relentless energy of the Bassey phenomenon. It is one of the greatest acts of political service in recent times.
The debate is open. But the Senator, for now, is not just speaking. He is building, sharing, and flooding the zone with undeniable, concrete evidence.
Let the people decide. As for me, I have long decided.
Case closed. Senator Aniekan Bassey beyond 2027.
