Celebrating Exemplary Annang Public Servants of Ikot Ekpene Descent
of the Past
Featuring Chief (Hon) Udo Udo Okure, OBE
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| Chief Udo Udo Okure of Nto Umoton Abatekpe |
Chief (Hon) Udo Udo Okure of Nto Umoton Abatekpe family group
of Ikot Ekpene was a Public Service Commissioner in the former Eastern Regional
Government of Nigeria (1960-67) with its capital in Enugu. He was a top
government administrator, adviser and policy maker in the Eastern Nigerian
Government.
As Public Service Commissioner, he traveled extensively
abroad to recruit and bring back many highly qualified Eastern Nigerians who
were living or studying abroad. He recruited, hired and mentored some prominent
and renowned public administrators from Ikot Ekpene such as Mr. Asuquo Ekanem
of Urukuso and Mr. Isang of Abiakpo etc. who later took up the mantle of top
administrators and policy makers in former South Eastern State of Nigeria which
later became Cross River State of Nigeria.
In recognition of his outstanding public service to Nigeria
and the former British Colonial Government, Queen Elizabeth 11 of England
awarded Chief Udo Udo Okure the high honor award of OBE (Officer of the Order
of the British Empire). The Order of the British Empire recognizes
distinguished service to the arts and sciences, public services outside the
Civil Service and work with charitable and welfare organizations of all kinds.
After the military coup of January, 1966, which brought an
end to civilian rule in Nigeria, Okure was reassigned and appointed as the
First non-white Chairman of the then newly created Calabar Cement Company
(CALCEMCO) by the then Military Governor of Eastern Nigeria Chukwuemeka
Odumegwu Ojukwu.
Shortly after the liberation of the mainland portion of South Eastern
State of Nigeria, Chief Udo Udo Okure was also appointed by the then military
Governor of the state, Governor Esuene to serve as the Chairman of the
Rehabilitation Committee for Ikot Ekpene. This was the last public service post
that Okure held prior to his death. As a result of a conspiracy to get rid of
influential Annang tribesmen, Chief Okure and a number of prominent Annang
heroes were arrested and detained during a rehabilitation plenary meeting. Okure
was subsequently executed while in Nigerian military detention under the instructions
of the area military commander Benjamin Adekunle (also known as Black Scorpion
during the Biafra Nigerian civil was).
After the South
Eastern State of Nigeria was liberated, tribal and ethnic sentiments and rivalry between Ibibios
and Annangs which had laid dormant during the war resurfaced. Competition for
dominance resulted in the plot by Ibibio politicians to eliminate many prominent Annang elites
using the military as a vehicle to eliminate opponents. Those who had access to
the military field commanders like Benjamin Adekunle employed their
services to victimize and murder those considered as potential political rivals.
The essence of Adekunle as a willing murderer solder was well known during the Nigerian civil war. In an interview he gave on August 1977 with a Vanguard newspaper
correspondent Mr. Muyiwa Adetiba several weeks before his death, Adekunle appeared to have regretted his image as a legalized murderer soldier. Excerpts from the interview reveals his attitudinal change and regrets as follows:
Read More About Brigadier Benjamin Adekunle
Benjamin Adekunle popularly known as “Black Scorpion” during
the Nigerian Civil War, was Commander of the 3rd Marine Commando of the Nigeria Military troops
during the civil War. Prior to his dead and over a period of more than five
years, he had been particularly suffering from various debilitating ailments according
to his son, Abiodun Adekunle, but most especially from memory lapses.
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