UDOM'S TEMPLE: MARRYING THE WISHES OF THE KING, THE MASSES AND GOD.

Ata Ikiddeh

I was trying very hard to avoid this subject. I was asked earlier to comment and I thought I will put it off until tempers abate. But this morning I was tagged by my good friend James Abang and while trying to clarify my position, I found myself gradually wading deeper into the discussion.

This is a deeply emotive matter and the raw fire of public opinion, for and against is aś incendiary as molten magma. While some are dancing in praise, many more are livid, with a deep sense of disappointment. I hope to fully comment at a later date but also hope my words will be enough for those who want to know where I stand on the Ibom International Worship Centre. So let me quip this. When addressing an issue such as this - let's be holistic in our argument, harvesting the economic, the social, the political and the religious sheaves on the threshing floor of reason. Using the Bible alone to justify this project is unintelligent, Christians have better brains, Jesus himself many times employed parables and not scripture. Likewise, erecting embattlements and strongholds in opposition to the Governor's vision, will defeat the very argument we are trying to project because the far right perceives rightly or wrongly this is hatred, it is political opposition. 

Udom is a good man and his intentions are genuine, I have no doubt he is fulfilling a personal vow, securing his legacy and also calling on the divine to defend his office politically. We will never know what it means to lead untill we wear the shoes of the King. Political leaders who are deeply religious - build, extend or renovate religious monuments as personal gratitude to the divine or to fulfill their religious civic responsibility. Therefore we need to give them some latitude.Some of you might not know this but in England the renovation of Westminster Abbey, the iconic Anglican Church next to the House of Parliament started in 2015 under Prime Minister Cameron's government but planning actually started under Gordon Brown's government in 2010. It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs.
The building itself was a Benedictine monastic church until the monastery was dissolved in 1539. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral. Since 1560, the building is no longer an abbey or a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England "Royal Peculiar"—a church responsible directly to the sovereign the Head of State.. It is the UK's government's official church, it is under Her Majesty the Queen of England, the head of the Anglican Church. It is probably the one structure that announces secular England as a theocratic Christian domain. It will cost ( £19m) N9 billion to renovate. The Akwa Ibom International Worship Centre will cost N3 billion to build and its privately funded.

Some will say but that's a ludicrous comparison. I understand the argument of the progressive far left who will say to me Ata, there are jobs in England, the economy is working, they can afford to build and renovate Westminster Abbey, here in Akwa Ibom State we are being blighted by poverty and hunger, this project is misplaced and unnecessary.

I also understand the sentimentś of the religious far right and supporters of the Governor who insist and quote the words of Jesus Christ when he said," the poor will always be with you". Meaning, neither the erection or the none erection of the the International Worship Centre will make Akwa Ibom State any richer or poorer. So I have decided the way to go forward is to have, what we refer to in law as, "a consensus ad idem", an agreement of minds.

It is challenging when we apply or fuse the methods of ancient monarchs like King Solomon on a 21st century democratic model. Perhaps one way to get some clarity, is to ask the question, if King Solomon was an elected King how would he have pursued this project along the ancient Grecian democratic ethos of; Government by the people, for the people , of the people. Would his pursuit and method have been different? It's worth thinking.

Finally, my personal opinion to supporters of the project. Both the Temple carved from Stone and the temple meshed in flesh and blood the Stomach, are all one and the same. One gives pleasure to God, the other to man ; man created in the image and likeness of God is like God. Infact man is a god and like God, man has needs.

Note: the first place of worship was when God breathed into Adam's nostrils transforming him into a living soul Gen 2:7. Conversely the first assignment God gave man was WORK, WORK IS A FORM OF WORSHIP - Gen 2: 8. GOD GAVE MAN HIS FIRST JOB - GEN 2:8. I cannot over emphasis the fact that, the very act of a man working is in itself intrinsically a form of WORSHIP. Likewise building a befitting Temple to the Glory of God is WORSHIP.

Therefore neither Worship nor Work has preeminence over the other. God has respect for both. The two are one. Neither should deny nor cancel the other. The erected Śtone and a man's Stomach both WORSHIP God! They are one and the same.

All our Governorś have had signature projects, Gov Attah had the 5 star. Gov Akpabio built the nest of champions, this I believe is Udom's signature project. Since there's an established precedence rather than condemn a privately funded project of the Governor , let us remind the State Government to pay equal attention to Agriculture and youth employment.