21/03/2019
*LIVING THE DREAM- THE ABOM DIMENSION AND MAGNANIMOUS GESTURE TOWARDS UJAI ANNANG.*
Great men are often not from great homes. Like the rising star, they proceed from the unknown is a saying I cannot readily place my finger on the author of those famous words. They however summarize the life and times of the President of Nto Annang Foundation Nigeria, Abom Ephraim Okon. If you have had the privilege of sitting one on one with Abom Ephraim Okon and hear from his very lips the story of his live, you would surely appreciate the meaning of grace.
I think the Bible captures it better when it says that God lifts a brother of low degree from the dung hill and make him to sit in places of honour with the Princes of his people. Maybe, just maybe, the greatest Nigerian Prose and literary guru late Professor Chinua Achebe drew inspiration from that Bible verse when he also said that if a child washes his hands well, he can eat with the elders.
When life offered Abom Okon lemon, it expected him to cringe in fright because of its caustic taste, no he made lemonade from it. If life had known that the young man bereaved of his father at a youthful age will make capital of that tragedy and grow up to become a colossus, maybe, life would have thought twice. Maybe when the vicissitudes of life smashed him against the tidal wave of time, if it knew that it was developing the young man’s muscles, maybe Abom would never have been picked to walk that road to destiny.
Maybe if poverty and lack had discerned that their ravaging and unceasing attacks unleashed on the young man wherever he turned to in order to eke out a living that it was creating a man that would one day offer handkerchiefs to many he found on the same pathway he trod, life would have thought twice.
Abom, like Apostle Paul said has known how to abase and how to abound. He has known the language of want and the courtesy of wealth. He has tasted the sour grapes of life and fed on its honeycomb as well. No wonder, he can cry with the wounded and laugh with the merry. He can pick up the poor and put crowns on their heads. He has scavenged with the poor and feasted with the rich. He is a man tempered by the storms of his personal experiences. Once in a lifetime, nature raises a man to assure others that it is not over until it is over.
Few days ago, news hit the airwaves that Nto Annang Foundation has ennobled their Queen with a car gift. Lift that veil and you will see Abom standing in the shadows conceding the klieg light to the corporate structure. In more ways than one, he has been the moving spirit and the big masquerade.
I am compelled to write, to assure him, that we are applauding from the sidelines. I write to motivate him further and to remind him that the reward for a work well done is of course more work. I write to thank his dear wife who has lent not only him but their family’s vault to enrich Annang nation. She is our own mother Theresa, our NAF Eka esit mbom. I write to say thank you on behalf of those who may not be privileged as I am to say so.
These footprints on the sands of time must remain indelible. I congratulate our delectable Ujai Annang the 2nd Queen Queendalene Akpakpan who is a bundle of brain and brawn for her successes so far. I commend every member of NAF that have chosen to lay aside personal grievances for the corporate good of our nation. Long live NAF, Long live the Philanthropist President of NAF, long live Her majesty, the epitome of beauty Ujai Anaañ the 2nd and long live Nto Annang Foundation home and diaspora.
*Proudly Annang Nation* COURTESY BY: PUBLICITY SECRETARY AKWA MBOHO NTO ANNANG..
