Tribute to Late Dr Godwin Benson by Mkpanang

 " In The Darkest Night, God Lights The Path.....". 

When the news of the exit of GAB rolled in yesterday around 11pm , my day did not break till around 6pm today, making it the longest and darkest night of my existence . It is now that I'm picking the pieces of myself up from that sad news , comforted with the words of Sojourner Truth that in such low moments, it is God that lights the way....

GAB is a sobriquet derived from Godwin Aniekan Benson , a name that had stuck right from our High School days . My alias was 'Logyboy' ; Ntarubok Emmanuel Ibanga was 'Upas' and the member representing Ukanafun / Oruk Anam constituency in the state house of Assembly was 'Emedo'. The echoing impact and actions of our aliases were better felt then at school than described here. 

At WASCO where we cut our educational teeth , we were friends and brothers, all rolled into one , or you could say people of the same family with different destinies yoked with an umbilical cord that couldn't rupture or cut with a sword but only through death as exemplified in GAB's case. 

After High School , and in pursuance of our goals , I entered Uniuyo for my academic odyssey while GAB went to Akwa Polythecnic to cut his journalistic teeth. Climbing the greasy post of ambition and respectability tended to separate us but our brotherhood did not die.

Long time ago in one sunny afternoon after lecture with my head saturated with much learning and hunger , I bumped into GAB at Uniuyo convocation Park , obviously, he was an intern at the Pioneer Newspaper , and was at the University to scoop and noose for news . It was a landmark convergence as memories sparked up , history was invaded and lost years reconnected for us to gauge the rationale for the long separation at that moment. Lastly , GAB doled out a handout which made me to leave the buka of the University and chilled in a nearby restaurant close to school . It was a memorable day and that story I recount it always in my household and circles of friends because the handout came at the right time. 

Next day I added up The Pioneer Newspaper in the arsenal of newspapers I was reading at school , and I must confess that GAB was doing well in the organization. 

We disconnected again but I was reconnected to him by the might of his pen through the Pioneer Newspaper that rolled out of press weekly . That year , Senate president of Nigeria now was the Governor of Akwa Ibom State and he was changing the landscape of the state in maddening proportion . His uncommon transformation sired a deep interest on the persona of the man in me , kicking me up to be celebrating anniversaries of his years in power for eight years by essays on the internet.

In the fourth year of his reign , GAB read my piece and called to say it was good , that I should emailed it to him for publication offline in the pioneer Newspaper but I was so engrossed in writing term papers for people at the University for a pittance . In the fifth year I penned another illuminating portrait of Chief Akpabio , again GAB was impressed and requested for a soft copy which I forgot to send but when I remembered , the anniversary had been overtaken by event. 

We used to be very intelligent at High School as our nicknames portray our acts and we had passion for further education. After our master's program , GAB wanted us to go for a Doctorate degree , and I declined schooling in Nigeria. I told him that a good Doctorate course is supposed to take a one year eight months duration but in Nigeria one pays fees for three session instead of two , that I would get two Doctorate degree for that duration at University of Sussex while he grappled at the home front. He pushed on and graduated but the gains of his crowning has been short circuited and taken away by premature death. 

I had an unwritten pact with GAB which I reviewed everytime we met , that one day when I mount a political position as Governor of this state, that he would be my Chief Press Secretary and in charge of the media ; Barrister Ufok Ibekwe would be chief Judge of the state and commissioner for Justice ; Ntarubok Emmanuel Ibanga would be head of security while Hon. Emem Udom would go back to the House of Assembly to be speaker but death , the bad reaper , has put paid to that futuristic projection and graph. 

 It is with deep pain that GAB, my childhood friend, brother and connector is no more. GAB was bulky sized, so full of life. That full life wrenched out of him by death still rankles. 

 December is a month of celebration but it has become an irony , a month of despair and confusion by his passage. 

If the breathe of life has a percentage and is shareable , I would readily give 40 % of mine to GAB to return to steam for the brotherhood to continue but 

  puny mortal like me is handicapped on what to do in a moment like this that God has chosen to sign a new signature of departure in the affairs of GAB.

Songstress Gloria Estefan must have been lucky to have sang herself out from " Dark Into Light" but journalist GAB is not lucky to write himself out from the icy grip of death into the light of the earth . 

For sure , though sadly but gloriously , he has stepped out from this hellish earth into the incandescent presence of the ethereal light and sound of God.  

Adieu GAB, my brother!.