12/07/2026
The faces that broke the code and destroyed the link
At face value, you'd gladly hand them the keys to your heart. You'd shower them with grandeur and entreat them to rounds of admiration.
..One's "Excellency" title is gradually being eroded and replaced with "Sweet". I heard they call him "Sweet Prince" now!
These men will effortlessly win every and any contest that is based on looks, fashion, and grandeur.
Cross River Men are fine Men, we are hot by design; don't get it twisted....!
But looks alone doesn't cut it, looks are ephemeral assets that fade with the use. Look closely and what you see is a facade of failure hidden in plain sight.
Before this brute of collosal failures, was a man, a much finer man whose ever appealing looks is not merely a function of genetic anesthetics but a direct reflection of the state of his heart.
His name is Duke, I wrote earlier about a rare kind of fire I saw in his eyes.
Did you see it too? That same fire that still screams Calabar my Calabar?
Now imagine being the first runner in a relay, and you run the first lap with urgency and such a desperation that sets your team on a winning trajectory.
Only to hand the baton over to a runner who instantly loses sight of the direction the baton was meant to travel.
Or worst launches in the opposite direction...
Funny enough, a "Buhari, Buhari, Buhari", video that once made the rounds on social media years ago, depicts the exact same scenario.
But beyond the delusion of grandeur.
This is where things starts to get serious.
They took the race in the opposite direction and handed down the baton of decay in a relay of ruine that truncated Duke's trajectory.
If history has taught us anything, it is that development is rarely the product of one extraordinary leader.
More often than not, it is the product of ordinary leaders who possess the discipline to continue an extraordinary vision.
Great societies are not built by perpetual reinvention.
They are built by continuity.
That is why some states have steadily climbed the ladder of industrialization and economic prosperity.
Successive administrations may differ in style and ideology, but they understand one simple truth:
"...a state is greater than any individual, and worthy ideas must outlive those who conceived them".
Akwa Ibom offers a compelling example.
Over the years, administrations have, despite their differences, sustained key developmental trajectories rather than dismantling them for political convenience.
The same can be said, in varying degrees, of states like Lagos and Ogun, where continuity has often trumped personal ego.
Cross River tells a different story.
For many, Donald Duke's era represented the conception of a bold dream.
Tinapa, the Obudu Mountain Resort, the Marina Resort, the Carnival brand, and several institutional reforms were not merely projects; they were pieces of a larger vision of what Cross River could become.
Sadly, visions are fragile things.
They survive only when succeeding hands choose stewardship over rivalry.
Today, many of those once-celebrated investments have fallen into neglect.
Infrastructure has deteriorated,
Institutions have weakened,
Opportunities have slipped away.
It is difficult to walk through parts of Cross River without being reminded, not just of what once was, but of what could have been.
Development should never begin afresh every four or eight years.
Governments are relay teams, not sprint champions. The baton of vision must be passed, not dropped.
Perhaps that is the fire I saw in Duke's eyes.
Not merely the longing of a man for his beloved Calabar...
But the quiet pain of watching an unfinished dream wait for someone willing enough to continue it.
Because in the end, it is not about occupying a public office, it is about the code of sustainable growth and national development, and the link of continuity in-between.
Come to think of it, what unfinished dreams do you think Cross River should have continued, regardless of who occupied the Governor's Office?
Let's know in the comments
You are enlightened now, share this post, enlighten your people!
♡ I am 2iC Esq. ✍️ _
