Bassey Otu: Prince of Paradise
Yesterday at the foot of a giant evening bonfire
With gleeful sparkles in both eyes, someone asked
Who will sing me a song to a Prince
About Bassey Edet Otu, Prince of Paradise
Who carries with pride on broad, steady shoulders
The hopes, dreams, and joys of millions,
Known and unknown, seen and unseen
The elements captured the voice of the inquirer
And the soft sea breeze of that calm Calabar night
Carried the same words with tender care as though
Precious eggs in the gentle hands of an innocent child
And it sailed slowly but surely, destination certain
Until the syllables became recurrent verbal symbols
At a gathering of river dwellers by the banks of the
Elegant Cross River. And there, too, water wove words
Into floating lyrics. Choppy waves of the river danced
With the lines of those golden questions, probing
The politics and person, calm and charm
Of the one who is beloved like a soft chorus
From the whistling birds of Obudu Cattle Ranch
But that was not all. A beaming Calabar moon
Illuminated the night. Kids reenacting Ekombi dance rhythms
In colorful cultural livery, under the sky’s translucent canopy
Repeated the exact phrase, the land and sea breeze bore aloft
Like a golden trophy. Wind voices whispered. Dancing teens heard.
While their colorful beads and vibrant anklets echoed the words
A caravan of questions gave birth to a convoy of answers
Tongues wagging wordily as they unwrapped the mystery
Of a charming prince, the first son of the Cross River
We remember the demand from the bonfire night
The moonlight question still shines. And river waves still shudder
With an urge to know. But we can only know the prince
One stride at a time. He is like an epic poem of several stanzas
A delicious Afang soup sprinkled with the finest periwinkles
From Calabar’s sprawling and singing beach market
Know this: Even when cold, you can’t savor this dish in a rush
Half man, half mystery, yet fully mortal
But wait, first! But who be this Bassey Otu sef?
He is the first tenant at Diamond Hill,
He is our man, a man of the people, prince of paradise
Our governor
First son of the Cross River, first seed of a fertile womb,
First fruit of the finest harvests from our farms
He is the sun over our green farming fields, shining at sunrise
Burning with a golden glow at sunset, serene as the calm banks
Of our many rivers. Yet, his thoughts run deep for all who look to him
But wait, first! But who be dis Bassey Otu sef?
He is our man, a man of the people, prince of paradise
Our governor
Providence called, and the prince answered the cry of destiny
His bright light and a beacon of hope shining down
Like signals from the northern highlands of Cross River
Fairy prince of the glorious Efik kingdom
Selfless Southern Senator. Now a King with two crowns
One cultural, the other political
Finding expression in many merry metaphors
A man of destiny, daydreams, and a human dynamo
With no fear of the drudgery of routine work
Whose name Ekombi drums tease with ease
As supple dancers turn with pride and poetry
Gesturing to the music of his praise songs
While artists paint him on a historical canvas
For all to see, sing, and singe into memory
A man of peculiar character motifs
But wait, first! But who be this Bassey Otu sef?
He is our man, a man of the people, prince of paradise
Our governor
His ancestors gave him history like a precious secret
The son of a royal household whose foundations stood
When English and Portuguese slave catchers, slave masters
Raided our land, fleeing with the fit ones from farming families
He walks tall as if a moving palm tree, juiced with a priceless trove
Of inherited wisdom. A man of cultural decency, his name
An ancestral code of prestige, saying this is a man
From the core of the land, mined from the finest of regal lineages
This story has been told, the telling swift
Without contours and detours
Only with symbols without secrets
So tongues may not wag with unfamiliar motions
When probed about the prince of paradise
Searching for economic prosperity for Cross Riverians
Planting buoyant hopes in the ground
Even when bright black clouds float overheard
Because he is the sunny side of a gloomy day
Our man, a man of the people
Our governor
Bassey Edet Otu.
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