ENGR. MICHAEL NCHU ENU; A STAR BACKSTAGE

By Leonard Akwo

When David tended his father's flock in the wilderness; killing lions, yanking the Jaws of bears, chasing panders unnoticed, he was doing it to protect the sheep. His only job (if at all he had a job) was to lead them to pasture, guide them to the brooks and conduct them back to the pen. Risking his life before wild creatures was never part of the task. Yet He committed his soul pastoring his father's flock, of course, not to earn his praise. To him, they were not just animals. They were a part of him, such that their safety, their rest, their happiness now mattered even more than life to him. He had died many times saving them. And of course not even a lamb was missing under his watch.

In 2017 when Michael Enu initiated the Kanyang unity cup, he would be doing so at the very heart of a threatening  crack in the Kanyang communal life. He was so young and bereft of the physical, even psychological capacity to call two massive villages endowed with  red-capped and white-haired personalities together for a redress. He had had no track record, no professional acumen, no skill for peace making. He was just a young graduate street Engineer, begging for the chance to justify a six long years of intense University training. He was just a little boy whose only knowledge of his dear Kanyang was the brimming innocence of his growing days picking pebbles, climbing guava and mango trees, kicking oranges under the rain, bathing in little streams etc. There was no reason to fear being hurt, harrased or molested. Life was free and altogether beautiful . There was very little to share, but in that seemingly insignificant little, everybody had a share.

 That was the type of Kanyang he was dying to see again - that hamlet of his bairnhood once basking in a love, a bond, an unrestricted innocence, an impregnable sense of togetherness, fresh mutual understanding and fraternity was the only missing thing he wanted back to his clan - the very key to everything gone wrong. If only those times would be restored, everything else would fall in place.

 And Lo, the Kanyang Unity Cup was born.  

To him, young people needed the opportunity to just play on and on with the trust, with the innocence of a child, until they find that tiny missing spark which made them who they originally were. 

Guess what; upon commencement, it worked like magic. 

Yearly, aborigines of the kanyang nation now have one thing to look forward to, a purpose bigger than one individual sentiment. One thing which surpasses their personal prides, ego, malic and strife. The in-fightings and chaos now mattered less. Never again would Kanyang be defined by hostility and bitterness. Step by step, It is returning to her glory days, those days where everything else can be traded for love, for peace and for a unity of purpose. It took, and is still taking only one man, one street Engineer to rewrite this profound narrative. 

In this same Kanyang from where Michael hails, are renowned royal Hignesses, commissioners of police, commandants, political juggernauts, business moguls and the likes. There are other great personalities from neighbouring communities, even from the same wards, Who possess even better experiences and capacities, who have sworn an oath to execute peace and unity for their people. They possess the economic power, commanding much bigger respect. But they care only about their personal gains. They sit from afar, abusing youths for being reckless, for being restive and disrespectful, abusing them for being the cause of the seemingly damaged communal system. The best they do is bait the same youths with peanuts then deploy them to hades through  thuggery. They care only for themselves, their families and nothing more. They do nothing for us, yet they are our star, our models, our inspiration. If only we knew that capacity is more appreciated when responsibilities are taken up and executed unalloted, unnoticed and unsupervised. Just like the shepered boy David. Just like Michael. It is obvious that some people are simply holding brief for the real men. And sooner or later they will give way.

 There are also several other youths who have chosen ignobles causes to deepen the already existing cracks. Youths losts in the struggle for occultic supremacy. Youths whose only aim is to initiate as many youngsters as possible all to continually advance their vile intents. Youths who would rather take the Frontline in a battle to hurt a brother than defend him, only because they don't share the same dark opinions. Youths lost in theft, and arm robbery. Youths given to debauchery, addiction, perversion and vanity. 

This is how to know a star; he does not glow only when brought to the spotlight. He starts glowing backstage. We see this in Michael today, how he is seamlessly transforming Kanyang into a gloryland. He has not asked nor received a dime from one man, yet he commits every dime he makes from his personal hustle into bonding his people, mending cracks, building fraternity, spicing lives, giving hopes, inspiring dreams, reforming a better kanyang, a more peaceful kanyang, a more affectionate people. He has received just little from his society. He is still young and growing though. But he is putting back every tiny little he has received with no intention to get back. This is how to tell a star, a gem, a game changer, a David in the making.

What if our politicians and many other successful Fathers and mothers who have received so much, if not everything, consider emulating the same feat? What if they resolve to give back to the very society that made them who they are today? What if they see all the youth as their own children and then cease sending them on deadly precarious errands? What if they resolve to choose peace and love above personal ego and and undue  desperation for political offices? What if our youth decide to take up this challenge by trying to improve their environment instead of degenerating it with violence and hate and bitterness and political thuggery? What if they decide to eschew cultism and pursue causes of greater societal gains? What if they cease being reckless and unnecessarily restive? Imagine how transformed and beautified our society would become if we have at least twenty Michaels in each community.

Think about this...