Akpabio’s Thanksgiving and the Uncommon Kiss that Spoke, By Udo Silas

Take a look at this picture. Look at it again. A casual, passing glance would be two adults kissing. And that’s ok.

But there is always a shared history, a journey of private conflicts, hiccups and triumphs between couples ensconced in years of marital experience. That’s only one backdrop.

Add to that, the highs and lows of the political journey experienced by these two, and the picture becomes much more than just two adults kissing.

This picture assumed something different to me, maybe, because I know these two.

I doubt they sat down and decided to put this kiss on the itinerary of events for the Thanksgiving, last week in Ikot Ekpene.

Indeed, I wager a bet that this kiss was a spontaneous overflow of unadulterated emotions.

I didn’t see a spectacle of adult right. I doubt it was done for fun or to receive our adulations of public approval. I saw a statement without words. I saw an ensemble of white apparel and an embrace which illuminated the view that a ‘kiss without a hug is like a flower without the fragrance’.

So, Akpabio was telling us something. No, not us. He was speaking to the woman, who has come to represent the very essence of his resilience as a man, father, a husband and a politician.

It was not a time for words. They say ‘a kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous’

But wait a minute. He was speaking to us too. Why else would he (they) do that in public?

He was telling us who his earthly rock is. He was telling us, the other source of his drives and pushes. He was showing to us all, the woman that completes him, does not judge his infallibilities, but gives him, the wholesomeness of self-belief. Didn’t they say that ‘kissing is a means of getting two people so close together that they can’t see anything wrong with each other’?

So, it was a Thanksgiving to celebrate and give praises to The Almighty, without Whom the journey to political heights, would have been a nullity.

But the kiss was also a Thanksgiving to the awesome woman behind the man. It was a public affirmation beyond love. May you both continue to share more kisses. May you both continue to be happy, for ‘happiness is like a kiss, you must share it to enjoy it’? More wins to you both.