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Who dares to believe that a boy sketching letters on a wooden slate in a primary school located in one sleepy village in Ukanafun could one day command global stages?
What force transforms the anguish of a huge loss into the fuel for legacy? And how does a sapling, battered by life’s storms, rise to become a forest of inspiration for generations?
Aniekpeno Mkpanang’s life answers these questions with a narrative as timeless as the Annang soil, an epic journey of triumph scripted by adversity, echoing the odysseys of Abraham Lincoln, who carved emancipation from the scars of poverty, and Barack Obama, who turned the margins of identity into a beacon of hope.
Like the mightiest trees that draw strength from rocky terrains, Aniekpeno’s roots were forged in hardship. His father’s untimely passing cast a shadow over his youth, yet from that darkness emerged a resolve as unyielding as the ancient iroko tree. His mother, a schoolteacher with hands calloused by chalk and sacrifice, planted in him the seeds of perseverance, watering them with tears and prayers until they burst forth in blossoms of purpose.
From the valley floor of grief, Aniekpeno climbed to the coast of hope with his youthful eye fixed intensely on the mountain summit where in the process of time he graced as a permanent secretary. He became a father to his siblings, a guardian of dreams, and a scholar whose hunger for knowledge transcended the limits of his rural cradle. As a Fine Art teacher, he painted worlds beyond canvases, teaching hearts to see beauty in struggle. As the host of the radio programme, Something to Remember, his voice became a lighthouse, guiding souls through the fog of forgetfulness, preserving stories and information that time might have erased.
But his journey, like the eagle’s flight, was destined for higher summits. When Ati Annang sought a leader to steer its cultural voyage, the chapters of Nigeria, from Ikot Ekpene to Kaduna, spoke as one: Aniekpeno Mkpanang, a man whose life mirrored the organization’s ethos, was chosen. Unopposed and universally revered, his ascent was no accident. It was the culmination of decades spent sowing seeds of unity, nurturing heritage, and bridging divides.
On the day of his inauguration, as he stood beneath the skies of Ikot Ekpene on Saturday 15th March, 2025, the world witnessed a prophecy fulfilled. The black boy with dreamy eyes from Ukanafun, once hunched over a wooden slate, now stands shoulder to shoulder with eagles, addressing continents as the International Presidential of Ati Annang. His story, like Lincoln’s log cabins and Obama’s audacity, reminds us that greatness is not born. It is forged in the fires of adversity, polished by grace, and elevated by the courage to soar.
Aniekpeno Mkpanang well carved imperishable niche as, educator, visionary, and global servant, is proof that the darkest valleys birth the brightest stars. To him, Ati Annang entrusts its future, knowing that a leader shaped by struggle will always light the path home. The eagles await. The world watches. The Annang Nation rises.
Congratulations, Adede Aniekpeno Mkpanang.Your journey is the anthem every dreamer needs.
