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A kingdom is not only ruled by strong men, but also by wise and experienced people.
Ibiam kingdom was established by late lord Obot who lived for 307 years before department to the other side. Power was handed over to his son, Ukara who also followed the path of his beloved father.
The first 15 years of Ukara's reign, he sort to properly carry out complete identification of every entity in his kingdom. He also gave numbers to everyone born of woman and made sure that the productivity of the kingdom reached far north which many customers come from.
Ibiam kingdom was known as a place where cotton and cotton products were produced and sold at cheap amounts. It was also known as a place for edible insects, mushrooms, fruits and vegetables. The entire kingdom was blessed, not just because of their natural resources, but because of their previous experiences during the tribal war which affected the 47 united families, taking away their loved ones before king Obot's unification.
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With these experiences gathered, Ukara was able to know the people's weak points and how to stabilize the economy.
He made sure that each family was represented by a leader and each tribe of these families werw also represented by a delegate.
Powers were distributed to individuals to help him reach out to every corner of the kingdom.
Everyone was looked after and provided for until the greed of men set in.
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At the age of 89, Ukara's twin sons, Ekpe and Udi were of a reputable age and wished to be involved in the affairs of the kingdom.
At first, Ukara rejected their request and warned them to stay away from the Obi, the central legislative council auditorium.
Ekpe and Udi saw it as being belittled and taken for granted. They planned on getting things done fast through their mother, but she wasn't capable of changing the king's mind.
The two young men took it upon themselves as being punished by their father.
As Ekpe and Udi advanced to the age of 50, they came all out to seek for their father's opinion on getting leadership roles in the kingdom.
Ukara's health status was poor and needed to be taken care of.
He finally gave them two ministerial roles which were; Ekpe, to establish new laws and Udi, to maintain productivity.
These were the most important roles in the kingdom. Ukara gave them these key roles to handle because they were his blood.
He also let them get in contact with people's information which he gathered in his first 15 years as a king.
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After 4 years, Ukara passed away without any sign of serious illness, leaving the kingdom for his sons.
Ekpe and Udi felt the impact of not having a father for a while, but decided to continue with his legacies.
Few years of trying to lead the kingdom, Ekpe (the stronger son) got greedy and wanted to lead the kingdom all by himself.
Udi on the other hand refused to let it happen.
Meetings were called and many dialogues failed.
The little misunderstanding grew to a bigger problem after Ekpe forced himself into the king's thrown. He also abolished every law that favours Udi in his cotton production.
He went further to ban the exportation of cotton material as well as the nursing of silkworms.
To make things worse, he burnt the entire crops that were used to feed silkworms and poured salt on the fields.
Udi was left stranded. His business was over and his workers left cotton business since it wasn't paying anymore.
Udi cried to the elders of the land, begged for their understanding about what will happen if unemployment rate rises, but no one listened.
Udi saw no need to fight for the thrown. He gathered part of Ukara's family and left to Uyo, a neighboring kingdom which patronized his business. He settled there in peace, just to watch the outcome of his brother's decision and with much hopes that the people would remember him if his prediction plays as expected.
Ekpe felt like everything has been settled off with his brother, but forgot that he footed his regime on a sinking sand.
In less than 5 years, the kingdom got populated with many unemployed people. Agricultural business were collapsing. Food imported were not enough for the people.
He began to borrow from other kingdoms in order to satisfy his people, but forgot that he who borrowed must pay back.
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Years passed and every sector of his government collapsed.
The people sorted for his complete removal from the thrown.
Many came for his assassination, but failed because he knows every exit in the palace.
Later, his family got kidnapped by hungry youths.
They demanded for huge amount of money, knowing fully well that he won't be able to pay because he doesn't have it.
Udi heard of the kidnap, but waited for his brother to reach out to him.
Ekpe on the other hand got worn out. He has got nothing to be ashamed of. His entire cabinet members were against him and safety was no longer assured.
On one lonely night, Ekpe quietly left the kingdom in search of his brother.
On seeing Udi, he bowed before him, chanting "King Udi, have mercy on me".
Udi accepted his brother into his house with well prepared dishes served by his wife.
When Ekpe was done eating, he began to narrate his life's journey thus far.
After much pleading and dialoguing, Udi decided to take over the troubled kingdom from Ekpe.
Later, the two of them went back to the kingdom before first light so that Ekpe could crown Udi the new King of Ibiam before another family takes over the kingdom.
Hopefully, everything will get better as soon as possible.
The collapse and chaos of this poor kingdom has been very devastating. It is good that Ekpe realized how extremely dangerous it was to continue there, let's hope that his brother does things better and that people are collaborative and trust him. Greetings!
Yes, hopefully, things will get better for them.
Thanks you for stopping by
Pride and selfishness can only expose a man to ruin, a king who is selfish would run his kingdom down.
Anyone willing to go far in any aspect of life must be wary of such negative trends.
You're right.
Ekpe thought that rulling the kingdom was like a normal thing that he's father did, but the reverse was the case.
Hello @alovely. Your piece was entirely narrative and although very detailed, it needed dialogue to constitute a well balanced piece of fiction. Dialogue between your characters would bring out their personalities and show us more of who they are instead of telling us everything in narrative. You also introduced a lot of very specific details and strands in your story which were never developed further and their significance was never explained eg: the 47 united families. You leave us wondering what the significance of this is in your story. why 47? United against whom and for what? Can you provide some insight to this for us?
Thank you for writing in The Ink Well.
Okay.
Thank you a lot for the assessment.
I'll put all of it into consideration in my next entry