Akwa Ibom: Next round of battle
Akwa Ibom may be warming up to entertain yet another tribunal case that may last as long as the administration, having successfully concluded one between Frank Okon and Godswill Akpabio which served as a thorn in the flesh of the present administration.
While this recently buried case may have enjoyed some sympathy on facebook and other social media platforms, the truth is, to very many right thinking members of the state, it never existed, so it simply continued as an unwarranted distraction for both parties involved.
In addition to its lack of merit, as later decided by the court, the state has its well defined internal arrangement of zoning governorship seats around the three senatorial districts of the state. This arrangement is intended to ensure even distribution of development across the state.
Having held the highest political office in the state between 1999 to 2007, Uyo senatorial district received quite an impressive facelift. Solid infrastructural developments were sited within the area. Although efforts were also made to spread development across the state, critics insist that focus was on Uyo.
During Governor Attah’s second term election campaigns in 2003, people from other senatorial districts emerged to contest with him, but were technically knocked out by the party and elders of the state, even as Attah was constantly advising the people of Ikot Ekpene senatorial district to warm up, be more united to take over from him, assuring that power must be rotated across the three senatorial districts to guarantee equity, justice and fairplay among the three brothers.
In 2007, Godswill Akpabio had 57 others to wrestle with. Trusting in the internal agreement and the then power of the media to fight for him, he boldly declared during one of his campaigns in Uyo that, “there are only two persons in this race – Godswill Akpabio and others”.
True to his conviction, his party’s internal arrangement and democracy prevailed, even as those who contested out of greed and disregard for the zoning arrangement were flushed out. The fight took a more violent disposition in 2011, but the need for Akwa Ibom to be evenly developed led to a landslide.
He (Akpabio) did not disappoint whoever stood by him when it came to justifying such confidence. A trip round Ikot Ekpene senatorial district would convince any, that the zoning arrangement was well thought out, and carefully implemented. In addition to diligently developing his senatorial district, virtually every ongoing project of the previous administration was completed. This administration also made very conscious effort to touch the entire state.
The truth is, no one can compare Eket senatorial district with Uyo and Ikot Ekpene, in terms of road network and other infrastructural development. And no external governor would have the capability, love and the selfless heart to develop the area as much as son of the soil. In his just mind, Governor Godswill Akpabio, after some years of gambling with the truth, probably to avoid distraction, came out blunt with the issue of zoning the governorship seat to Eket senatorial district. According to him, this must be for the purpose of equity, justice and fairplay.
Truth be further told, what accords Akwa Ibom the status of a rich state with high allocation today is the resource imbedded in the soil of Eket Senatorial District. This blessing to the entire state comes with curses to the immediate host communities. The health hazards, environmental pollution and other discomforts associated with oil and gas exploration is enough for the zone to hold onto power without interruption. But the sad truth is that Eket Senatorial District has not produced a governor since the creation of the state in 1987.
Publicly expressing his sympathy for the people of Eket Senatorial District, Senator Ita Enang, in one of the press briefings he organized, said, after due consultation with elders of Uyo senatorial district, it was imperative for the generality of Akwa Ibom people to support the aspiration of Udom Emmanuel, as it would, according to him, be unfair not to allow Eket Senatorial District to produce next governor.
His words: “It is my responsibility to give directive and lead the people in the manner that will bring development and benefit to the people. I want to please plead and say that Uyo senatorial district and people of Akwa Ibom should join me and most of us to declare support for Udom Emmanuel to succeed governor Akpabio in the next gubernatorial election.”
Tactically keying into the principle of equity, justice and fairplay, Obong Umana Okon Umana, while interacting with journalists from Eket Senatorial District who spearheaded the need for power shift said he narrowly escaped coming from Eket Senatorial District due to political demarcation of the state. He argued that it takes five minutes to drive from his village to Eket and about 30minutes to Uyo. Such logic, he opined also qualified him a favoured candidate in the zoning arrangement.
This logic and its associated political calculation fails to qualify any who is not from Eket senatorial district the right to fight over what has been internally agreed to rotate for the purpose of justice, equity and fairplay. If the rural populace within Akwa Ibom could agree and stand by who takes what and at what time, it is therefore disheartening to understand why those Edidiong Ekpo, a former counsellor in the state described as political vampires, would not show understanding and control their greed for power.
Suspecting a fight against the emergence of Mr. Udom Emmanuel from Eket Senatorial district as governor, the former Minister of Lands, Housing and Urban development, Chief Ndueso Essien, expressed the preparedness of the People’s Democratic Party to squarely face the APC at the tribunal as they have gathered enough evidence of rigging against the party.
According to Essien, there are overwhelming documented evidence of electoral malpractices against APC in Eket, Urue/Offong Oruku, Nsit Atai, Nsit Ubium and in many other places, waiting to be presented at the right time to relevant authorities, with the greatest of these being coercive involvement of ten corps members by a retired army general.
For standing up against injustice to give a chance for the senatorial district to also develop itself, Essien commended the generality of the people for voting massively for Udom Emmanuel, and noted that the senatorial district was having this chance for the first time in the 16 years of democratic rule.
On campaigns by opposition for cancellation of the just concluded election, the elder statesman who noted that Akwa Ibom has within the sixteen years of uninterrupted democratic rule remained a PDP state, said no miracle would have enabled the opposition to win in the state.
“In Akwa Ibom State in particular, the opposition party has elevated its campaign of mischievousness and mendacity to feverish proportions. Even when we have clear evidence of the plots by its leaders and supporters to foment trouble and rubbish the outcome of the elections, the opposition in the state has continually attempted to make the world believe it is a victim”.
“With a non-existing to a weak foundation, there is no miracle that would have enabled the opposition to win the election in Akwa Ibom state now or even in the next four years. Their strategy, therefore was to use every available instrument of confusion and violence to distabilise the electoral process and use as evidence to call for cancellation of the election”. He said
While believing that the general cry for justice for the deprived Eket senatorial district will preserve this mandate, Emmanuel sure has to go with the advice of INEC zonal electoral commissioner, Barr Thelma Iremiren, to roll his sleeve and carefully position himself to justify the confidence of the generality of Akwa Ibom people. Especially the dusty ESD which has existed for decades without any intimate touch. His humility, maturity and wealth of experience must be generously applied in managing the state’s resources to ensure that investors are attracted, for creation of employments as promised.