2015 GOVERNORSHIP RACE IN AKWA IBOM: THE SENSE AND NONSENSE By Commander Andy Granted that there will be election in Akwa Ibom in 2015 for governorship position, what do we really want as a people? I am not a politician and I have said this many times loud and clear. But since man, by nature, is a political as well as a social, spiritual and economic animal, it is not to be considered out of place for me to talk a little politics once in a while. It was the reverend Martin Luther King who said: “A religion that professes a concern for the souls of men and is not equally concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them, is a spiritually moribund religion.” and Jesus on His part said: “Man shall not live by bread alone…”, meaning that “bread” is a necessity. He even multiplied it to feed thousands of hungry people who surged around Him showing that He was not concerned with the spiritual life of the people only. Today in Akwa Ibom, what is on the lips of majority of the people is power shift to Eket senatorial district. As if this is a constitutional provision, which all political parties must accept as a matter of law, the people are saying that Eket senatorial district must produce the next governor if the incumbent governor is not booted out of office before then otherwise heavens will fall. I will state my position on this matter shortly, but before I do so let me share with the reader what I learned on the grapevine. I believe this will help us in a large measure to take many things into consideration before selecting a candidate for this most sensitive position in the government of Akwa Ibom. Some of us have learned on grapevine that not too long ago, a traditional group in Annang land called “Afe Nkuku Annang” had summoned Governor Godswill Akpabio to their shrine and told him point blank that he should not make the mistake of handing power to Mr. Umana Umana or to any other Ibibio man. On that grapevine it was gathered that what Afe Nkuku Annang demanded was that the governor should hand over power to an Oron person who would be compelled to appoint or choose his deputy from Annang ethnic group. Their calculation or strategy is that once the Oron and Annang men are sworn in as governor and deputy respectively, within one year in office the Annang deputy will become the substantive governor relying on the doctrine of necessity thus bringing back power to Annang people for total consolidation of their grip on Akwa Ibom politics. Only God knows how this strategy leaked out. Now, what my concern is, assuming that this grapevine information is true, is that we are deceiving ourselves when we talk about zoning of governorship position in the state for purposes of equity and justice. We also deceive ourselves the more when we believe those in power who tell us that there is unity among the various groups in the state. I have talked with many of my Annang friends on this issue of dirty political intrigues involving their people including the governor. From all indications they are not happy about the continued hostility between Annang and Ibibio in the main. They are not comfortable that their future and that of their generations to come are not guaranteed in Akwa Ibom, their state of origin, on account of the seed of discord and acrimony planted by myopic elders and watered by Governor Akpabio who cannot see beyond their noses. They are sorely afraid and they are right. This goes to show that not all Annang people are following this dangerous herd instinct that is driving most of them mad. Among the central Ibibio people we also have those who, if given the opportunity, would display this ethnic chauvinism and do many damnable things to their Annang and Oron brothers that would give the wrong impression that all the central Ibibio people are against their Annang and Oron brothers. The same can truly be said of some Oron people such as Professor Edet Okon Uya who had been standing Ibibio on the head. The unity of this state, in spirit and in truth, is something that the Church should have championed long ago, but because she is manifestly impotent and cowardly, the Church cannot carry out this sacred duty of uniting the long separated brothers. Rather than unite them, the Church is sharpening knives for them when she decides to side with evil political leaders with clannish or parochial interests and sing their praises for pecuniary reasons. If there had been real love and unity among the various ethnic groups in the state, who among us would have raised a voice in protest against anyone who wishes to be governor of the state regardless of which senatorial district he comes from? This is the reason I am not in support of zoning for the sake of zoning. On the other hand, and going by what is on ground, I suggest that since we are yet to be politically mature, we have to support anyone from Eket senatorial district, man or woman who has at least a modicum of credibility and can afford the luxury of integrity provided that his wife is not an Ibo woman who will cause further enslavement of the people of the state by causing her husband to give major contracts to her brothers and sisters to the detriment of our people. To insist that such a person must come from a particular tribe of that district is thinking like savages. We don’t want an Oron person or an Ibibio person or Obolo person or Ekid person or Ibuno person. All we should look for is an Akwa Ibom person quite unlike Godswill Akpabio who was and who is and who will always remain an Annang governor.
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 22:52:21 +0000
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