There are decades when nothing happens and there are weeks when decades happen. The past few weeks in Akwa Ibom state tend to confirm this revolutionary dictum. Indeed,some events are capable of compressing decades into one day. In recent months, the most dominant political issue in the state has been on 2015, on who will succeed Governor Godswill Akpabio come May 29, 2015. What does 2015 portend for Akwa Ibom? This is the question that has occupied the minds of Akwa Ibom people for quite some time now. The anxiety over 2015 is borne out of the fact that it is the year the present administration will constitutionally complete their tenure and hand over power. From the onset, no one could tell which direction the pendulum would swing. The political climate was still very hazy and muzzy. Uncertainty was the name of the game till August 28th,2014 when Akwa Ibom witnessed another chapter of history with the return and arrival to the political scene and to the house he co-founded and built, one of Akwa Iboms best breed, Mr Benjamin Enobong Okoko, unaguably the peoples choice for Governor and the original party man PDP needs at this crucial moment of history. Exhibiting the virtues of the original and true party man that he is, Benjamin Okoko began his consultation for the PDP Governorship ticket with a visit to the State Executive of the party to officially notify his party of his intention to aspire, win the election and proceed to occupy the hilltop mansion as the next Governor of the state come 2015. He is the first Governorship aspirant to visit the party. The consultation to the state chapter of the PDP was later followed with a tour to the 31 chapters in the state. Again, he is the first and only aspirant seeking the Hilltop Mansion that has done that. But wait a minute! Who is this Benjamin Enobong Okoko? Roll back your tape and stop in 1998. A man who is destined for stardom is bound to achieve stardom no matter the circumstance. When he burst into the national scene in 1998, Benjamin Okoko was quite a revelation. Nature too can indeed be profligate in its bounties. At 37, he was already blessed with political connection of the high and mighty, arresting intellectual effusions which further sinewed his political charisma. In the history of Akwa Iboms 4th republic, no politician could lay claim to greater political sagacity, popularity and acceptability than Benjamin Okoko. His popularity till date is rising with great velocity. The PDP came into existence at the National level on the 31st of August, 1998 at the International Conference Centre. After the birth of Africas largest political party in Abuja, it was time to establish the party across the 36 states of the federation. Benjamin Okoko and others it was upon whom the task was placed on their shoulders to bring the party to Akwa Ibom and get it firmly rooted. There were seven men whom the party at the national nominated as conveners to come and establish the PDP in the state in September 1998. Atuekong Don Etiebet was the state leader. Each senatorial district had two conveners. For Ikot Ekpene, it was Senator Emmanuel Ibok Essien and Dr Ime Titus Okopido. Uyo senatorial district had Arc Obong Victor Attah and Senator Anietie Okon while Eket senatorial district had the youthful and visionary Benjamin Enobong Okoko and the late Dan Etukudoh. When the time came for the Governorship in 1998, it was Benjamin Okoko coasting home to victory. All was set for his coronation as Governor. The Okadigbo-led PDP Electoral Panel was set to return Benjamin Okoko as the partys flagbearer. Himself and Obong Attah were the only two people cleared to contest the primary. It was at this juncture that the elders of the party pleaded with Okoko to allow Obong Attah from Uyo senatorial district to become Governor and kick start zoning in the state. Before now the elders tried all the tricks in the book-intimidation, threats etc but the more they tried, the more they realised that they could not abort a pregnancy when the baby is already born. The party elders led by Don Etiebet had to beg him and that he should please let it go despite the fact that he had everything going in his favour and that his time will come afterall he was just 37 then while Attah was 60. He did not disappoint. Okoko showed rear attributes lacking in the average Nigerian leader. Ordinarily in this kind of circumstance there would have been some trade offs but not Benjamin Okoko. He relinquished his political right unconditionally and went ahead to lift Attahs hand and Attah emerged as Governor in 1999. He did not ask the party to refund what he had spent, neither did he ask for any position in the incoming administration. What the temporary setback did not take away from him was his patriotic zeal, his good intention for the greater good and his commitment to see the Attah administration succeed. Benjamin Okokos uncommon sacrifice, political discipline, moral inspiration, ideological fidelity and loyalty to the party laid the foundation for the stability and consolidation of democracy in the state and no politician in the past sixteen years has ever personified the best aspirations of a people more than Benjamin Okoko. It has been sixteen good years since the party and Akwa Ibom people pleaded with him to wait that his time will come. Truly as it was foretold, that time has come and that time is NOW! All through these sixteen years he has proved his loyalty, trust, confidence faithfulness and commitment to the PDP and the Akwa Ibom project. He never left the party he co-founded even for a second, holding firm to the umbrella no matter the climatic condition. All he was aksed to do he did it willingly and most sacrificially. He was asked to step down for Attah in 1998;he did. He was asked to wait that his time will come;he did. He chose to place the interest of the party and state above personal interest. Call him an apostle of uncommon sacrifice and you wont be wrong. Through that sacrifice of his, PDP was able to manage and consolidate on its diversity and ideological heterogeneity which has made it survive as the ruling party in the state for fifteen years now. Okoko displayed a mixture of courage, patriotism, judgement and intellect, believing as Martin Luther rightly observed that an individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. As a man who believes in the supremacy of the party, he is the first Governorship aspirant to visit the party at the state level and also to tour the entire state to meet with the chapter executives and consult them ahead of the November 29th primary of the party. The tour of the Restoration team, ably led by the Director General and former Deputy Governor of the state, Engr Dr Chris Ekpenyong, was more of a voyage of rediscovery and reconnection to the party, a house God used Okoko and six others to build. Anywhere and everywhere he went, an unprecedented crowd always came out to give their original landlord a heroic welcome while the governorship hopeful acknowledged cheers from hordes of admirers who thronged the various chapters to catch a glimpse of the true party man and restorer. Okokos visit to the chapters was a source of hope to many founding members of the party whose hope were rekindled. Since those who ignore or bypass the corridors of history are condemned to repeat it, Okoko took his party men and women back to the past, gave a tour of the present and provided a map for the journey into the future. He was always factual in content, decent in presentation and objective in analysis. The audience cheered and clapped. But for many, many moments, an electrifying silence gripped the hall as he sowed his words like powerful seeds. Some cried. Ask any chapter party officer to describe the state of affairs of the party and the relationship between the party and the government and they will certainly have sad tales to tell. A serious disconnect exist between the party and the government which only a true party man like Okoko can fix. The founding fathers of the party obviously meant well for the country when they fought to establish a party that will form a government which will establish an egalitarian society for the good of the people. But because the party to an extent has drifted away from its founding principles, the polity has been a mortuary of dreams due to the politics of exclusivity and intellectual immobility. Okoko was therefore quick to admonish his great party men and women across the state that the time has come for the party to do an independent retrospect with a view to charting a new course that departs from the present back to the original founding principles. He vowed to restore the party back to its lost glory by restoring the dignity of the party and party supremacy as party is and will always remain the mother of government. As he spoke to his people in the house he built, the PDP, his great party men and women were looking at many Okokos. They saw Okoko the original and true party man. They saw Okoko the co-founder and one of the seven conveners of the party in the state. They saw a humble Okoko who God used as the sacrificial lamp to lay the foundation for political stability and economic prosperity of the state. They saw Okoko the scholar, historian,the successful quantity surveyor, the detribalised Nigerian, the true party man, the politician. The elegance of his language, the force of his argument and his potential for good compelled his party faithfuls to ask- Where did the rain start beating us under the unbrella? Why is it that a party that should be our pride has turned out to be our problem? I recall the laconic potency of the chapter consultation to the ward and chapter officers. It was notable for the thoughts not expressed, the sighs suppressed, the rage sublimated, the joys and relief not transmitted. But it was in some instances also noted for the hope and faith that was rekindled that dignity will be restored and the soul of the party shall be reclaimed under the Benjamin Okoko administration. The people were unanimous in their acceptance that the party has truly been battered by its internal contradictions as the present chapter executives are nothing but mere good managers of a bad situation. The party they argue and its faithfuls are grappling with the reality and forces of democratic consolidation. In essence, what the party is witnessing now is a great and titanic struggle between the self seeking centrifugal forces that haemorrhage the party economically for self aggrandisement and the centripetal forces determined to rescue the wrecked ship of the party. Little wonder to the PDP chapters across the state, it was like a dream come true, the restorer has arrived and from their disposition, mostly characterised by intermittent smiles and outburst of joy and laughter, it was obvious their hopes have been rekindled. Okoko who was as always at his eloquent best, promised the people that with their support the party will be returned to its proper place of pride and glory as the present situation was totally unacceptable. He admonished them to join hands and ensure that only a true party man becomes the next governor of the state. With his sincerity of purpose and track record of uncommon sacrifice for the good of the people, it was not totally surprising that the entire 31 chapters of the party in the state were unanimous to accept, confirm,agree, irrevocably resolve and affirm that Benjamin Enobong Okoko, from Ikpa Ibekwa ward 1, Ikot Abasi Chapter of the PDP shall emerge the PDP flagbearer in the November 29th,2014 governorship primaries and shall go ahead to contest the February 28th 2015 Governorship election and shall win that election with a landslide victory and shall go ahead to succeed Godswill Obot Akpabio CON, as the next Governor of the state. They took this decision because they decided to go back to history and trace the root of the party. Having glanced into the immediate past, they resolved that justice should be the foundation for political stability. They remembered that Benjamin Okoko did not join the party but co-founded the party in 1998. They remembered his sacrifice to the party when he was told to let go the ticket to pave the way for Obong Attah to become Governor from Uyo senatorial district. They remembered he obeyed the party unconditionally and has remained a loyal, faithful, committed and dedicated party man under the umbrella. They remembered that he has not left the party since its formation even for a second. They remembered that inspite of the fact that he is yet to benefit from the party he co-founded, he has held on to the umbrella whether torn or not, whether the rain is beating him or the scorching sun is piercing through his skin. They remembered that he superintended over the party and conducted the first ever state and local government congress in 1999. They remembered that even after having successfully fought to have the age limit for Governor reduced by INEC from 40 to 35 years and inserted into the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to enable him contest in 1999 at the age of 37, he hearkened to the plea of state party elders and sacrificed at the threshold of his coronation for the survival of the PDP. They know that he alone is the original party man and means it when he says he will restore the dignity of the party and party supremacy. They recall he started his party politics at the chapter level as Deputy Chapter Chairman of the defunct SDP in Abuja Municipal Area Council and therefore knows where the shoe pinches. They recall that he has party experience having served as the second National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, former member NWC, NEC, headed PDP National Electoral Panel, organised National Conventions; Pioneer Secretary; PDP South East/ South South Caucus, a Superintendent of the party in the state,and a faithful party man. They recall that with his history of uncommon sacrifice, he is a man who sees governance from the lens of moral underpinnings. They know that as Governor in 2015, Benjamin Okoko will provide leadership that inspires. They know that he has the wherewithal to give the productive sector drive, purpose and vitality through power generation, transmission and distribution towards creating industry so that the vast army of idle youths and material assets will be put to work. They remember that it was through his sacrifice that God made it possible for Godswill Akpabio to be called from Lagos and appointed Commissioner by Gov Victor Attah and later elected Governor. They note that he is one of the agents of the Governor Akpabio uncommon transformation as the Consultant Quantity Surveyor on the major flagship projects of the Akpabio administration such as the new Governors office, Governors lodge, Deputy Governors lodge, Banquet Hall, Guest Houses etc. The people have spoken. Indeed Benjamin Okoko is the man to beat. Come 2015, the labour of our heroes past shall certainly never be in vain.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 08:52:22 +0000
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