Monday comment2
Udom Emmanuel enjoys the support of his people, writes Ufot Essien
For close observers of events unfolding in Akwa Ibom State of late, the forth-coming general elections in the state, particularly the Governorship, would apparently be nothing more than a test of strength between the ‘federal might’ and the will of the people, which for this purpose, we will call ‘the people’s might’.
For those acquainted with the political scenario of the state, it is not uncommon to hear politicians boasts: ‘Akwa Ibom is PDP and PDP Akwa Ibom’ or ‘In Akwa Ibom, PDP is a religion’. And for all you care, it is not an empty boast, though since the advent of the ‘Uncommon Defection’ when the former governor of the state Senator Godswill Akpabio defected to the ruling party at the centre – the APC, there have been deliberate – some would say desperate – attempts to create a distorted impression that the APC, the only noticeable opposition in the state, is now at par with the PDP. Nothing could be far from the truth.
The picture on ground confirms this to be a far cry from the reality. For instance, a cursory look at the state’s representation at the National Assembly, even from inception of the fourth Republic in 1999 to date, will show the state to be the traditional homestead/stronghold of the PDP. More specifically, between the Sixth Parliament (2007 – 2011) and the present Eighth Parliament (2015 2019), records show that all the representations of the state at the National Assembly – both at the Senate and the House of Representatives, came from the PDP. In other words, all the representatives of the people at the federal legislature, came from the platform of the PDP. These include Senators Alloysios Etok, Effiong Bob and Eme Ufot Ekaette (Sixth Parliament), Alloysios Etok, Ita Ennang and Helen Esuene (Seventh Parliament) and Godswill Akpabio, Bassey Albert and Nelson Effiong (Eighth Parliament). Though Akpabio and Effiong only recently defected to the APC, the fact remains that the entire representation from the state at the Lower House, still retain their PDP status; which among other factors, gives a lie to any attempt to create an impression of APC, PDP parity in the state.
What more can drive home this truth more forcefully than the fact that all the 27 members of the State House of Assembly equally emanated from the platform of the PDP until five of them, for reasons best known to them, chose to defect. Even at that, the House still maintains its PDP dominance. Need we also point out that the 31 elected local government chairmen of the state are all from the PDP, thus leaving the entire local government structure in the state 100 per cent in the hands of the PDP?
Aside all these, run through a catalogue of Who’s Who in the politics of the state and you’ll be left in no doubt about which of the contending parties has the upper hand. Therefore, in a way, those who say ‘Akwa Ibom is PDP and PDP Akwa Ibom’ or whatever slogan they choose to use to express this dominance, may not be far from the truth.
This picture notwithstanding, since the ‘uncommon’ defection and the threat of Warsaw; worsened by the resultant attempt by the five sacked members of the State Assembly to take over the House – an incidence interpreted by many as the forerunner of Warsaw – the fear of the federal might has become even more palpable. Warsaw itself, many have come to realise, was only a synonym for federal might.
What’s more? The response to that event by the APC-led federal government has not, in any way, helped matters but has rather concretised the fears about the federal might. Come to think of it, while the erstwhile Commissioner of Police James Abang was removed for apparently stopping the illegality of five sacked members from taking over control of the House of 27 members, the new CP was hailed for aiding the five gain access to the hollow chambers to conduct the ‘unholy’ business of electing a ‘new’ speaker under the watch and supervision of the Nigerian Police. As at the time of putting together this report, there were fresh fears of a planned invasion of the Assembly by the five sacked members. In a way, another episode of the Warsaw plot.
Today, contrary to the reign of peace that has enveloped the state since the Udom Emmanuel administration took over, strange things are beginning to happen. Only recently, a popular blogger in the state was clamped into Police detention in what the authorities say was ‘order from above’; an incident which the media community in the state has since dismissed as a ‘strange media clampdown’. Similarly, the freedom that residents of the capital city have been enjoying since the peaceful reign of the Emmanuel administration started, has begun to give way as men of the Nigeria Police has started a stop-and-search on all vehicles and you would hardly drive out any time from 8pm without encountering the men in uniform.
For now, delicate calm pervades the entire state that had, hitherto, enjoyed tremendous peace and security. But for those leading the ‘federal troops’, they may have met their equal in the governor who is emboldened by the massive support he has enjoyed from the people otherwise referred to as the ‘people’s might’.
Recall that the governor, following perceived – some would say glaring – partisanship by the Police in the handling of the State Assembly incidence, has since called for the removal of the new Police Commissioner, meaning the new CP may not enjoy the confidence of the large majority of Akwaibomites.
Interestingly, Akwaibomites may not be alone in sensing the threat ‘from above’ as even the irrepressible Governor Nyesome Wike of Rivers State has repeatedly raised the alarm that the APC-led federal government was desperate to ‘take over’ Akwa Ibom State and his state, Rivers. This is in the face of an equally repeated pledge by President Muhammadu Buhari to supervise over free and fair elections come 2019. But does the body language match the spoken language?
Unperturbed, the people, as it were, have seemingly resolved to take their fate in their hands and stand by their governor, against all odds. And, several things work for the governor. For one, Emmanuel has cut out for himself the picture of a man his people can trust. His words and his deeds run in the same direction. But more important, the governor has proven himself as a very efficient and effective administrator. In the face of lean resources, he has, through the public-private sector partnership (PPP), created over 12 giant industries in three years with more and even bigger ones in the kitty.
Besides, he has crashed the prices of staple food items in the state through purposeful investments in the area of agriculture and food sufficiency. Only penultimate week, Emmanuel commissioned the rice mill located at Ini local Government Area of the state, and by so doing launching the state rice into the market, thus making true his earlier promise to flood the market with rice produced from the state by Christmas.
But if there is any area that the people have sung the praises of their Governor to the heavens, it is in the area of peace and security. It is on record that Emmanuel has reclaimed the state from the reign of cultism and the era of mindless killings and politically-motivated assassinations amongst other social vices that had held the state captive in the past.
These alone can explain why despite all the taunt about the federal might, more people and groups have continued to organise massive rallies in support of the governor. No doubt, the Akwa Ibom election, will provide a litmus test of true democracy in Nigeria as against imposition
Essien wrote from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State
