AKWA IBOM 2015: FRANK OKON TO THE RESCUE The possibility of PDP losing Akwa Ibom to the opposition party is very high going by the recent occurrences in the polity. Just yesterday, Buhari came calling amidst cheers from an unprecedented crowd. The palpable fanfare and tumultuous enthusiasm are pointers to the threat the APC poses. This came on the heels of similar showmanship at the church service at the Redeem headquarters on Sunday where the Retired General almost read the homily. In far away Enugu in eastern Nigeria, a fiery catholic clergy Fr. Mbaka did not help matters, his vituperations and near-doomsday prophecies against Jonathan’s aspiration reminded one of a similar tirade from Chief Obasanjo who branded our president a Nebuchadnazar. The PDP in Akwa Ibom is not helping matters; their latest permutation with regards to the gubernatorial ticket could prove to be their ultimate undoing as party faithfuls have crossed to APC in droves and more especially the protesting G22 are still itching for a final showdown should their petition be ignored. To say that the once most peaceful state in Nigeria is about to witness a maddening violence is to say the least. Going by our very recent history, Akwa Ibom state is a den of cultists courtesy of Akpabio`s exuberance and non-tolerance. Akpabio has elevated cultism to state religion. It was either you are in Akpabio`s cult or killed. Those who were merely kidnapped or raped were the luckiest victims of his regime. A whole ministry was dedicated to coordinate the nefarious activities of these gangs, the criteria for becoming a commissioner, Local Government Chairman or any of Akpabio`s aides was membership of a cult group or a tract record of criminality and being dreaded by one’s community. Most of today’s political gladiators are all known members of Akpabio`s former hit groups. Ninety percent of the aspirants for 2015 elections were all abating and killing for Akpabio. They were not disarmed. They were only compensated by Akpabio with juicy portfolios. They were empowered to conscript youngsters and acquire more gun and those guns will resurrect in February. Example is the incidence at the just concluded APC primaries where thugs were deployed to maim and destroy. Immediately after the PDP primaries, some Oro youths rampaged and set on fire houses belonging to people who betrayed their common aspiration. To the on-looker these were ordinary Oro youths protesting the unfavourable outcome of a party primary, but we know that some of the aspirants who lost out must have mobilized their cult gang for a showdown over an issue which ordinarily their mbiam could have taken care of. In Essien Udim, Akpabio`s hometown, Helen Esuene and her campaign team were taught lessons in violence when she dared to campaign in Akpabio`s political no fly zone, the same lesson Akpanudoedeghe suffered in the hands of his Annang inlaws in 2011. LEGAL KNOTS In Nigerian version of democracy, there are two ways to assume political office and that is either through the ballot or through the courts. A political party`s Achilles heel is when the party by omission or commission gives room for the judiciary to determine its fate. If history is of any relevance , the present wrangling in the state PDP and the litigation that emanated from the faulty primaries is a sordid pointer to doom as the outcome of 2015 gubernatorial elections might (if it favours PDP) become a subject of litigation such that a runner-up party may emerge the beneficiary. It is easier for propagandists to wave away such a reality as one of government apologists who boasted that the goat has already jumped the door. In traditional Ibibio land we all know an erring goat would be chased, captured, tethered and brought to justice if its sin was of grievous proportion. We know the G22 won’t back down. We know those guys will pursue the case to a logical conclusion if they are pure-blooded Akwa Ibomites. We also know that with the calibre of evidence of duplication of delegates lists, any court of justice in Nigeria will nullify the primary of 8th Dec. 2014, or risk the largest defection of PDP top guns to APC. We also know that when the said primary is nullified, the impending confusion will not augur well for the party and that the APC is gleefully waiting to scoop from the spill. We know too that any consensus arrangement foisted by the presidency against Akpabio`s interest will not enjoy the man`s financial backing, and in politics, the worst that can happen is to harbour sabotage from within. A VERY STRONG APC Whoever would dismiss Umana Umana or the APC in the race to the state house did not watch the APC presidential rally and is not fair to sound logic. In fact, going by political calculus, it is either Umana or someone else. The man has taken over a decade of scooping from government till to plan for 2015 such that even Akpabio is evidently scared. To have outmuscled Akpanudoedeghe just a few days of his joining the APC is a pointer to who Umana is. The choice of Engr. Ben Ukpong, an Oro nationalist, is a masterstroke that has put paid to PDP ever getting vote from the Oro people. Oro people believe that if the governorship is zoned to Eket senatorial district which they share with the Ibibios, it would only be justifiable to be given the chance being the third leg of the Akwa Ibom tripod (Ibibio and Annang having taken their turns between 1999-2015). But the present Akpabio/PDP arrangement appears to be insensitive to that feeling. After deceiving a couple of Oro sons into the gubernatorial ring the maradonic Akpabio jettisons earlier promises he made to Oro nation by foisting Udom Emmanuel, an Ibibio banker as the flag bearer. To the unsuspecting on-looker, such move might appear to assuage the Ibibio but every Akwa Ibomite knows that Akpabio is bringing Udom to protect the over 700billion Naira undocumented loan debt with the beneficiary`s bank. The bank in question sees Udom`s governorship as the only avenue for getting back their monies but doubt if Umana would ever play ball. The “I will deal with Akpabio” threats from Umana`s camp is not unconnected with their knowledge of this financial mess. THE FRANK OKON FACTOR AT PRESENT the PDP IS like the fabled Chinese general, Sun Tzu who dreamt as he flew like a butterfly only to wake up not knowing whether he was Sun Tzu who dreamt of being a butterfly or a butterfly now dreaming he is Sun Tzu. 2015 will be the party`s first real electoral test unlike the sham she enjoyed since 1999. For the first time in over a decade the PDP now has a real nut to crack, and in Akwa Ibom state the financial clout of APC`s flag bearer should send shivers to any discerning mind. Take away rigging, Umana will floor Udom even in the latter`s ward. To make it worse, the possibility of Apostle Akpan splitting votes in Udom`s territory is real. One cannot forget Apostle Akpan`s exploits with his AKPF that brought Akpabio to power in 2007. The possibility of the G22 pouring into the APC is also real as there are reliable feelers that some of the aggrieved aspirants have agreed to jump boat if their petition is ignored by the party national leadership. The Ibibio people who have been trampled upon throughout the Akpabio regime feel it is time to re-assert their identity by determining their destiny. The stark scenario staring the PDP in the face is a possibility of losing yet another financially viable state to the opposition after Lagos, Kano and Rivers states. With the capture of a petro-dollar state like Akwa Ibom by the APC, the presidency would be too feeble to wade off political confrontations even if the PDP would win the 2015 polls at the centre. As far as the 2015 elections in Akwa Ibom state is concerned, the odds are against the PDP. The only hope on the horizon for PDP remains the possibility of Frank Okon winning again at the Supreme Court and being sworn in to reclaim his stolen mandate from Akpabio. However, this can only be possible if the justices of the supreme court will affirm the earlier decision of the Federal Court of Appeal whose majority decision was in favour of Frank Okon. The Supreme Court should know that when Akpabio swears that he can never be removed he is actually reminding Nigerians of his propensity to give bribe to judges to have his way and Nigerians think their judiciary is becoming extensively corrupt. Akpabio himself has not helped matters as he constantly boasts that what money cannot do, more money can do in Nigeria. That Akpabio has bribed so many stakeholders in this country is no longer in doubt going by Michael Ekpo`s recent confessions which fingered a high-ranking mole in the presidency. The judiciary must come out clean and must be perceived to be above board on this case. If Akpabio himself has admitted to defeat to Frank Okon in his submission then the Nigerian people know what to expect and these strings of adjournment and delay tactics might soon be taken as sell-out (God forbids). The PDP itself will emerge the paramount beneficiary of such a potentially historic judgement as such would have saved the party of facing an imminent electoral embarrassment and a possible defeat in February. PRESIDENT JONATHAN would have been saved the agony of having another south-south state controlled by the opposition after Edo and Rivers, thus endangering more his victory chances in his very region. The Akwa Ibom people would have been saved the impending bloodbath if these cult kings who have now split into different political parties are allowed to fight each other in 2015. The palpable fear among ordinary Akwa Ibomites is that they know these people as the very ones who perpetrated kidnappings, rape and killings in the first four years of Akpabio`s administration. Akwa Ibomites know that these celebrated gubernatorial and parliamentary candidates are very capons of different armed cult groups operating in Akwa Ibom state. The real change Akwa Ibom needs is neither of these killers now parading as saints just to curry votes from Akwa Ibom people. The real and logical change is Frank Okon. The Supreme Court should rise to the challenge and do the needful. Daniel Inyang London
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 21:10:40 +0000