There is no gainsaying the truth that of all the political practices and philosophies that have defined human civilisation, not only is democracy the most useful and influential, it has actually evolved to become the definition of modern civilisation itself. In fact, in contemporary characterisation, it signifies sanity in governance, equity in leadership and progress in multi-party co-existence. The principles of democracy are generally known and universally accepted, yet their precise application very much depends on the historical context of the country and the people concerned. Each country or region chooses the particulars of the slant of democracy to practise which is tailor-made to its peculiarities in terms of demography and other considerations.
Therefore, Nigeria adopted the federal character principle as part of its democratic practice, in order to counteract the nationality question that has been bedevilling the polity. Introduced more than thirty years ago, it has the potentials for achieving national integration which is the prerequisite for economic development. It made up the imbalance loudly pronounced between and among the various ethnic groups that make up Nigeria, which manifest in the political and economic atmosphere. These imbalances exist in almost every sector of the economy hence most people feel marginalized. So, it is the effective dousing of the tensions of marginalization by the application of the federal character principle that government at all other levels in Nigeria have adopted this basic philosophy especially in the allocation of political offices, appointments and postings.
Akwa Ibom State, a major upwardly mobile oil-producing state, is a microcosmic representation in this practice. Although the state enjoys a relatively homogenous ethnicity with the resident ethnic groups of Ibibio, Annang, Oron, Ibeno and Eket, the prevailing principle of fair sharing, an offshoot of the federal character principle, dictates that these groups get equitable share of political deliverables. Moreover, asides from political best practices, by virtue of being brothers, the groups that make up the state are naturally predisposed to sharing, rotating, and conceding. This is because the similarities in language, music, values, art, styles, literature, family life, religion, ritual, food, ceremonies, public life and material culture is evidence of the historical fact that these people have always pursued common social, cultural political and economic relationships throughout times past.
However, recent developments in the political arena of the state are gradually painting a different and unpalatable picture. If the truth must be told, today’s political analysis in the country, Akwa Ibom State inclusive, is subtly enmeshed in the evolving 2015 political realities. In this wise, the 2015 governorship race in Akwa Ibom State is now spurring on several political groups and pundits with all of them obsessed with the concept which revolves around democratic best practices: that of the rotation of the governorship slot among the three senatorial districts of the state. In clear terms, the question is which district should produce the next governor? The state is made up of three major ethnic groups of Ibibio, Annang and Oro. The Ibibio people are the major indigenes of the Uyo Senatorial District [though they are also found in other districts]; the Annang people reside in the Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District; while the Oro people are the major occupants of the Eket Senatorial District.
Presently, while the people of Oro nation are known to be gearing up towards occupying the governorship seat in 2015, the major ethnic group in the state, Ibibio has reportedly asked them to wait as the seat was bound to return to the Ibibios who ceded to Annang in 2007 and 2011. The first governor in this current political dispensation, Obong Victor Attah, is from Uyo senatorial district, while the current governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio, is from Ikot Ekpene senatorial district. It is established the state is made up of 31 local government areas, out of which Ibibio race has 14 local government areas spread across the three senatorial districts of Uyo, Eket and Ikot Ekpene; while Oro has five located along the coastline of Eket Senatorial District. This is apparently the majority premise proffered by the agitators for another power shift back to the Ibibio, but which in its entire essence turns the principle of equity and fair share – visible in our evolving national democratic practice – on its head.
Nevertheless, it must be made clear that in order to engender equity and fair play in the state, power must be rotated between the tripod of the three ethnic groups, Ibibio, Annang and Oro; and not the three senatorial districts per se. This is the only way that the spirit of federal character principle could be replicated in the state in order to forestall future feelings of marginalisation and its attendant anti-development spawns. To illustrate, the Eket Senatorial District, in which the Oro nation is situated, boasts of powerful politicians who have served the state in various capacities, but who are actually Ibibio. Mr Nsima Ekere, the former deputy governor, who just resigned in a national headline-making manner, is one of such persons. So it will be counter-productive for the governorship slot to be given to an Ibibio from the district in the name of rotation. In fact, instead of assuaging the people of the senatorial district, it will only succeed in pitching brothers against brothers; and this no doubt will never augur well for the whole state either in the short or long run.
I am of the well founded opinion that this is the right time for every lover of democracy in Akwa Ibom State to support any qualified candidate from the Oro nation who has the capacity, contacts and charisma to take the state to its next level of glory. The Nigerian political landscape of today has become more open, more inclusive, more issues-driven, and less rancorous, just because a qualified individual from a minority region has been allowed to ascend to the highest political office in the land. It has eased out bad blood, calmed frayed nerves and upped the ante in the nation’s political space, while raising our democratic status in the comity of nations. This is exactly my vision for my Akwa Ibom.
By Sunday Isong
