The All Progressive Congress (APC) as a party promised Nigerians a change expected to take the country to a new enviable height. It was a promise that has solutions to all the problems confronting us as a nation, and above all, a pact to do things differently.
The campaign was intense, the politicking was fiery, the scheming was deft and one would expect that once electioneering is over, all parties would forge an alliance towards moving the country forward. But that is not the case. It is disheartening that what we have witnessed in our polity is an unchecked political desperation that is unhealthy for the people and economy.
The insatiable quest for the soul of the South-South region by the APC has bought a new dimension of volatility to our politics and has allegedly left a huge dent on the independence and integrity of the Judiciary.
This is not a write up to dwell on that but to highlight the activities of the “Change Agents”.
Akwa Ibom, blazed the trail when on 22 October 2015 the state’s Election Petition Tribunal invalidated the election results in 18 out of the 31 Local Government Areas in the state. Rivers State was next in line just four days after when the election petition tribunal sacked Governor Nyesom Wike and ordered fresh election within 90 days. Few days after the pronouncement of the tribunal, the Supreme Court dismissed the case filed by Wike against the sitting of the tribunal which had four days earlier nullified his mandate. In furtherance of what seems as a “political clandestine operation”, the Rivers Election Petition Tribunal also sacked 19 People’s Democratic Party members of the Rivers State House of Assembly.
The December 5, 2015 gubernatorial election in Bayelsa State during which voters turned out to either return Governor Seriake Dickson, the incumbent governor, or Timipre Sylva, who is the APC’s flag bearer (a one-time governor of the state) was marred with violence and declared inconclusive. Thankfully that has been resolved with the re-run of January 9, 2015 which produced Dickson as the governor-elect.
Even in its loss of grip, the PDP has strongly maintained its control of all the South-South states leaving APC in a limbo with no oil producing state as it is common belief that any party which controls an oil producing state has limitless access to its petrodollars, regardless of the falling international oil prices. With Delta State being an obvious no go area, the APC has aggressively focused its quest at Rivers and Akwa Ibom states leaving one without a doubt the reason for the dire need to control the states and the endless propaganda that come with that.
Recall the three states have the largest deposit of oil wells in Nigeria and are obvious “Cash Cows” any day. Need I say more that the quest for Akwa Ibom is for acquiring or rather usurping common wealth of the state. What further emboldened my assertion was the sack of the Managing Director and the two other Directors of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).
Although Section 3 of the Act of the National Assembly which established the Niger Delta Development Commission somewhat placed the authority to hire and fire on the President and Commander in Chief, the grounds on which such can be done was clearly spelt out, the sacking of the Managing Director, Mr. Bassey Dan-Abia, and the two Executive Directors for Finance and Projects was absurd.
At the time of their sack, neither the Managing Director nor the two other Directors were convicted of a felony or any offence involving dishonesty or fraud. They were not found to be of unsound mind, or incapable of carrying out their duties nor found guilty of serious misconduct in relation to their duties which should warrant their dismissal from duty.
The immediate appointment of an Acting Managing Director, pending the appointment of substantive board only validates the desperation for control of the soul of Niger Delta and oil producing states as a soft landing for the party.
Many people think that since the NDDC Board is meant to be non-partisan, the head of the body should not have been one with political interests. While the APC saw no wrong in the sack, everything was wrong and immoral about it. But everyone seems to be keeping quiet over the sacks which have grave implications for the region. One would have expected top government officials, community leaders and other interest groups to condemn the dismissal of these managers without reason. We have heard no such foul cries in this instance.
The undue interference, subtle plot to control the judiciary over the outcome of the appeal against the pronouncement of the election petition tribunal for Akwa Ibom, the judicial summersaults, and actions (which the sack of the Managing Director and two others at NDDC is one) are moves to control the resource of the nation, not being unmindful of the large oil wells of Akwa Ibom state.
Surely, APC has to be in control of these states; especially Akwa Ibom which has the highest amount of oil wells in the country in a bid to recoup what it spent in prosecuting the last elections.
One thing is sacrosanct; the battle for the soul of Akwa Ibom is not about bringing the much touted change to the good people of Akwa Ibom in terms of better governance and greater dividends of democracy, but a change in the control of the management of the state’s natural resources and wealth.
It is apparent that from the analysis above, what we are witnessing in Akwa Ibom State is a part of a grand orchestrated plot to control a state flowing with black gold. All we are witnessing right now in our polity and the absurd pronouncements from the election petition tribunals and Appeal Court for most South-South states is all about the quest for oil money.
–Emejuru lives in Port Harcourt
