Our national atmosphere is saturated with politics. Ordinarily as in other climes these should be exciting and interesting times. In our dear country though, politics is far from ordinary and in the true sense of the word the strain of politics played in Nigeria is an uncommon variety. It is a strain of politics that rather than produce wholesome excitement produces a mix of confusion, unpredictability, intrigue, fatigue and condensates into a palpable atmosphere of loathing, worry and fear. It is a strain of politics which leaves keen stakeholders in a state of breathlessness, not because of physical exhaustion but because of the sheer effort the brain needs to make to keep up with and make sense of the dynamics that are in constant evolution, the summersaults that are unending due to uncommon mechanical propulsion and the intrigues that are on an industrial scale.
Akwa Ibom is not only the richest state in Nigeria in terms of financial muscle, it is also the richest in terms of political drama and intrigue and the impending elections promises to also make it the most unpredictable state in Nigeria. Senator Ita Enang is an intriguing personality in his own right but also represents the contribution of Akwa Ibom politicians to Nigeria’s political drama. On the defection of the new PDP senators to APC and the refusal or inability of the Senate President to read a common letter, Senator Ita Enang a trained lawyer thundered that their senate seats were automatically and immediately vacated on account of their defection to another party. Last week, Senator Enang announced his defection from PDP to APC! In accordance with his own interpretation and application, he will vacate his senate seat but not before May 29!
As a proud citizen of Akwa Ibom State, I have made up my mind on which of the competing tendencies will have my support in the upcoming elections and my mind has been formed as follows;
On the gubernatorial platform are two gladiators – Udom Emmanuel (Udom) and Umana Okon Umana (Umana). Udom a banker of repute and choice of outgoing Governor Akpabio is the candidate of the PDP (as of time of writing). His public service record consists of 18 months stint as Secretary to the State Government as preparation for promotion to governor.
Umana a seasoned ‘politocrat’ has held both civil service and political appointments. These include Director of Budget, Commissioner for Finance and as Udom’s shunted predecessor as Secretary to the State Government.
Up until the end of last year and even remotely, the thought of supporting Umana never crossed my mind. I am convinced and have posited in different public and private fora that Governor Akpabio’s regime has engaged in squandermania and hence mismanagement of the state’s resources resulting in the absence of meaningful sustainable development commensurate with available resources. Umana has nursed the ambition to be governor of Akwa Ibom for sometime now and this irritated me to no end. In fact anytime I saw him together with Akpabio (who was then supporting him) my irritation increased at the audacity of the two of them thinking they could engage in a baton exchange. A baton that does not belong to them! To be honest even after he was sacked by the governor and evicted from office by Akwa Ibom’s amiable but dutiful first lady, I said good riddance!
Riddance? Not in Nigeria’s politics! The APC (where my sympathies lie) ends up producing Umana as its governorship candidate. To me Umana is like the mosquito that survived all the insecticide and my hand claps and remains in my net. What are my options?
Udom is the candidate foisted on the PDP by Governor Akpabio. Several friends who know Udom closely have sought to assure me that he is a sound professional, God fearing and that he will govern the state with prudence and decorum. I do not doubt them and in truth, Udom’s magnificence is not the issue for me. The issue for me is the democratic growth and well-being of Akwa Ibom in particular and Nigeria in general. It is trite that power resides with the people. It is when this residency is established, demonstrated and practiced that the people enjoy the dividends of democracy or good governance. This is so because if the people sleep on their right to choose who governs them and allow their sovereignty to be hijacked by any individual or cabal, the beneficiary of that process is answerable not to the people but to the individual or cabal. To put it in simpler terms, if Governor Akpabio succeeds in ‘making’ Udom the governor, it will set a precedent that access to the states resources can be utilized to rob the people of their sovereignty. This will set us as a people back a very long way and may indeed become accepted as ‘the way it is’. That is not the panacea for development or indeed societal well being. So for me it is more important to make the point that power resides with the people. Thwarting the governor’s machinations is the best way to set the state on the path of democratic governance and progress.
The question that arises from the above will be ‘so what if the people go out and vote overwhelmingly for Udom?’ My answer will be consistent with my position because if Udom wins in a free and fair election, he will be the peoples’ choice and this realization will make him answerable to the people. However the process that threw him up as the PDP candidate has already and fatally flawed his hopes or claim to any legitimacy. Democracy is a building block process and everybody knows what happens to anything with a flawed foundation! In any event that process is suggestive of the fact that his backers will use similar means to ‘make’ him governor. This strongman syndrome is another manifest problem with our democracy which must be defeated. Talking to Akwa Ibomites, there is that air of resignation that their votes have not counted in the past and may not count this time. If only for the sake of our peoples psyche, I will support the tendency that will deal a fatal blow on the strongman syndrome and consign it to the dustbin of history for our peoples good!
Many things have been said about Umana especially the fact of his complicity in the mismanagement of our resources, a complicity which cannot be wished away by his supporters. The defence of Akwa Ibom having been run as a ‘one man show’ is neither here nor there. After all the option of principled resignation exists. What is important for me is the knowledge and consistent with my postulations that the process is a determinant factor in the attitude to governance. There is a difference between the Umana that Governor Akpabio would have ‘made’ governor and the Umana that emerges as governor in spite of Governor Akpabio. Obviously Umana would have happily like Udom, benefited from that process, but that is not the point. The point is that if Umana is destined to be governor as earlier ordained by Akpabio on God’s instructions then in God’s miraculous ways, the circumstances may have been redesigned to give Akwa Ibom fresh air even from such an unlikely source!
My senatorial district is another interesting race. It is between the Almighty Governor Akpabio on the PDP platform and Inibehe Okori on the APC platform. Going by the understanding amongst the component sections and in the spirit of rotation, the senate seat, I understand is zoned to the Abak sector. Inibehe is from Abak, Governor Akpabio is not. Going by his own professed adherence to zoning philosophy and his stated reason for dumping Umana, Akpabio ought not to be in that race. But this is our uncommon politics and who cares about the gander if the goose is happy. However and happily Inibehe Okori is not running on the basis of ethnicity. A suave and highly successful businessman with impressive local and international connections, it will be a contest in the real sense of it. Again and in keeping with my earlier postulations, a defeat of the strongman syndrome in a democratic process will be beneficial to the deepening of our democracy. This attitude of the ‘big boys’ seeing the senate as their VIP relaxation home must change. Our dear Governor Akpabio will be on some serious pension come June, that should be enough without adding the senate seat to it! We need vibrancy and a new style and a new face for Akwa Ibom which Inibehe represents. Akpabio is better placed running the Akpabiosm Institute which given his deep faith and impressive knowledge of the Bible should be rechristened ‘AKPABIOSM INSTITUTE OF BIBLE AND GOVERNMENT STUDIES
- Ukpong, legal practitioner writes from Lagos