By Matts Udoaka
There is the common
notion that two captains cannot navigate a ship. This assertion portends a
grave danger to the All Progressives Congress in Akwa Ibom State, when weighed
against the backdrop of the fierce, dangerous missiles paraded by the two
leaders of the APC in the state. The two heavy weight personalities are Senator
John James Akpan Udoedehe, and Obong Umana Okon Umana, the penultimate SSG to
the Akwa Ibom State Government.
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| Senator John James Akpan Udoedeghe APC guber aspirant(2015); former ACN guber candidate(2011) |
Only a distant
watcher can falter or dismiss the potentials of these heavy personalities
because of money or frayed popularity. The reason is that the two powerful men
can command the crowd to their best advantage at any time.
For those who have
studied the two of them, must agree with me that there is no difference between
the content of the marrow of one with another, and their all out instinct to
outwit each other and become the ultimate governor of the state. Yet, it would
take a serious time of fence mending for the APC convoy of rapprochement to
reconcile the duo.
It all began from
last state congress/nomination exercise of APC when one of the contending
figures was reported to have ceased the materials for the delegates election,
and the others had to contend with the out-modeled option A4 system of voting
as was said to be the directive of the APC supervisory team. This
dissatisfactory conduct might not be unconnected with the outstanding political
feud that instigated Senator Udo Edehe to label Obong Umana as a man who started
stealing government money since he was the Director of Budget. Such unguarded
utterances were made when the
Senator was granted an interview by the Global
Concord of Friday 9th August, 2013.
In as much as
this could be taken as political infraction that does not remain permanent in
one’s mind, it is detestable for one to label his fellow man with a derogatory
name not worthy of the personality for the sake of politics.
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| Umana Okon Umana, guber candidate, APC(2015) |
It is common place
for politicians of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to label their opponents
of the PDP as thieves, criminals and all worth not. This act of ‘holier than
thou’ attitude is very common with the Publicity Secretary of that party,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed. President Goodluck Jonathan who has committed the worst crime
of being the President of this country cannot count the number of times he has
been vilified and slandered by Lai Mohammed, not minding his highest office in
our nation.
Here in Akwa Ibom
State, Senator J.J. Akpan Udo Edehe is a man of muscle and brawn. We also have
taken note of his sense of humour in most cases. As a man who brooks no
nonsense, he rather should not allow vituperation to overwhelm the greater part
of his known virtues. That has dragged down Senator Udoedehe’s image as a man
whose fight is to liberate the people, according to him. A man who intends to
liberate like Mandela did, should not be engaging himself in name calling,
personality desecration and other vices.
Obong Umana Okon
Umana might not be the personality the Akwa Ibom people would want, but no
matter how he is, no one has the right to discredit him, and make his
personality look ordinary because it takes a lot of time for one like the
former SSG to build his career and fame politically. Some of their problems
emanate from grievances and lack of political direction in the country.
The All Progressives
Congress should not sweep whatever grievances that came from the last Akwa Ibom
State Congress under the carpet as that tends to devastate the state. No form
of inducement and money bag should be considered above the right of the
citizenry, particularly those who have put in their best in terms of personal
sacrifice, finance and time. In a free contest, no party has ever been very
sure of sweeping the polls, therefore for these APC members who have put in
their best for the party, they deserve every thing proper to keep them happy
and belonging, and not the belief that a particular person can deliver a state.
Unless it is the wish of the Akwa Ibomites, I would say that people like J.J.
Akpan Udoedehe deserve a special place in the history of APC in Akwa Ibom State
and Nigeria generally. He has never been a governor to control the state’s
funds, but his personal contributions have helped to keep the party going.
In Nigeria, its
only the government cronies that belong to the controlling class. As he
decamped from the PDP to APC and remained there consistently, J.J. Akpan
Udoedehe deserves the cooperation of other members of the APC to fire his
ambition on.
It is not out of
place to state that since the episode of the last APC congress in Akwa Ibom
State Senator J.J. Akpan Udoedehe and Obong Okon Umana had been at daggers
drawn, given their antecedent of suspicion and now their attempt to carry the
ticket of the party in 2015 general election. Mohamadu Bulari, who is
struggling to wrestle power from President Goodluck Jonathan, the old war horse
must not dwell in the ecstasy of mouth watering donation to the party by Obong
Umana Okon Umana, and throw away the baby with the bath water in the case of
Senator J.J. Akpan Udoedehe. He must put up machinery that will reconcile
Senator Udoedehe with Umana Umana for his party to grow here.
However, the APC
must remember that a state like the Akwa Ibom which is the full blooded PDP,
irrespective of some challenges, can never give up its grip of the state. The
disadvantage of belonging to an opposition is not an appreciable condition, and
it takes a lot to change in a country like ours.
In the meantime,
what we still watch out for, is the way Senator J.J. Akpan Udoedehe will accept
the nomination of Obong Umana Okon Umana as the APC governorship candidate who
he described as a very rich man who engages in no other business than civil
service. The 2011 ACN governorship candidate, with lots of admirers, brooks no
nonsense. He fought like Trojan in 2011 to justify the millions of supporters
he had in trying to realize his governorship ambition. But what analysts have
seen as incumbency cognet robbed him of the victory.
Today, the APC
seems to have forgotten about his suffering, especially at Ikot Ekpene in 2011
which situation is better told than experienced, and which a man with cardiac
dysfunction could be stretchered to the mortuary at the sight of the mayhem
that was unleashed on him. Let some of this past events be remembered to fetch
a place for people like Senator J.J. Akpan Udoedehe.
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