A humbly researched opinion

1. Introduction

The year 2020 came with a lot of fanfare which vanished too early in the year. It is therefore with gratitude to the Almighty God that the living now approaches its end, hoping that everyone would end in peace to welcome Year2021. It is therefore a humble prayer that everyone reading this piece will see the New Year and prosper with it. Amen.

While this is faithfully in our expectations, it is pertinent to recall the popular saying that “he who fails to plan, plans to fail.” This is why we are here together, right now, to reason together with one another. It is, therefore, all together, important for all of us to re-sit the foundations of our political interest as a people.

It is fatally vital to our socio-political emancipation, for us, as Akwa Ibom people to reconsider our leadership recruitment style when deciding on who should be our Governor from 2023. Our collective interests as a people varies, but as fair as possible, this piece will restrict itself to the general grounds, and our review of the kind of leadership we have bequeathed to ourselves shall draw from these grounds that are as constant as truth.

Fortunately, like some other States of the Federation, Akwa Ibom State has enjoyed the democratic leadership under 3 Governors, and if we take a look around the State, it will be onerous on us to determine how forward-going we have been in terms of our human and material resource development.
On this term, we will consider how our former governors were recruited, what promises they made to us as a people, we will also consider their capacities by their score-cards. We will do this in order to build the foundation upon which we can assess and determine what all Akwa Ibom people should be looking for in the next candidates to be recruited by our political parties for our consideration as Governor.

2. Our Governorship Recruitments

On how our governors were recruited, let us recall that there were movers and shakers of the political environment in Akwa Ibom State, and these ones chose to accept the Peoples Democratic Party as the party for the State. We would recall the common political phrase used as slogan in the State: “Akwa Ibom is PDP!".

These movers and shakers of our politics were the ones who brainstormed and decided that on the grounds of his age, his family's positive contributions to the development of the Akwa Ibom people, and his experience in social engineering, Obong (Arc) Victor Bassey Attah was taken over Hon Benjamin Enobong Okoko, as governor.

Governor Attah did not manage his victory enough to bequeath the same united front he enjoyed when he was recruited to be governor, and the PDP, at that time, went into the most tortuous nomination process ever in history in the history of such congress in the State. At the end of it all, it is clear how it was the then President Olusegun Obasanjo who decided that Senator (Dr) Godswill Obot Akpabio should fly the PDP flag with the immense support of Senator (Dr) John James Akpanudoedehe.

Dr Akpabio, a 2-term Commissioner in the Obong Attah administration became governor after his principal. Obong Attah left the PDP in the State divided, with himself losing out in her political equation.

The shock Senator Akpabio suffered in the loss of his second term bid in 2011, the loss which he fought desperately with a murderous passion until he succeeded, led him to his stringent hold on the PDP, and he terrorised the opposition, which was instituted, led and sustained by Senator (Dr) John James Akpanudoedehe.

Unlike in the 2 instances that threw himself and Obong Attah up: the collegiate decision that recruited both of them as our governors, Dr Akpabio decided to transform himself into a political “Sheriff” over the State.

He singlehandedly brought Governor Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, who was without any political aspiration, with no experience in political administration, and imposed him on our people. Today, Governor Udom is on the saddle as governor, and our political recruitment strategy has clearly moved from a collegiate-styled decision-taking, on behalf of the people, to a one-man imposition of his surrogate.

The last Party Congresses of the PDP in the State, and the outcome of the last Local Government elections held in the State sustains this truth, and as we approach the 2023 governorship election, this is one aspect we must watch out for.

Unless we are satisfied with the imposition of Senator (Dr) Godswill Obot Akpabio, of Governor Udom Emmanuel. Governor Udom's scorecard will tell us if impositions should be tolerated in our decisions on who governs us, especially if he chooses to fail. He should not be allowed to choose will build upon his failure. We should all resist him.

3. Goverors’ Scorecard

Obong Attah found himself being responsible for developing the strategic master plan for our infrastructural development, prepared the blueprint for our economic emancipation, and erected the foundations for our socio-political and cultural advancement and redefinition. He did what he could with the short-paid resources he received from Ex Presodent Obasanjo, which were later refunded to the administration of Dr Godswill Obot Akpabio.

Senator (Dr) GO Akpabio was conscientious enough to complete the projects Obong Attah left behind, and went on to prove himself as an “Uncommon Transformer” of our State. Not only did he transform our State, he also transformed our people into “lovers of money”, hence the evil we find all around us.

Governor Akpabio transformed Akwa Ibom State according to the blueprint laid down by Obong Victor Attah. And until Governor Udom Gabriel Emmamuel completes his tenure as governor of Akwa Ibom State, this opinion will be hasty in assessing his milestones, his energies, capacities and his capabilities. However what is clearly visible is his tending to the imposition of his political interests on us. He is resistible.

And if Senator Akpabio has regretted bringing him as governor, then it is clear how we must ask for the return to the collegiate method of choosing our Governor. One man, whoever he is, must not be allowed to present a candidate to us. They either allow us to choose our representatives in a free, fair, transparent and in an acceptable manner, or if they must choose a Governor for us, we need to see them do so collectively as a college.

4. Who To Look Out For In 2023

As we approach the 2023 governorship election, it is important to streamline what qualities of leadership we would be seeking in whoever will become our Governor from thence. It would be noted that our political elites and the candidates they produce these days, hardly can address their governance manifestos. We would usually see their “number-of-points" agenda posted all around us, but none of them would preach these points: to tell us how possible and feasible their points would fair, and how viable they would avail them for the benefit of the people.

What we have observed so far are campaigns of calumny. Campaigns where the candidates go to wash their slum linens before us. If we must agree, our political campaigns of late have been uncertain jamboree where our leaders descend into the gutters to bath with mud like pigs. Akwa Ibom people must look out for a governor who has programs he can handle and accomplish.

We will not only read about their points-agenda, we will expect them to reel to us how they would achieve their promises and within what space of time they would accomplish them.

As for any candidate that has been in the political space before his aspiration to be governor, we will consider how many years he has spent in government since 1999, we will consider what he has done in his immediate community in the number of years he has spent in government so far, what he has achieved in his Local Government Area of origin, and what contributions he has made to the development of our State. We will also seek to know how many people he has made relevant according to the number of years he has spent in government.

One mistake we must not allow as we approach the 2023 elections is that we must be focused on electing a politician who has been in the political space for a while and understands what the political administration of people means to human capital development.

We must understand how different the corporate world and its operations are from that of the political world. If anything, we ought to seek a leader who has proven his success in both worlds: a man who is a successful corporate player and also a political juggernaut.

We will also seek a Governor who would not be seeing an advantage in the zoning arrangement tolerated in the State. The next governor must be seen to be formidable, not one who would choose to hide under a clannish, separative, and childish considerations. His antecedents around zoning must show him off as liberal, collective and inclusive. Any candidate who preaches zoning as what will throw him up for political relevance is a weak but greedy leader.

The next governor must be one whose leadership outside political party spans the entire 31 LGAs in the State. I pray that Akwa Ibom State would be bequeathed with a Governor who would change the entire destiny of Akwa Ibom people, transforming the life of the average man and woman, young and old, women and youth in our State for the greatest goal.

Our decision on who would become the next governor of our State must go beyond seeking who the highest bidder is: this leads to our continuous servitude and the arrogance of individual imposition. We must say NO to imposition. Our leaders must also allow the candidates emerge by themselves. We must not allow selfish, greedy men to lead us any more by our noses.

Ini Akpan Morgan writes from Uyo, Nigeria. Send feedback to WhatsApp chat via +234 802 3671 979