Akwa Ibom Goes APC as Jonathan Blunders By Dele Sobowale

"The climax of every tragedy lies in the deafness of its heroes.”

(VANGUARD BOOK OF QUOTATIONS p90).

Nothing is more pathetic that when a contestant, out of hubris, and refusal to listen to all sides, loses a contest he should have won easily. President Goodluck Jonathan had just handed over Akwa Ibom State to the All Progressive Congress – on a silver platter.

APC, which did not exist, until September or October last year, has now captured the state by becoming the party of the majority ethnic group as well as several top level politicians representing all the ethnic groups.

In fact, there is probably no single politician, alive today, who was among the founding fathers of the PDP in Akwa Ibom, who is with the party any more. They have been humiliated and pushed out of the party while President Jonathan did nothing in four years to bring about reconciliation. His total dependence on Governor Godswill Akpabio will cost him dearly. He can now remove AKS from the list of states he hopes will vote for him in February.

But, the President was warned. Long before it was clear who the APC candidate would be and in two separate articles written on this page (AKS 2015: IBIBIOS HOLD THE ACES, January 2014 and AKS 2015: JONATHAN VERSUS AKPABIO) I warned the President that the Ibibio people who constitute about sixty eight per cent of voters in Akwa Ibom State have turned their backs on Governor Akpabio and they would not vote for any candidate supported by the Governor. On each occasion, I had advised the President to open an avenue of communication with the leaders of Ibibio. Obviously, he must have been persuaded that the governor can alone deliver the state. And, he demonstrated that belief in many ways.

Recently, the G-22, the group of twenty-two PDP contestants for governor on the PDP ticket, who felt aggrieved by the conduct of the primaries, spent a week in Abuja trying to meet with the President. They waited in vain. These are community leaders in Ibibioland. They were not alone. None of the founding fathers of PDP, Ibibio, Anang and Oron, in Akwa Ibom State had been given an appointment with Jonathan. Out of frustration they have now thrown their support to Umana Umana – the APC candidate who is now the leading candidate by far.

Last week, I sneaked into Akwa Ibom State, with two people to find out the relative strength of the candidates and surprisingly it was not even close. About seventy per cent of those polled will definitely vote for Umana O Umana; nine per cent are undecided. Incidentally, Mr Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, the PDP candidate, is well-liked and would have done better on his own. Personally, I think Akwa Ibom is fortunate to have two such excellent candidates running for an office which would benefit from the financial discipline which had been lacking since 2007.

But, objectively Umana is the best choice at this time. Emmanuel’s godfather and his godmother (the Governor’s wife), have given him the kiss of death. The situation was made much worse when Akpabio compared his wife with Mother Theresa. For AKS, a predominantly Catholic state, that was one more insult the people will not accept from the outgoing governor.

President Jonathan has been placed in this embarrassing situation because he had closed every other avenue of communication with the political class in the State – he became a captive of Akpabio. Perhaps, Jonathan would have believed me if in those articles I had called him “Almighty” before going on to give unsolicited advice. He and his close political associates, in transient possession of power, apparently love those who flatter their illusions of deity. He will pay dearly for it.

One day, Jonathan will understand that “The yes-man is the enemy; your friend will argue with you; even fight with you”. (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn). When Dr Alex Ekwueme, the father of PDP, lamented that the PDP had been hijacked by people who don’t believe in its principles; he was saying the same thing as the current Chairman of the PDP, Mu’Azu, who cried out that the PDP had become a party of monkey work baboon chop. Both are decrying lack of justice and a government which has turned democracy into “government of the one per cent by the one per cent and for the one per cent”. And, the one per cent doesn’t give a damn about the ninety-nine per cent.

People who don’t know Akwa Ibom State very well labour under illusions of progress which has not been achieved. There is a thin, but firm line, between a wise investor and a wastrel. The investor seeks sustainability; the wastrel seeks cheap popularity and having achieved it wants to cover his tracks by imposing successors. The people of Akwa Ibom are saying NO! – loud and clear. It is a pity Jonathan is caught in this. But, he was warned – right on this page.

MORE AUSTERITY MEASURES COMING

Okonjo-Iweala, Federal Minister of Finance.

The Minister said this at the launch of Action 2015 when she had a dialogue with children. Just as well. No adults with their heads screwed on straight would waste their time attending a meeting to be told the obvious. What people want to know from our World Bank economist is how to survive the calamity!!!