"Truth is, neither Ekpeyong nor Uwah cuts a saintly portrait even though both men aren’t unsuitable as candidates for the House of Reps job. At the end, maybe, Uyo PDP will settle for one with lesser flaws. With its new identity as the recalcitrant city of Akwa Ibom State – the bride of opposition and the possible spread of the virus to its near-neighbours, the general election will be just another hurdle"
Another massive sign that the two have become so estranged occurred ‘silently’ during the child dedication of the secretary of Uyo Local Government Council at Insight Bible Church - pastored by the charismatic Dr. Sylvanus Ukafia whose trademark humility is highly contagious.
Both use to be good friends or so they pretended and their people believed them. Funny enough, the two themselves even believed they were friends. It seems politics was what joined them together in unholy matrimony and politics, it is, that has blown them apart. That their relationship has fallen apart is no surprise. In Nigeria, it is only a surprise if a political beneficiary remains loyal to his benefactor while his/her tenure lasts.
Treachery is the rule of the game. Duplicity is the order of the day in politics. And then revenge becomes the only sweet smelling drink to quench the ‘thirst’. For men, according to a quote ‘are more willing to repay an injury than a benefit; for gratitude is a burden and revenge a pleasure’. Obasanjo and IBB, Atiku and Obasanjo, Amaechi and Odili, Theodore Orji and Uzor Kalu, Jonathan and OBJ, etc are ready reminders. I could go on with the instances.
Unless events towards who should fly the PDP’s flag for Uyo Federal House take a new turn, there is little doubt that as the countdown to the 2015 elections begin, Uyo will be engulfed in a consuming political furnace which red coals have already been stoked by the clashed interests of Ekerete Ekpeyong and Enobong Uwah – two of its most ‘active’ gladiators at the moment. And we don’t expect events in that regards to take a new turn by the way. The two guys are far gone and way deep in their green chamber ambition and none seems likely to concede space in the battle for supremacy. It is easy to predict that concession of any kind will only be forced upon one of the egos when it would have been badly bruised after the delegates’ election. Then would Uyo get a clear message on where the power house is. Of course, that is assuming the new merger party, APC, which the defunct ACN is now a lifeless component of, doesn’t upturn the existing order.
With the PDP now dangerously divided against itself with parallel national executives and each laying claim to legitimacy by the dictates of their conscience, there is growing confidence within the opposition that the ruling party can be muscled out of power. I can safely predict a repeat of the event of 2011 for Uyo Federal House election in 2015 when Ekere Afia’s candidacy was too bitter a meat for the sauce.
Ekerete Ekpeyong, then serving as Uyo Council transition chair was helped to his present status as ‘full-fledged’ council helmsman by Enobong Uwah who apparently had the nod of the governor in the composition of the party structure in Uyo. The understanding (term of condition should be a better phrase) for allowing Ekpeyong ahead of Anietie Eka to enjoy a jolly good ride in his Limousine of party structure to the Barracks road near-end, as leaked, unwritten though, from Uwah was ‘thou shall support me for House of Representatives in 2015’.
The Uyo council boss, obviously guided by his immediate ambition rather than on principle consented and acceded to Uwah’s term. Uwah held the cards, he was in charge. His term(s) couldn’t be argued. It couldn’t even be negotiated. Doing either was not just a risk. It was too high a risk to take. It could mean the dead end of the ‘full-fledge’ chairmanship dream. So he acted smart and agreed to it in toto. He played the yoyo and didn’t care if he was zombified. It was worth a chairmanship seat. A deal was struck and the partying began. Less than a year into his new political status, the party like most other has suffered a bitter ending. ‘The Man’ has become a man of his own. He has assumed his own identity, shrinking off any correlative definition of him. He is his own boss, not a boss under a boss. The pie is too juicy to end its baking just after three tears in council; it will even be juicier in the Green Chamber. Is Uwah not enjoying the same pie in his current office, the Uyo Council helmsman must be wondering - so why retire ‘just like that’ when it is a 50:50 chance and can comfortably slug it out?
Ekpeyong is ready to do battle; so his lieutenants say. Can one blame them? Never! It is a society where we all speak for where we get our bread from, more so, when it is buttered bread. No judgement, our economy, better still, our leaders carry the blame.
Can Ekpeyong be pronounced ‘truly guilty’? I wouldn’t think. Human existence is open to alternative. It is the constancy of change, in obedience to the pull of one of nature’s foremost laws. If vows exchanged between man and wife to signal the supposed bliss of marriage are broken after years of conjugal intimacy, then pacts sign on the table of politics aren’t meant to be honoured. It is sad though that in politics, we can’t genuinely point to someone who can make his word his bond. Maybe there is! Maybe that someone exists in the skies.
Ekerete Ekpeyong seems to have found an arsenal in Enefiok Ekefre – a name certainly not after Uwah’s heart. Ekefre still sees the commissioner as a usurper, a ‘small boy’. He has since assumed that for playing the devil’s advocate in 2011, it should have been him and not him. He thinks 2015 will be a good payback time for the ‘insult’. The pioneer Uyo PDP chapter chairman has been busy endorsing the ‘good works’ of the chairman and speaking highly of him. It is crystal clear what should be expected in the days ahead.
Can Uwah pull through when the time comes? Will he? Someone who should know say the commissioner’s undoing has been ‘creating a feeling of insignificance among the people while burying himself in the comfort of his fortress’. Another tragic lesson! Do they ever learn? It is a situation sources claim Ekpeyong has smartly exploited.
Truth is, neither Ekpeyong nor Uwah cuts a saintly portrait even though both men aren’t unsuitable as candidates for the House of Reps job. At the end, maybe, Uyo PDP will settle for one with lesser flaws. With its new identity as the recalcitrant city of Akwa Ibom State – the bride of opposition and the possible spread of the virus to its near-neighbours, the general election will be just another hurdle. We can expect another interesting election year in Uyo, for Uyo Federal House if nowhere else.
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