That Tribunal ruling and elders battle

Gov. Udom Emmanuel

The tribunal has upheld its earlier ruling to move the Election Tribunal for Akwa Ibom State in spite of and despite the wild exchange of brickbats, vile infested accusations and supremacy battle orchestrated by our ‘elders’ recently. Some two weeks back, it was fireworks from these men and women who tried to make us understand who truly an elder is. While they laboured for right of space, power and authority, we were confused.  Not a few people were taken aback by the ensuing supremacy battle. They came out smoking on all cylinders. Their posture exemplified George Orwell’s Animal Farm where some animals are equal but some are more equal than others.

That is what they were fighting for and almost baying for blood but then, it has gone in the direction of one section and am just wondering now, who truly is an elder in this whole drama. You may not have really taken note of what this piece is trying to establish but I am moved to pen these lines because the seeming drama evoked diverse feelings from the public and keen followers of the political temperature of Akwa Ibom State. For yours truly, immediately a rejoinder came from another group of elders, I laughed out loud. It quickly evoked humour in me. I enjoyed it to no end. I perused it with meticulous relish the same way i feasted on the first one.  Long story short, with Obong Umana Okon Umana and the All Progressives Congress (APC) still contesting the victory of Governor Udom Emmanuel at the tribunal and PDP maintaining stoical deportment while luxuriating in its April 11 triumph at the polls, different twists and turns have continued to be introduced to the ones that already existed.

Sunny Jackson

I don’t want to bore you with stories, blackmails, accusations and counter accusations that have filled the political space since APC vowed to challenge PDP’s victory at the tribunal because in the politics of Akwa Ibom, making a meal of everything is a pastime. Those in one camp will say everything to ensure they are not defeated in the battle of rhetoric. Those in the opposing camp, in turn, will never be found wanting. No way. They will argue their points with all the strength they can muster. These are tales one hears in beer parlous, palm wine joints, barbing saloons, street corners and such other places every other day. Have you been to Ibom Plaza recently especially during day time? You need to pass by or just go there and stick around, I bet you’ll be amazed by the number of people, both young, old and the not too old who besiege the newsstands stealing a look at the day’s News Papers. 

These persons want to know what is happening in the society, the latest developments but they are perhaps constrained by money and then resort to just peeping.  As they peep, others are attracted and before one says Jack, a crowd gathers and one begins to hear news items, some, out rightly bazaar, others, nonexistent while some are not just ridiculous but bear all the marks of falsehood and often smacks of a well crafted fairytale. Those who know always laugh themselves silly while those who glory on hearsays assimilate the tales hook, line and sinker. They believe everything without even getting to know if what they have been told has any atom of truth or not. No. what they do at such times, especially when they are carried away is to fold their arms, others watch with arms akimbo while another group, held spell bound by the ‘news caster,’ looks on with mouth agape. Leaving there, they take the tale elsewhere and broadcast same exactly how they were told and if they want to mesmerise their curious listeners, what they do is add some spice to make the tale sweeter and flowery such that the person(s) they are ‘feeding’ won’t have any reason to suspect anything funny or false about the news they are spreading with gay flourish. 

Don Etiebiet

From there, it spreads. Rumour they say, has no legs but walks very fast.  Before the first carrier of the news realises the true state of things and makes spirited efforts to pass the correct stuff around, the fake one had already gone far, very far such that when another version to what was earlier circulated as true comes out, hardly does it strike any chord with the people because the first one had done irreparable damage. That’s how news spreads here. It does so like wild fire and is always couched in such a way that makes it hard for one not to believe. What do you make of your neighbour shouting to the high heavens in the wee hours of the day, wakes others from their sleep and when one manages to force a word from his/her mouth, what you’ll hear will shock you to your bones. You may hear that a certain governor was given 24 lashes of cane for failing to present his daughter for marriage. Or, you’ll be told that a certain senior citizen somewhere who had looted the state blind has been arrested, beaten and made to walk on his knees round the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport before high net worth individuals, including foreigners and will later in the day be tied round the sun and will remain there for two weeks or more.  News like the above excites our people. That’s what they want to hear. Bad news.

 In such places, one is fed with a cocktail of news stories. Some will tell you the last time they had a one on one meeting with Umana Okon Umana, the type of shoe he wore that day, the colour of fez cap he used and all that. Another will step forward, this time, speaking with so much confidence, will tell those who care to pay attention that he lives just opposite the State APC Chairman hence can authoritatively assert, without any fear of contradiction that Dr. Amadu Attai was in a crucial meeting with president Muhammadu Buhari the other day and that he was privy to their kernel of discourse.

Umana Umana

Going further, the fellow, who at this point have been surrounded by curious news hunters and those who want to be kept abreast with events in the political milieu of the state and sometimes, Nigeria fires on with scant abandon, feeding the public with all manner of cock and bull stories. But do you really blame them? Not really because that’s what the public wants to hear. That’s why fake news sells here. When you write that one big man has fallen sick or a high society lady has been stripped in the market square for shoplifting, a crowd gathers. The news becomes the topic of discourse everywhere, school, eateries, saloons etc.  Political commentators are gifted in the art of twisting news here. When it is black, they say it is white; another group gives you a thousand and one reasons it is truly green leaving you on the horns of dilemma as to who to believe. We want to be politically aware but we don’t want to take the trouble of finding out what is really the truth before jumping on the rooftops.

To the nub of this piece, some elders came out the other day bearing the appellation, “Concerned elders/leaders of Akwa Ibom State and condemning the relocation of the tribunal from Uyo to Abuja. The group of these ‘concerned’ elders, led by Senator Anietie Okon came out in full throttle against the decision to take the case away from the shores of the state to Abuja even when that is not where the said election held but Akwa Ibom. In condemning the action as purportedly fuelled by the APC, the concerned elders noted that the decision is in bad fate and a well calculated plot to skew the case in favour of APC. They spared no words in expressing how serious they were in the matter. All adjectives were employed. They were angry. To them, it was a sinister game crafted by APC in collaboration with some powerful forces in the country to subvert the wishes of Akwa Ibom people by upturning the victory of Udom Emmanuel.

They asserted, with an air of authoritative finality that the relocation is for political reasons and all of that. While APC had adduced reasons for the relocation which they stated bordered on insecurity in the state, PDP thugs invading tribunal premises in over 20 buses to cause mayhem, disrupt proceedings and unleash terror on members of the APC and its witnesses, the ‘concerned’ elders kicked. They denied it root, stem and branches. They averred that there was no security threat whatsoever in the state and dismissed APC’s claim as fictitious and figment of their imaginations. They maintained their stance and stood stoutly against the relocation. They were not at ease with the reasons advanced by the APC. So, nothing was good enough to make them budge. To Senator Okon and his ‘concerned’ elders, the relocation of the case is an attempt to thwart the smooth running of the process. While the ink with which they expressed their dissatisfaction with the relocation of the tribunal from Uyo to Abuja was yet to dry, another group of elders came out boiling with rage and angst. This time, it was another appellation that sent me laughing almost loosely, but I did not allow emotions get the better of me. 

It’s a funny moniker, yes, that’s my opinion. The ‘real’ elders/leaders of Akwa Ibom State was their own identity.  They countered everything the other ‘concerned’ elders said. Both camps’ position contradicted one another. They did not gel. No unison. No oneness. The ‘real’ elders frowned at the Senator Anietie Okon’s led ‘concerned’ elders’ position which bordered on the relocation of the tribunal to the FCT, but to the real elders, none of the claim by the other elders was true. They considered their ranting as those afraid of justice having seen that there’s no hiding place for them. It was counter accusations and exchange of intellect, sense of history and what have you. Adding another feather to its banner, the real elders said as ‘patriotic’ elders, they want to make it abundantly clear that the claims by the ‘concerned’ elders that there was no security threats in Akwa Ibom state was false and hard no bearing hence no individual with his right senses should believe the tale.

The ‘real’ elders, led by Atuekong Don Etiebet noted that there’s no basis to express fear since the PDP won the election, adding that wherever the tribunal is located, they will still be victorious if indeed they won the polls as INEC affirmed. But that, to the ‘concerned’ elders, it’s a big lie, they insist the relocation is a grand plan by the APC led Federal Government to manipulate the court processes in favour of its party. That’s what they believe and you can’t fault them since they know the enormous powers a Nigerian president wields. In Nigeria, the belief is that the president’s word is law. The president, we believe can seat in his office and dictate the direction the country should go. It’s true. So, it is understandable when some people are afraid that a case that would have been heard in Uyo has been taken to Abuja, Moreso as that’s the seat of the president.

So, the thinking is that, the president has the power to influence things especially when his party is involved. Really?  So, does it mean ex president Goodluck Ebele Jonathan used his office to influence cases like this for his party?  Could that account for the fear that same may be obtained now that another person is in the saddle? Well, the picture will become clearer in the coming days. But Buhari cannot afford to meddle in this one having been aloof in the National Assembly leadership. That’s what we expect since he is out to kill corruption before it kills Nigeria. And he also said he belongs to everybody and nobody; will he betray that assertion? Nigerians are watching with keen interest.

 For the elders, the only thing that unites them is that they are all elders but the difference is that while one group are real elders/leaders, the others are ‘concerned’ elders. What coursed through my mind was legion. What features makes up an elder? Are they those with numerous grey hairs or one that knows history at the tip of his fingers? Could it be one that still dresses youthfully and wears what is in vogue among the guys? Sags, wears big jeans, and all that? I can’t really figure this one out immediately but maybe, we will be able to ascertain who truly an elder is with the passage of time! What do you think?