Zoning: Governor’s Aide clears the air

Ini Ememobong

The Special Assistant  to Governor Udom Emmanuel on political matters comrade Ini Ememobong has cleared the air on the zoning of Governorship seat in Akwa Ibom State. Ememobong described it as the best for Akwa Ibom State and her politics. The political adviser also insisted that since Uyo and Ikot Ekpene Senatorial Districts have gotten their turn for eight years each, it is only right, fair and an answer to justice for the people of Eket Senatorial District to be allowed to produce a Governor for Akwa Ibom State and that Udom is presently the right man for the job.
The former NANS president in a message he signed personally and captioned Akwa Ibom State Governorship Seat: The Right and Reasonable Construction of Zoning, said in his piece that, ‘It is common knowledge that every environment/profession has its register(diction) and matters concerning that sphere are meant to be expressed in the appropriate register, for example, the tarred road upon which an aircraft rides on to take off is called a runway, while the road used by a motor vehicle is called a highway or street. Any attempt to mix the register will obviously create confusion. Additionally, every environment has its stratification and structure, under which things evolve or devolve. In Nigerian politics, the stratification is clearly stated in the grundnorm(Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria)- making provisions for constituencies from the highest being the presidency to the lowest being the ward. Linguistic delineation is a consideration when cultural or ethnic stratification is under review- it is not a political variable but clearly a cultural variable. It is therefore standing logic on its head to share political organs using cultural variables, we must call Bible things by Bible names.
More specifically put, we are all witnesses to the fact that the agitation for the Presidency of Nigeria has been a geo-political struggle, not ethnic. Some shallow minds may confuse this fact because of the cultural and linguistic homogeneity of all the geo-political zones except the south-south. They may see the agitation for a South-East Presidency as advocating Igbo presidency, No, nothing can be more false. Remember that the agitation for a south-south President was not an Ijaw, Ibibio or Itshekiri advocacy, rather that of the geo-political region(please note that the geo-political regions have been duly recognised in many Acts of the National Assembly).
Conversely, the constitution in Section 15(2) forbids the discrimination of people on the basis of sex, ethnicity, religion, race etc. Specifically it provides “..national integration shall be actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited”. Zoning a political office on linguistic basis is akin to discriminating against the other parts of the state because they do not speak a particular language. This same argument will also apply to zoning the Governorship seat on the basis of tribe, sex, tribe etc- variables that the constitution seeks to play down as a basis of sharing political offices. In protecting Federal Character, the constitution provides in Section 14(4)”
Ini Ememobong called on all lovers of justice to respect zoning of the governorship position in Akwa Ibom State.