Akwa Ibom State rerun & the APC

BY OKPO EWA

When Jesus Christ prophesied about  bringing down the temple and rebuilding it in three days to a greater glory the Jews in their pedestal understanding considered him a threat to national security and economy because they did not understand how just one man would bring down a temple that took hundreds of men years to build only to rebuild a greater one in three days! Absolute balderdash! 

But the Messiah was actually referring to a Messiac Temple. This is analogous to what happened not long ago in Akwa Ibom state when Bishop David Oyedepo, the General Overseer of Living Faith Church aka Winners’ Chapel referred to the Supreme Court’s judgment on the governorship election in Akwa Ibom State as “victory of light over darkness” and the APC fanatics like the pedestal minded Jews in Jesus’ time went berserk against the minister of God instead of actually discerning the wisdom in his pronouncement. 

In fact, one of my very intelligent friend and brother went the extra mile in his pasquinade blaring that it was very wrong of the Bishop to refer to  Umana Okon Umana as darkness when even Umana’s wife was a minister at shiloh! Please forgive his risible ecclesiastical ignominy. Umana Okon Umana’s wife minister in Shiloh where all the so called big men of God in Akwa Ibom and Cross River State put together have not gotten the privilege let alone a mere titular cleric from a small branch of RCCG some where very far from Canaan land? That, however, is not our topic of discussion today. It never should be.

Now, was the man of God wrong? Is there anything that happens in this world without God’s approval? Can anything or person surprise God? How is it that God would let Umana Okon Umana dissipate so much time, wealth and other resources just for the mere purpose of being “A Governor Akwa Ibom never had?” 

This reminds me of the title of a novel I once came across some years ago and it reads “Not Me. Perhaps My Character.”

So, maybe it is not Umana Okon Umana who is “darkness” but his character. Yes, the character here is in the allegation that one uses his position in public office to intimidate people out of their homes so as to use their collective lands to build a mansion equaling the government house of the state and surpassing that of so many states. 

Perhaps it was the fear of this character that made the voters in that ward vote massively against him. Yes, nobody rigged in Ewet Housing Estate that’s if at all Udom really rigged his way into the Hilltop Mansion as some claim. How does one rig where powerful and enlightened elites vote? Possibly, they voted against their neighbour because of the character they fear not him.

Another example of this character is in the report that the four APC candidates for the house of assembly rerun had immediately the Re-run calendar was released consulted their Governor hopeful for financial support so as to enable them kick off campaigns only for him to ask them to wait till after the supreme court judgment so that their campaign would be a tsunami but when they returned with their request after the judgment His Excellency, their “Governor Hopeful Emeritus” blatantly told them that even their entire entitlements in the house of assembly for ten years will never make up a tenth of what he lost from his pre-primary days in people’s democratic party (PDP) to the supreme court judgment and for that reason it would be another waste of resources to invest a dime on them! Wow! Impossible right? I do not believe this report either. But if it were true, would that be politics or business talking? Ordinarily, one would have expected Obong Umana Okon Umana to despite his loss at the polls and court pump in all the influence and support possible to grab these four seats instead of indulging in “fulfill all righteousness rituals” of mere accompanying the candidates to late campaign rallies. Imagine what having four law makers including the extant sole opposition law maker to one’s political quiver could do? In a house of 26 members 5 opposition members are no doubt a formidable team considering the fact that not all the other 21 would all be present at every plenary. It would make a very good base for him to start working towards 2019. But then, his character and body movement opted otherwise.

It is this character that is to be held responsible for the dismal performance of the APC in the just concluded rerun to refill the four vacant house of assembly seats such that one of the APC candidates openly stepped down on the eve of the polls and equally announced his resignation from the party giving PDP a walk over in Oron/Udung Uko state constituency rerun. In Ikot Ekpene/Obot Akara State Constituency the APC candidate is reported to have surrendered towards the end of the voting. And nothing spectacular happened for the APC in the other two constituencies. 

Alas, the blame cannot be on Victor Ini Okon aka Swagger for stepping down in the Oron/Udung Uko state constituency race despite his popularity. If the shepherd abandons the flocks what other choice is left for the flocks than to be scattered? Some have even accused the APC candidates of collecting monies to sell their votes but nobody is asking why they were put in such position in the first place. What could they have possibly desired that Umana Okon Umana could not have arranged for them? Maybe this Umana is not even taken seriously by “the Ogas at the top” in APC and if so could it still be his character?  

Peradventure, this is why the Abuja front of APC is being rumoured as already prepping Sen. Udo Udoma/ Sen. Ita Enang for 2019.

But these are mere presumptions and rumors innit? Perhaps we should consider the fact that Nigerians in Akwa Ibom state have been buying fuel at N130 per liter since October last year and Umana Okon Umana as a good man that they want us to believe him to be has never ordered his filling stations to sell at a lesser price. Of course, he feared he was going to lose at the Supreme Court little wonder he did not even dare it as a political stunt. A simple gesture that Omisore is doing to palliate the hardship for the people of Osun state whose APC governor is owing over two years salary. 

Be that as it may, this very character challenge accounts for why some of the politically enlightened people from the Oro nation found it difficult to trust the one man who went out of his way to scheme out all Oro sons that could have gotten the governorship ticket in PDP only for him to leave PDP for APC when he was equally outsmarted. According to them, after his successful heist of the governorship ticket at APC, (as Sen. Udoedeghe claims and is already in court to so prove) he imported an Oro man from Abuja to deputize him instead of asking Oro people to select a deputy amongst themselves or better still in his imperious nature ask the Oro sons who claim he schemed them out in PDP yet followed him to APC to nominate one among themselves. 

And this cost him the illusive bloc votes from Oro nation. In fact, some have bet the stars that come 2019 Obong Umana Okon Umana will still not support an Oro son to wear the cap. Why must it always be this good man- Umana Okon Umana? They query. No doubt, this is where Deac. Udom prevails over Obong Umana. The bad man does not even seem interested in power yet he is the one chosen like young rudy David who was called from the woods and ordained with power.

Today, Obong Umana Okon Umana apart from being accused of still being chauffeured in government plated chariots flies private jets and when he is on land his Praetorian protocols make access to him impossible while a sitting Governor in Ekiti state is busy eating at public Bukas and riding commercial motorcycles to commission projects.

The truth is Obong Umana Okon Umana is a good man but too many things around him suggest the contrary. So one must be careful in his dealings with him. Like a notorious con man would put “I trust every man, it’s just the devil in them that I do not trust.” I also trust Umana Okon Umana it is the devil him that I will never trust my vote with and for that it is only meet that we bid Akwa Ibom APC rest in peace.