By Chief Edet Edubio
Your Excellency,
*Preambles*
I feel so proud that your determination to make our dear state a reference point for the right reasons has paid off, and everyone now cites Akwa Ibom under your leadership as a model of good governance.
For those of us who have lived in the state since its creation in 1987, it is worth mentioning that if successive administrations had half attempted deliberately to transform the state, we would today be ranked among the best cities in the world.
Everyone, especially visitors who throng the state now to see things for themselves, have positive remarks about you, and all forms of conferences and annual general meetings have found their way to Uyo, the state capital.
To cap it all, other governors in your great party have crowned you as their best, leading to your emergence as the pioneer chairman of the PDP Governors’ Forum.
As pioneer Chairman of the forum, I am happy because you have spoken extensively against *treachery and emergence of Judases within the Peoples Democratic Party*.
According to you, the challenges confronting the ruling party forced the leadership to look inwards and put its house in order, stressing that the party never envisaged such challenges in the 14 years of its existence. In your words, “We will put our heads together in the PDP Governors’ Forum to promote the unity and progress of the party”. This is a wise decision, just as Abraham Lincoln said years ago, “a house divided against itself cannot stand.”
I am sure that your emergence, was among other things, to ensure that relative peace was harnessed between the national assembly and the presidency; it was also to look into ways of ensuring that PDP controlled states were devoid of disunity and rancor that could possibly lead to their being threatened by the coalition of opposition parties now known as APC.
In writing this goodwill message, I am compelled to cite the Muslim Sunnah (c. 800): “A man’s first charity should be to his own family.” Your Excellency, all is not well with our own dear Akwa Ibom State.
The Peoples Democratic Party, of which you are a Board of Trustees member, has made it categorically clear that zoning of political offices is sacrosanct in order to maintain unity, progress and growth of ‘the largest political party in Africa’.
*Background to the Problem:*
It is an established fact that one of the key factors that has greatly enabled your party to firmly hold on to the leadership position of the country has been its unyielding confidence in the principle of zoning, since its birth in 1998.
In Akwa Ibom State, the story has not been different either.
For those of us who have followed the party’s evolution since inception, we can recount that in 1998, a PDP governorship panel headed by Dr Chuba Okadigbo (peace on his ashes) arrived Uyo to conduct a governorship primaries ahead of the general elections. After over four hours of deliberation at the now defunct Metro Hotel, the state leadership of the party, through the instrumentality of Atuekong Don Etiebet came to a conclusion that Uyo senatorial district should be allowed to complete her tenure which had started during the administration of Obong Akpan Isemin in the aborted third republic. According to the elders, Obong Isemin of Uyo Senatorial District didn’t complete his tenure, and as such, another indigene from the district be supported. Also it was argued that Uyo is home of the headquarters of the State government, making it expedient for them to have the first full shot at the position.
And so the elders from Eket Senatorial District after examining the issues raised agreed with the arrangement and as a sign of their endorsement of zoning, the Eket Senatorial District elders at that minute urged their son Chief Benjamin Okoko to step down. As a result of that concession, there was no primary election, as Obong Victor Attah of Uyo Senatorial District emerged as the consensus candidate of the PDP enroute winning the election for a full term of eight years.
My dear Governor, as a key member of the Attah administration, you are aware that Obong Attah towards the end of his tenure (this same period), graciously announced publicly that power should move to Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District. These declarations were done at all available fora such as the PDP caucus meeting in Uyo, and at Ibom Hall and the Gagara Hall in Ikot Ekpene. It is no gainsaying that these great leadership posture of Obong Attah, made it a lot easier for people to see the direction he was going. And for the first time in her history, all the local governments in Ikot Ekpene Senatorial district fielded aspirants for the governorship election in 2007, numbering well over 60, while four other aspirants came from the other parts of the state. The four aspirants Larry Esin from Oron, Nsima Ekere from Ikot Abasi and Okon Inwang from Uyo and Sam Udonsak from Eket. However Akwa Ibom people kept faith with their then Governor Attah’s pronouncement for power to be shifted to Ikot Ekpene, and from the arrays of aspirants it was a lot easier for your emergence as the governor during that tortuous gubernatorial primaries at Ibom Hall ground in Uyo.
Coincidentally, at the time of taking this great decision, Obong Attah was the chairman of the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF), and received huge commendations for blazing the trail in leadership. As noted by all, no serious politician from the other senatorial districts came out from the PDP to contest in the
2007 governorship election, and all members of the State executive council, obeyed their principal and supported power shift to Ikot Ekpene senatorial district. This is why the only executive council members who contested, came from Ikot Ekpene senatorial district – that is your humble self and Dr Udoma Bob Ekarika.
Today, history has again repeated itself with your emergence as the Chairman of the brand new PDP Governors’ Forum, and the need for you to set an example by declaring clearly your stand on zoning, as regards the 2015 governorship election in your home state. *Last year, Governor Liyel Imoke of Cross River State who is the chairman of the South South Governor’s Forum made it clear that in line with the zoning principle of his party, the next Governor of Cross River State will as a matter of priority emerge from the Northern Cross River State**.* At an interaction with journalists in Calabar last September, the governor in a rare feat and apparently demonstrating his political muscle, pronounced Cross River North Senatorial district as the zone to produce his successor; a decision that received the accolades of party faithful in that state- and as all have noticed, there is relative peace in Cross River State, despite the absence of the incumbent governor for a long period for medical treatment. *In Anambra State, the Governor, Mr. Peter Obi has been hailed for zoning the governorship position in 2014 to the North Senatorial Zone in the state.
*Since the creation of Anambra in 1991, the zone has not produced the governor of the state, while the South and Central zones had produced six governors.
Similarly, in Akwa Ibom State, the Eket Senatorial District is the largest senatorial district and also accounts for the vast natural oil wealth that makes Akwa Ibom the highest oil revenue earner in the country. It is saddening that from creation, the district has not had a chance of leading the state. It is situations like this that give credence to the postulation by Gaius Sallustius Crispus that, “By union the smallest states thrive. By discord the greatest are destroyed.” We are excited that you have been selected to lead every other PDP governor, but then, the exemplary requisites of your office is also beckoning. *For the entire country will now be on the watch to see if you are ready to uphold the zoning principle as enshrined in Article 7(2)(c) of the Constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party which provides: *“In pursuance of the principles of equity, justice and fairness, the Party shall adhere to the Policy of rotation and zoning of Party and Public elective offices and it shall be enforced by the appropriate executive committee at all levels.”
*Conclusion**:
*Although you have not made any committal remark to buttress your stand as it concerns the 2015 governorship seat in Akwa Ibom, your body language tends to suggest that you have anointed your Secretary to State Government, Mr Umana Okon Umana as your successor, despite the fact that he is from Uyo Senatorial District. Those close to you have said that your decision to support him is because there is no credible candidate in Eket Senatorial District. Your Excellency, to dispel this allegation and to prove your position as an astute democrat, the simple solution is for you to immediately declare your stand, and call your employee and personal staff (Mr Umana Umana) to order as his open campaign is gradually splitting the state. Even before the campaign for your successor is flagged off, Umana has abandoned his duty post to run around the state soliciting for support for an election he is not qualified to run. Just as Gaius Sallustius is quoted above, your achievements and records can easily be eroded by the scuffle that will ensue if this anomaly is not addressed immediately.
Remember the simple advice of Abraham Lincoln that “No man is good enough to govern another man without the other’s consent<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abrahamlin105434.html>,”
and kindly ensure the unity of the state is strengthened by encouraging the upholding of zoning in your state.
All your colleagues and critics within and outside the country are watching the developments in your home state and waiting for the time you will beat your chest in Abuja as the chairman of the Governors’ forum and say like Abdelaziz Bouteflika
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/abdelaziz_bouteflika.html>,
“I have reaffirmed my political will to work towards national unity.
<http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/a/abdelazizb192931.html>”
*Chief Edubio, a retired civil servant writes in from Ijesha, Lagos*