For three years now, there has been an Udom Emmanuel that Akwa Ibom people longed to see. That Udom Emmanuel came to the fore at the Nest of Champions on Friday the 24th of August during the official declaration of His Excellency, Mr. Udom Emmanuel for second term as Governor. The Udom Emmanuel we saw on that stage is not the Udom Emmanuel we had always seen before now. This discovery pleased me so well that I noted it on my timeline while the event progressed. You see, politics in this clime is a game of intimidation and oftentimes those who are polite and courteous are often treated as weaklings and subjected to tyrannical acts by those who feel they are invincible.
Unfortunately, Governor Udom Emmanuel's humility and courteous disposition had written him off to some as a weakling. This stereotype was worsened by then Governor Akpabio's favourite 2015 campaign anthem which went thus:
"Who do you know. . .
I know
Who do you know . . .
I know
Godswill Akpabio
A great teacher . . .
Who taught Udom Emmanuel."
Each time then Governor Akpabio sang this song I and few discerning minds were able to decode the hidden message therein despite cheers and applause from the crowd. It was a clear message that Udom Emmanuel is a political neophyte, a message I did not really like. That song unknown to many, denigrated the Onna born financial expert and attempted to bestow a neophytic status on him, a stigma that had trailed him before now.
While attempting to show off himself as the strong man of Akwa Ibom politics who broke the jinx of having a successor, Senator Akpabio was knowingly or unknowingly painting a picture of a weak Udom Emmanuel who knows nothing about politics and leadership; a picture which made some people question the latter's political resolve and ability to make tough decisions when it matters most. This prompted the call by members of the opposition in the state for Gov. Udom Emmanuel to be his own man; a lamentation they now deny in furtherance of their hypocrisy. It was therefore pleasing to the eye when on Friday August 24, through his composure and aptly delivered speech Gov. Udom Emmanuel reassured his teeming supporters that he is incharge. Unknown to some, the Qua Iboe Deacon was his own man from the very beginning. They were just too blind to see.
The success of Gov. Udom Emmanuel's second term declaration has no doubt unsettled the opposition in the state, hence their reactionary activities of recent. They are now holding meetings, visiting one another's homes but placing the Holy Bible inbetween one another just in case. Beyond their laughter and hugs on camera, discerning minds can clearly see that their union is like a marriage of strange bed fellows.
I had always said that the 2019 general elections will no doubt be a very interesting one. More interesting will it be in Akwa Ibom based on recent developments and political indices. Make no mistake, Gov. Udom Emmanuel will win the 2019 gubernatorial polls. I am very sure of this. Members of the opposition are sure of this as well hence their 2019 election war plan subsumed under the infamous Warsaw speech delivered by Senator Akpabio in Enugu and subsequently in Ikot Ekpene. Sadly, Senator Akpabio's post defection utterances have written him off as one who is on a journey to infamy; a journey which will be hastened when he and his party suffers an abysmal failure in the 2019 polls.
His Warsaw threat clearly reveals a grand electoral heist orchestrated by the APC which they intend to foist on Akwa Ibom come 2019. These guys know so well that if election is conducted peacefully in Akwa Ibom State, Governor Udom Emmanuel will win squarely hence their plan to militarize the 2019 election in Akwa Ibom as was done in Ekiti State. They also know that they will not have 30,000 soldiers at their disposal due to security concerns across the nation especially in the north hence they intend to create crisis in Akwa Ibom State so that the election will be cancelled for security reasons and held on a separate day from the rest of the nation to enable them draft troops into the state and roll out the Ekiti treatment.
How do I know this? Any smart brain who pays close attention to the utterances of APC folks can simply add one and one together to arrive at the answer. Their activities since assumption of office at the centre also portrays them as a group of people who have absolutely no regards for democratic principles. Or how else did the Senator expect us to receive his statement that on election day Akwa Ibom will see Warsaw? The Warsaw encounter with Adolf Hitler is a very gory incident in the history of humanity. For Senator Akpabio to situate his argument on such premises, it speaks volumes of a man who can do anything and everything to get power, a man who has recently shown the world that he has absolutely no principles. In the life of every man there must be something worth living for and dying for if necessary. Men who fail to uphold this creed usually belong to the black books of history. Sadly our man has chosen to append his name and signature on one of its pages.
Their plan to manipulate the polls through INEC has already failed as Mike Igiri, Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Akwa Ibom State had reemphasized in a recently held stakeholders' meeting that he will conduct credible elections in Akwa Ibom State. He advised politicians to engage the electorates within legal prescriptions for votes because electoral manipulation will not work in Akwa Ibom as long as he remains INEC REC.
In the light of this, they are allegedly making plans to have the State INEC Boss changed weeks to the election. As part of their offensive on Akwa Ibom, they also intend to have the Commissioner of Police replaced as well as Heads of Security establishments in the state. There is also an alleged plan to cordon off Udo Udoma Avenue which houses the State INEC headquarters on election day as only APC agents will be allowed to access the premises for collation of votes such as was allegedly done in Ekiti. The siting of the Headquarters of 2Div. of the Nigerian Army on that same road has been interpreted by some as a covert strategy to easily draft soldiers to carry out the Udo Udoma blockade.
As I surmise I ask: can man play god? Proverbs 19: 21 answers this question aptly thus:
"There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand." (KJV)
Thank you for reading.
Comrade Ubon Marcus,
August 26, 2018.
(Ubon Marcus is a critical thinker and writes from Ikot Udoabia in Etinan)
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