Last week, a group called Akwa Ibom Consolidation Assembly which worked for the election of Governor Emmanuel Udom expressed reservations over alleged exclusion of one of their own from the list of commissioner nominees by the governor and planned a protest in Abuja to register their dissatisfaction. However Chief Ini Akpabio, chairman of the Elders Forum of the group and CEO of Nanet Group intervention saved the situation. He spoke with EMEKA NZE on the development.
The group of AkwaIbom residents in Abuja wanted to protest over their non- inclusion in the recent appointment by the state governor and you decided to intervene because of the contributions ACA made during the elections. Why have you resolved to be a peace maker?
First of all, there was never a war to call for peacemaking; I am not acting as peacemaker but as a mature person. Secondly, we are all indigenes of AkwaIbom state; we must go beyond what we call selection. I want to state clearly and with emphasis. There are some countries like the USA which had George Bush as the President, his son George Bush Jnr. as President and now Ged Bush, another son of his is going for presidency and nobody in America has shouted, “why should it be the same family?” What Americans are considering is the person’s ability to deliver on leadership for the benefits of the totality of all.
So I said we should not be parochial in our feeling in whatever happens in the selection of persons to fill the positions in the state. What is important is that everybody should be a watchdog, whether you reside in the Northern part of the country, Abuja, Lagos or Port Harcourt. Whosoever the State governor deems fit, what we expect of them is to deliver not to their community or constituencies but to the generality of Akwaibomites.
How long are you going to persuade them to keep waiting if the government fails to heed to their appeal to allow them also benefit from the appointments because they seemed very sad at the development?
As elders and leaders of the people in different parts of the country from different constituencies in the state, I will always interacts with them to find out what whether their desires are met, if they are not met, as facilitators, we will go back to the state and find the most mature possible way to tell the government that the people felt disenfranchised and if not addressed might not spell well for you. We will continue act as peace makers (to borrow from your word)and facilitators, because there is no perfect system in life, even in the family of children, father is always accused of favoritism which may cause the first child to act as a mediator and ensures all the children are equally treated.
We will continue to dialogue on that unless and until it hasn’t happened and we find out that there is a very clear case of discrimination, a clear case of our people having been forgotten, we can move on and take certain decision to show that we can’t stomach them anymore. But please we have not reached that level at all, don’t forget that this is a government that is not even up to two months old, even the federal government has not acted as much as the state government and the government has not fallen into disarray.
During the electioneering, there were promises made, do you still have the confidence that Udom’s government is capable of keeping the promises given this early signs of not going to satisfy the people?
There was no promise. Any government that has come into power comes because the people who voted felt that their manifestos are agreeable.
I happened to be part of group of stakeholders. If we did not agree with the PDP, we would have voted for APC. So the answer to your question, democracy means that the majority takes a decision. The majority decided on Udom because the saw in him qualities they wanted in a leader, those qualities still exist in the person of Emmnuel Udom, I am speaking for myself, nothing so far will make me feel that he has deviated from the objectives he outlined to meet. It’s too early to assess him.
Many people have said that Udom has hit the ground but unfortunately, he is not running. Do you agree with it?
I don’t agree with it. If those same people were given the same opportunity, they will not even perform as much as Udom has performed. I will beg to disagree with anybody who thinks Udom has not hit the ground running; I will like to know his interpretation.
To my knowledge, Udom has commissioned and sworn-in three implementation committees- Committee on Ibom Deep Sea-port, Committee on Foreign Investment Drive and Committee on Food Sufficiency and Agriculture. I am aware of the fact that unlike the federal government, Udom has SSG and he has other close aides. I am aware of the fact that unlike the federal government, Udom has the commissioners that are sworn-in today. In my own assessment, he is doing very well.
The other association, Akwa-Ibom Community Assembly has allegedly been in the opposition because its former president contested election as the APC deputy governorship candidate. It took you and the leadership of AkwaIbom Consolidation Alliance (ACA), to persuade the indigenes living in FCT to support Udom during the election and now you are losing out in the appointment. How do you feel?
Mind you, I have not lost out on anything because I never bargained for anything. Our involvement in politics was to support and elect a government that majority wanted, nobody went into supporting Udom because he wanted personal benefits like position.
The second aspect is that AkwaIbom Community Assembly is not a political party; you need to go and look at its constitution. Don’t re-define a state association to mean a political party. The fact that the former president of the association contested election on the APC platform does not translate to all the members of the community being in the APC. Just like all the community does not belong to one religious faith, some are Winners, Catholic, Anglican, etc. Mind you, 90 per cent of ACA members are members of the community; does that make them APC members?
What is the relationship between AkwaIbom Consolidation Alliance, ACA and the community?
There is no relationship, absolutely none. ACA was set up as a political wing of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) specifically to bring Emmanuel Udom into governance.
There is this belief that Udom may lose his seat in the tribunal, what is your take?
AkwaIbom state is not the only state that is facing election petition at the tribunal; there are other states like that. There is nothing extraordinary or strange. Even the former Governor, Godwill Akpabio, it was the last week of his administration that one of those election cases was decided at the court. When there is an election in Nigeria, the losers must always exercise the democratic rights by approaching the court for redress. It’s not new.