Problem With Akwa Ibom APC

By UbongAbasi Ise

“An open foe may prove a curse, but a pretended friend is worse” – John Gay

By now the reading public must have become weary of defection stories flowing from pages of newspapers to the social media platforms and vice versa. So funny that decamping reports are not newsworthy anymore. They are becoming fundamentally meaningless with absolute lack of connectedness to the real election situation as would happen at the polls next year. At every defection event, there are assortment of half-truths and misrepresentations behind the surface in which the political followers wouldn’t have time to interrogate. If Akwa Ibom APC was to be a sailing ship, believe me, it would have wrecked and sunk in the turbulent sea by now given the vast number of political travelers defecting along with their shadows to it on a minute basis. The party has allowed number- and mind-games associated with the defection carnivals to take the place of real business of politicking and actual mobilization of its supporters at the basic, grassroot level. It becomes worrisome that most APC faithful are solely predicting their party’s victory on the premise of countless defections and re-defections that have fast become the order of the day. Such guesswork is not only fallacious but ill-conceived and misleading, especially, as it negates the actualities that could serve as determining factors to the outcome of the election proper in 2019.

                Without sparing the truth for whatever consideration, the APC in Akwa Ibom State seems to begin with Senator Godswill Akpabio and ends with Obong Nsima Ekere: that is, in the area of grassroot mobilization. If all the party stalwarts are called upon to give account of their contributions to the growth of the party in the state, it would be very embarrassing to discover that some chieftains contribute nothing more than ordinary noise. These are the people that would behave as if they have already arrived, forgetting the fact that it is not yet uhuru even with Akpabio on board. These ilk-minded are busy with elitist politicking without being self-sacrificial enough in ‘supporting’ their supposed followers to also advance the cause of the party and keep faith with it. With regards to allegations in some quarters, if these party Big Men were truly empowered to oil the grassroot machineries in preparedness for the general elections, then they should have done just that. Inasmuch as I am not advocating for primordial sharing of cash, it is better to do that than to pocket the whole resources with no recourse to the party’s ambition. As a party chieftain, you cannot just look up to Akpabio or Ekere while dodging your supporters and then expect miracle to happen in your favour at your polling unit on the D-day. As you are carried away in the gust of defections, know that if you, as a chieftain, don’t cement your relationship with the defectors now, you may see them re-defecting to other camps on the Election Day. The Election Day defection is the best and the worst thing to ever happen to any political party. This D-day ambiguities that could, in the parlance of Carl von Clausewitz, be described as “the fog of war,” can be very frustrating, especially, when there is mutual suspicion between the party leaders and the led.  Supporters observe how they are treated and then make swift decision with ballot papers at hand because it is discernible that the way they are handled during pre-election period might be a reflection of how their principals would treat them once they take over power.

                Beyond defection, there are a lot of works piled up for the APC in the state. Apart from Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District which has been forcefully proselytized and mobilized again and again by indefatigable Senator Akpabio, and secured for the APC, Uyo and Eket Senatorial Districts remain fresh and unexploited territories for the party. It is not because they are overtaken by the rivaled PDP, it is because both senatorial districts accommodate silent majority that are yet to be convinced on where to take a stand. They are mere spectators to the unfolding events. It is not only Senator Akpabio or Obong Ekere that would proselytize those parts of the state, but it’s also the responsibility of other big names to return to their square roots and show working. The underlying logic is that if the party fails, these unresponsive big names would be the first to point accusing fingers at the likes of Godswill Akpabio and Nsima Ekere just to save their faces. I believe it may pay them well to stay committed than to be dodging their sincere followers with lame excuse of attending meetings in Abuja, Lagos, Daura or Jupiter, while politics remains largely local at the unit level. Since the grassroot people are the raw materials of politics, the best place for the party’s high echelon to have meetings now are market squares, village halls, and road junctions.

                Another serious problem for Akwa Ibom APC is the enemies within. Opponents to the APC’s political ambition are not only those on the rivaled political party platforms, they also include those that contended the party’s tickets but lose out at the primaries. These set of APC members are powerful; they still have large followership that, unfortunately, remain dormant, unused or outrightly ignored. Yes, they make up the number in the list of the party’s membership but remain largely useless to the party’s mission as far as the forthcoming general elections are concerned. If wishes were stallions, these aggrieved persons might have driven their own party towards embarrassing defeat at the polls just to score a point that if they had emerged as the APC’s standard flag-bearers, the wished party’s defeat wouldn’t have been possible given their popularity.  Perhaps, it is not that these aggrieved want to remain that way, it is because they are viewed as mere hoi polloi by those they contended the tickets with. If these aggrieved aspirants and their supporters are not reached out to, reconciled with, reintegrated into the mainstream, and then made to team up with their former co-contenders against those from other political divides, then the APC has lost a significant number. This is the time to re-strengthen the weak fabrics within the party system as the real battle draws nearer.

Finally, the make-believe sophistry orchestrated by the present state government led by Mr. Udom Emmanuel is one cause that should worry the APC in the state even more. A section of the media has done its bid in exposing and dispelling the probable streak of falsehood spread by the government of the day. But this awareness seems not enough, perhaps for certain factors. There is the need to hoick awareness towards the market women, tricycle operators, masons, those that lack facilities to go on social media or open the pages of some newspapers. They have to know the actual situation of governance in the state because they formed the majority that own PVCs. But their challenge lies in the matter of making the right choice with their franchise.

Akwa Ibom State is due for change and the state needs a break from the PDP which is about to complete its 20 years reign. Change has become an absolute necessity, and Akwa Ibom seems to yearn for it. Whichever way it goes, power needs to leave the hands of one lineup, and then distributed to another set of people expected to make good use of it. That’s the better way to go.

Yes! I am UbongAbasi Ise. For comment, please send SMS to 08189914609 |ubongabasiise@gmail.com

©The Sensor Newspaper

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