Sold Conscience
By UbongAbasi Ise
After March 9 polls in Akwa
Ibom where vote-stealing trickeries, wanton violence and bloodletting were
shamelessly displayed in broad daylight before our children, our women and
fellow church members, some band of political wayfarers came out with
misleading group appellations to ridicule our saneness with tales of how the crooked,
barbaric elections of the savages of the 21st century were credible and more civilized,
devoid of blemish. This was sarcasm in its extremes. They forget that the people
are wise enough to discern that such yarns were spun in their frantic struggle
to cover up the skeletons in the closets of their paymasters. The politicians,
electorates, umpires, security agents, observers, political agents, and the common
masses, all knew what happened in those elections. No matter how wide the palms
may be, they cannot cover up the skies.
The first of
these jobbers were the Akwa Ibom State Chapter of Inter-Party Advisory Council
(IPAC). This group apparently secured some sponsorship and was able to splurge
some amount of cash on disingenuous advertorial published on 46 of The Nation Newspaper edition of
Wednesday 13th March 2019. Some 47 signatories representing their
respective political parties claimed that “the Presidential, National Assembly
as well as the just concluded Governorship and the State House of Assembly
elections were peaceful in Akwa Ibom State,” and that they felt proud that in
their lifetime, “credible and people-centric elections could and were held and
the voice of the people and their votes mattered.” Another set of pretenders masqueraded as
National Coalition of INEC Accredited Domestic Observers claiming to be over 200
persons from over 40 organizations deployed to Akwa Ibom State to observe the
2019 General Elections, also carried out their own payola through press
briefing in Uyo singing to whoever cares to listen that their initial fear that
the state “was a flash point for election violence isn’t true. According to
them, the elections conducted in Akwa Ibom State were free, fair, credible and
peaceful. But how come, in all these, that the stakeholders, leadership, party
executives and members of the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, Essien Udim
Chapter, on Wednesday 13th March, 2019
addressed a press conference to expose
the militarization of democracy, rigging of Elections and assault on
INEC officials, ad-hoc staff and civil voters by Senator Godswill Akpabio
as well as unleashing of his
(Akpabio) killer squad
on Essien Udim
local government area during
the Governorship and
House of Assembly Elections of 9th March, 2019? On
the other hand, why did a riposte from the leaders and stakeholders of All
Progressives Congress, APC, Essien Udim Chapter led by the party’s caucus
chairman in the area, Arc. Ubokutom Nyah, expressed that never in the history of elections in
Akwa Ibom State and Nigeria had they witnessed such a heist and electoral
robbery aided by a compromised umpire, Mr Mike Igini, the Resident Electoral
Commissioner? They also accused the PDP of working in cahoots with the gang of
thugs, who went haywire snatching Okon Ward election materials at gunpoint and
kidnapped the INEC staff with materials, adding that “majority of the collation
officers were members of the PDP who engaged in massive cancellation of APC
votes under the guise of Card Reader differentials.” It would be recalled that
at the end of it all, elections in nine, out of eleven wards, were cancelled by
INEC in Essien Udim local government area. But who were those telling the truth?
Could we dismiss all these as mere jest?
Apart from
election kerfuffle reported in Essien Udim, at polling unit 004 in Ikot Udo
Ossiom in Ward 2, Ukanafun local government area, Ubokutom Sampson, a young man
of 25 years, was allegedly shot dead by a military personnel said to have
accompanied the PDP stalwarts after attempt to forcefully cart away ballot boxes
was resisted by the people. And the wife of Mr. Okon Udom was also reportedly
injured by gunshot at the same polling unit. At polling Unit 005 located at Village
Hall, Mbiaso Ward 5, Nsit Ibom local government area there was allegation that
thugs mobilized by some PDP stakeholders had allegedly shot and killed APC
Agent, Udoma Ubom. The stories of violence were rife in Ibiono Ibom. In Ini
local government area, ballot box snatching was reported to be the main feature
of the election. In Oruk Anam, the materials of Ward 10 (Abak Midim III), were
reportedly hijacked and taken to ward centre at Ikot Esenam for onward manipulations. The foregoing instances are sufficed to say
that elections in Akwa Ibom State were marred by widespread irregularities and
brutalities. But unfortunately the IPAC and biased election observers cooked up
some homespun, hogwash reports to redact from the election narratives cases of
blazen malpractices, maiming and killings of Akwa Ibomites just to fulfill
their stipendiary obligations. But how much do they sell their conscience?
Some
contenders in the just concluded sham knew they couldn’t win popularity and
majority of votes, hence they sought to earn it through squalid way of
vote-buying. Well of course,
illegitimate trading of our valuables and conscience are not something new to
us and our history. Didn’t our ancestors sold our productive population consistently
to feral European slave-traders for almost four centuries, and then redirected
them for slavery in the Americas? Did our ancestors have any conscience and empathy
for their sons and daughters and their fate in the middle-passage? Did they care
a hoot about dangers awaiting them in those strange lands beyond the Atlantic
Ocean? No! Our own blood and flesh were exchanged for mirrors, dry gins and
some other perishable products. Today, we are selling our voices, our rights
and our destiny for few notes of naira. The greedy hawks in the cult of
politics are taking advantage of using the masses as mere pawns to just secure
their narcissistic interests. But where is our conscience?
As election
matters are tribunal-bound, fraudulent and underhand practices would certainly
be exhumed. Those that hid the truth would bury their faces in shame, but would
they even care? Nothing else would be more interesting than observing as facts
speak for themselves.
©The Sensor Newspaper
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