Never has a political
party in modern civilization been so destructive as the All Progressive
Congress in Nigeria and Akwa Ibom state. Whether in power or in the
opposition, the party maintains a strong reputation for peddling
falsehood to get away with sensitive issues or passing the buck when it
ought to take responsibility for its action. Interestingly, the very
things the party insulted former President Goodluck Jonathan for doing
are the same things they are doing in power.
I recall in the heat
of the Boko Haram insurgency when then President Jonathan sought Chad’s
help to quell the bombings in the northeast, the APC described it as a
shame. Do you know that Chad was President Buhari’s first trip as
president for the same reason Jonathan went? That is the mystery of the
APC. The then spokesman for the APC, Lai Mohammed criticised every trip
embarked upon by ex President Jonathan. Specifically, the party
described Jonathan's trip to Brazil as an abdication of responsibility.
Now, no one can honestly count the number of foreign trips President
Buhari has embarked on in eight months. That's life.
The office of the
first lady received not a few punches from the APC Propaganda machinery
under Jonathan. They described the office as unconstitutional and a
drain of public resources which will be scrapped once they get power.
How ridiculous that Madam Aisha Buhari has since moved into the first
lady's office with several Senior Special Assistants who are being paid
with tax payers money.
When ex President
Jonathan failed to decapitate Boko Haram, he gave a deadline of December
2014 and later March 2015 to reduce the insurgency to the barest
minimum. The APC described it as incompetence and cluelessness. Then
entered President Buhari, he promised to finish off boko haram in 2
weeks, then gave an extension to 3 months to the army after over 3000
lives had been lost. Just the same method the APC earlier condemned.
While Jonathan recaptured lost towns in the hands of the terrorists, In
Buhari's case, the bombing only got worse. In the middle of an economic
crisis, the APC promised to provide Nigerians with free education; free
meals daily for millions of Nigerian public school-children free
tertiary education; free health-care and free houses. They even said
they will be giving grants of $1.5 billion a year to Nigeria’s poor.
Now, it is either those promises are completely denied or the blame is
pushed elsewhere. There are innumerable examples of these
inconsistencies but these few would suffice.
To Akwa Ibom, the
grand deception party have landed here brandishing itself as an amalgam
of saints. The only concrete promise that the APC in Akwa Ibom have made
to the people is to retrieve all funds allegedly looted from the state
treasury in the past eight and a half years. Plus the other matter of
paying students 50, 000 naira bursary. These are fake promises as
absolutely nothing indicates that it will be fulfilled. What will Umana
be probing when he spent no fewer than seven years in that
administration as a key player. Who will he probe when ex commissioners
in that regime are his key supporters? On the payment of bursary to
students to the tune of 50,000 naira, everyone is aware of the state of
the economy, oil prices and foreign exchange.
The APC in Akwa Ibom
State is an emergency contraption designed to carter for the interest of
the aggrieved. It does not have the structure to win election or to
govern the state. The party can only boast of a bunch of fanatical and
boisterous people who assume that anger can win election and gain power.
But it has never been so. Anger imposes instinctive options that are
not rationally distilled. Such base passions fizzle out when the
individual is sober or encounters truth. I know that the so called APC
faithful of today would return to the altar of truth after the Supreme
Court judgement and their failure to clinch their much desired federal
appointments. Only then would they know that APC is not their party. The
APC in Akwa Ibom state is too hurriedly assembled and too angry to
avoid mistakes. In the end, it will tell lies, apportion blames and
destroy the polity.
Above all, the people of the state have kept faith with the
PDP because of its excellent record of performance in governance. A
party, though not perfect constantly engages the sections of the society
before arriving at any major decision. How else can one explain that
the APC is brandishing a candidate who is not from Eket senatorial zone,
a section of the state that is enjoying the governorship for the first
time, since 1987.
APC intends to derail
Akwa Ibom people to the Hobbesian state where life is nasty, brutish and
short. First, it is making frantic efforts to distort the sense of
brotherhood that has defined the political union in the state. Secondly,
the party intends to use the judiciary to needlessly take Akwa Ibom
state back to elections. We pray the judiciary takes the bold step. No
state or country develops by conducting elections every year. Elections
are generally demanding financially. There are severe logistic burdens
to be carried by all the players in the game. From consultations to open
rallies, publicity and the main elections, a lot of money goes down the
drain for a leader to emerge. With the state of the economy, is
election a luxury Akwa Ibom people will love to afford? The answer is
no. The PDP is not afraid of elections, not with the grasp it has in the
state. But are we always going to have elections every year? Parties
must learn to accept the results of elections like President Jonathan
did and move on.
Akwa Ibom people have rounded rejected this inconsistent
party and are satisfied with Mr Udom Emmanuel from Eket Senatorial zone
as Governor. He is a man who has proven to be a reliable manager of men
and materials. The PDP got it right with the right man, from the right
place, with the right name for the right time. So, when next you listen
to an APC chieftain, expect lies and blames which leads to a complete
destruction of the polity.
By Aniekeme Finbarr writes from Afaha Iman in Etinan
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