In the course of engaging in the political discourse bothering on the zoning of political offices, especially the office of the Governor of Akwa Ibom, a lot of people have advanced various perspectives which in their consideration should have been the basis of the zoning. There is a school of thought which postulates that the zoning ought to have been done on the basis of tribe, ethnicity or linguistic delineation. The other school of thought insists that zoning should be based on senatorial districts.
It is common knowledge that every environment/profession has its register (diction) and matters concerning that sphere are meant to be expressed in the appropriate register, for example, the tarred road upon which an aircraft rides on to take off is called a runway, while the road used by a motor vehicle is called a highway or street.
Any attempt to mix the register will obviously create confusion. Additionally, every environment has its stratification and structure, under which things evolve or devolve.
In Nigerian politics, the stratification is clearly stated in the grundnorm(Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria)- making provisions for constituencies from the highest being the presidency to the lowest being the ward. Linguistic delineation is a consideration when cultural or ethnic stratification is under review- it is not a political variable but clearly a cultural variable. It is therefore standing logic on its head to share political organs using cultural variables, we must call Bible things by Bible names.
More specifically put, we are all witnesses to the fact that the agitation for the Presidency of Nigeria has been a geo-political struggle, not ethnic. Some shallow minds may confuse this fact because of the cultural and linguistic homogeneity of all the geo-political zones except the south-south. They may see the agitation for a South-East Presidency as advocating Igbo presidency, No, nothing can be more false. Remember that the agitation for a south-south President was not an Ijaw, Ibibio or Itshekiri advocacy, rather that of the geo-political region(please note that the geo-political regions have been duly recognised in many Acts of the National Assembly).
Conversely, the constitution in Section 15(2) forbids the discrimination of people on the basis of sex, ethnicity, religion, race etc. Specifically it provides “..national integration shall be actively encouraged, whilst discrimination on the grounds of place of origin, sex, religion, status, ethnic or linguistic association or ties shall be prohibited” . Zoning a political office on linguistic basis is akin to discriminating against the other parts of the state because they do not speak a particular language. This same argument will also apply to zoning the Governorship seat on the basis of tribe, sex, tribe etc- variables that the constitution seeks to play down as a basis of sharing political offices. In protecting Federal Character, the constitution provides in Section 14(4)
The composition of the government of a state,a local government council, … shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the peoples of the federation
Additionally, the Constitution of our great Party The People’s Democratic Party provides in Section 6(1)
The Party shall be a democratic organization and shall pursue its objectives without regard to race, creed or ethnic affiliation.
Addressing the issue of zoning, the PDP posits that “adhering to the policy of rotation and zoning of the party and public elective offices in pursuance of the principle of equity, justice and fairness” (see Section 7(3)(c) of the PDP Constitution.
The political structure of Akwa Ibom state is represented by the diagram below
_Akwa Ibom State
Uyo Senatorial District -Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District- Eket Senatorial District
_10 Federal Constituencies
_26 State Constituencies
_31 Local Government Areas
_329 Wards
Flowing from the foregoing and with the avowed disposition of the party to seek and do justice, it had no option than to zone the Governorship seat of Akwa Ibom State to Eket senatorial district on the basis of the facts stated herein below.
Governors from 1999-date
DURATION
GOVERNOR
SENATORIAL DISTRICT
1999-2003
Arc. Obong Victor Attah
Uyo Senatorial District
2003-2007
Arc. Obong Victor Attah
Uyo Senatorial District
2007-2011
Chief Godswill Akpabio
Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District
2011-2015
Chief Godswill Akpabio
Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District
2015-2019
Mr. Udom Emmanuel
Eket Senatorial District
Governors pre-1999
NAME
POST
SENATORIAL DISTRICT
Group Capt. Idongesit Nkanga
Military Governor, Akwa Ibom
Uyo Senatorial District
Group Capt. Sam Enwang
Military Administrator, Rivers and Ogun States
Uyo Senatorial District
Obpng Akpan Isemin
Executive Governor, Akwa Ibom State (1993)
Uyo Senatorial District
From the table above, simple logic shows that for eight years from 2015, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State should come from Eket Senatorial District. Can this be controverted?
Intriguingly, some people with sinister motives have gone as far as tracing the Governorship of old Cross River State and South Eastern state to people from Eket Senatorial district. To this group, we have two posers
Was there Eket Senatorial District(as currently constituted) IN Old Cross River and South Eastern state?
Were the people mentioned Governors in Akwa Ibom State?(because the current argument dwells on the Governorship of Akwa Ibom, not old Cross River or South Eastern state.)
If we follow that Old Cross river argument, we will have to trace who was what during the regional government and in fact, colonial government. These are very pedestrian tangents, which serve as nothing more than a calculated distraction intended to water down an efficacious argument in this political discourse.
Conclusively, we took up this space and spent time to place these time tested and irreversible facts in the court of public opinion, in the hope that it will illuminate the mind of the truth seeker and chase away the darkness of falsehood peddled by those opposing the Divine Mandate ordained by God and conferred by the good people of Akwa Ibom State on His Excellency, Mr. Udom Emmanuel as Executive Governor of Akwa Ibom State.
I can assure everyone that God is able to preserve and protect that which is committed to Him-the State under the Leadership of the Governor had committed the destiny of Akwa Ibom into God’s hands and NOTHING can shake us- not even the satanic propaganda and orchestrated falsehood of the opposition.
MAY TRUTH PREVAIL.
Comrade Ini Ememobong
Special Assistant (Political) to the Governor
#AkwaIbom
0 comments :
Post a Comment