My leader, I write this note of gratitude, to publicly acknowledge the pre-eminent step you have taken not just to stabilize the political equation in Akwa Ibom State, but to retain and sustain the confidence of the political class, at least of the PDP extraction. It is on record that at a recent meeting of the state’s PDP stakeholders, you personally moved a motion for the unanimous adoption of Governor Udom Emmanuel as the party’s sole candidate for the 2019 Gubernatorial Election in Akwa Ibom State.
Naturally, this would have seemed too early a move, taking cognizance of the fact that 2019 is still a long way off. But in the matter of Akwa Ibom State, where EVERYTHING IS POLITICS, including who you invite to weddings of your children, certain things need be put in perspective to reduce speculations.
The other and more important factor, particularly in your own case, is the fact that a large number of the politicians in Akwa Ibom State believed, rightly or wrongly, that you were not going to support the Governor for a second term in office. I was of that school of thought. I even personally went to the Governor and told him that he would be a fool to take your support for granted and that from both the grapevine and those friendly with your political circle, the message was that you were not disposed to support him as there were too many grey areas in your relationship.
But when I met you in Calabar, about six weeks ago, at the funeral of the Governor’s co-in-law, and had a brief discussion with you, what you told me and your body language betrayed encouraged me to approach you in your office in the Senate complex and we had a talk on the issue. Our friend Chief Tony Ndah was with us. My position was that it is an abomination to destroy what you built in anger. I referred you to Chapter 1 of The Acts of Apostle, the first record of succession by vote in the Bible and that the only mistake you made was in not sitting all of us down to discuss your successor as the Governor of the State and it was rather late in the day to recant what you did. I assured you that I do not live in the past and in my estimation, the Governor was doing the best he could, taking into cognizance the very highly reduced resources the State was now receiving from the Federation Account and the fact that our party was not in power at the centre. I opined that there was no feasible option to Udom in the State as Governor in the next term.
I remember also telling you that our party being in turmoil at the centre was a disaster but it created an opportunity for you to consolidate the gains we made in the southern minority states, by ensuring that the party’s structures in these states were strengthened to improve the party’s chances at the next general election. It was my opinion that being the highest statutory political office holder from the PDP, you were fishing too regularly in the small waters of Akwa Ibom when the whole country was yearning for your leadership. I urged you to step out and use your current leadership position in the National Assembly to project yourself and in turn, help resolve some of the multilateral political simmering in the party’s National Structure.
You assured me that at no time did you intend to withdraw your support for the Governor’s second term and that some misguided people were trying to put a wedge between you and the Governor. You also accepted my invitation to address the issue and I thank you for using the occasion of the stakeholders meeting to obliterate whatever may have nagged the doubting Thomas’s.
I can assure you, however, that until the 2019 elections are over, you still must expect the nuisance of doubts. Some of those who called to brief me, particularly from your Senatorial District were adamant in their claim, that it would be foolhardy to rely on your assurance. They recalled the 2011 Senatorial elections where, according to reports, you invited Chief Bassey Inuaeyen, Iquo Inyang Minimah, Prof. Ini Udoka and Hon Ekperikpe Ekpo to contest the Senatorial nomination of the PDP, against each other and at the end abandoned them all to support Senator Aloysius Etok. They also cite the notorious fact that you propped Obong Umana Umana and introduced him to every political level player in Nigeria as your successor only on the 2nd of January 2012 to take him and your then Deputy, Obong Nsima Ekere before your political father, the great Chief Michael Afangide and informed your political family that Umana and Nsima would alternate as your candidate for Governor until one of them emerges and at the end you dumped the two of them. To spice their story, they even say Obong Bassey Albert was also in the Governorship race at your instance, they cite the fact that he was campaigning while still your Commissioner for Finance underscored the point. These may just be stories told to malign you. No leader can engage in such surreal and dastardly acts. But life is all about perception. I am certain you would have been saturated with these kind of allegations by now.
You are too experienced to fall into the same trap as occurred during the 1983 General Elections, when Senator Victor Akan, Hon. Edet Bassey Etienam, Senator Donald Etiebet, Hon. Sunny Jackson Udoh and a couple of our people colluded with Dr. Joseph Wayas and his Lagos group to deny Dr. Clement Isong a second term nomination. Even though the nomination was given to Senator Donald Dick Etiebet, another one of us, that fact did not reduce the sharp edge of betrayal that characterized that event. The long military interregnum that followed that Government, notwithstanding, the succeeding political alignment in the state became defined and influenced essentially by that event. The error cannot be repeated by you, another leader of Annang extraction, working to deny another Ibibio son, a second term nomination. It will tear this state apart irredeemably, and could smear you forever. As a successful politician, I am sure the lesson of that historical event is not lost on you. I have advised my friends that successful leaders are those who benefit from history. You would never have been where you are if you did not learn from history.
The Leader, I know you well and understand your political maneuvers, when you make them. I am certain you have made up your mind to give your full support to Governor Udom Emmanuel’s second term, the misgivings of the skeptics, notwithstanding. You certainly would not have made that declaration publicly, if you ever intended to renege on it. He is the only real option on our table.
To Governor Udom Emmanuel, my position is that there can only be one Governor in the State, at a time. It is God that makes a King. You need our support and we assure you we will continue in that support until the eight years of your tenure is completed. Do not allow the chemistry between you and Senator Akpabio to define the Governance of the State. He has now publicly assured you of his support, please reduce the fire on politics and advise your followers to cut down the rhetoric of the rumor mills. Ensure that you complete as many projects as possible before embarking on new ones, whether they were originated by you or by your predecessors. It is by those acts that you will be judged when you leave office and it is by these measures that your leadership will be assured. I urge you to keep your commitments to your God and be faithful to the State. Continue to do all such things that will bring, not just peace but prosperity to us all. Give room for constructive criticism. It is the spice of Democracy.
MAY THE TRUTH LIVE FOREVER.
Ambassador (Chief) Assam E. Assam, SAN
Eket, AKS. 18th June 2017.
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