By Udo Silas
Clearly, very clearly, the momentum Akpabio has brought into the APC in Akwa Ibom includes massive reconciliation within and without, rejigged mobilization, internal party dynamism, rejuvenated self-belief and specific tactical re-organization.
The flicker of doubts that existed (there are always doubts when attempting to unseat an incumbent) soon began to evaporate as Akpabio’s force of personality, word and mind play began to grind in. Where his words at times appeared bombastic, it always stuck as a ring of possibility especially having seen and known that he, Akpabio, knows how to win elections.
The PDP knows that Akpabio knows how to win. That is why Akpabio has been the issue as far the PDP in Akwa Ibom is concerned. They seem to have forgotten Ekere rather laying a chunk of their arsenal on Akpabio.
In setting out to demystify Akpabio by all means, they have invariably made the 2019 gubernatorial elections a referendum on Akpabio. But I wager a guess that Akpabio was one step ahead, as he would have already known that when he decided to make his now famous switch.
When Akpabio moved party he sure would have calculated the odds. He knew what he had to do. He knew failure was not an option. He knew the PDP knows what he is capable of in an election run. But they didn’t know all. While they kept trumping federal might as a possible resort they forgot something.
How would they have known for example that Akpabio would against all human odds bring Dr Akpan James Udoedehe to the table of APC unity in Akwa Ibom? The history of animosity between Udoedehe and Akpabio needs no recounting here. Mix that with the Udoedehe persona and what you get is a recipe that ordinarily would have removed the word compromise from the dictionary.
But while the PDP where busy concocting conspiracy theories, Akpabio was here and there doing the numbers game and perfecting his strategy.
In an earlier published piece titled; “Godswill’s Dance” (visit Udo-Silas. Blogspot.com) I had called for critical tendencies within the APC in Akwa Ibom to close ranks. Please permit a quote from the last paragraph of that piece.
“It is as Mata Hari says that ‘The dance is a poem of which each movement is a word’. Godswill’s dance should be a word that Udoedehe hears in sound and rhythm. A call to unity of intent”
Seriously, the fracture that Udoedehe brought to the APC in Akwa Ibom pre-Akpabio, was as potent as an efik love portion encased in the famed ‘edikan ikong’ delicacy. How do you handle an Udoedehe, fiery in his convictions, astute in mind games, controversial in lingo and with a reservoir of massive grassroots following? How do you court a man with a resolute human base, adamant on his personal ambitions and insists on his way as the only way?
Udoedehe certainly had and has the numbers. Akpabio knew it. Akpabio went for it. But there is something else. Perhaps the most important role Akpabio has played and continues to play so far, as we approach the denouement for the 2019 gubernatorial election, is the way he has succeeded, knowingly or unknowingly, in throwing up, for all Akwa Ibom to see, the psychological profile of the man Udom.
In the beginning Udom cast himself as a brother who would stand with Akpabio to the very end. We were told he is God-fearing and a man of integrity. He even’ contrived’ an award to boot. When he went to court stopping the EFFC from investigating the Akpabio tenure, many clapped his gallantry.
“The banana peel in Nigeria that make governors and their leaders fight, Akpabio and I will not match it. We have where we are going in Akwa Ibom and we will go together. That is why anything you write about us in the papers that will divide us we have ignored”. That was Udom speaking at the 25th anniversary celebration of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, at Uyo, October 2017.
We have since found out that Udom’s definition of integrity does not mean a moral high ground. The mannerisms of honor are not selective.
You are either honorable no matter the provocation or you are not. Udom has continued to assail us at every turn with tales from Akpabio’s tenure as governor with a view to tarnishing the standings of the
Senator. Is it the Four Points By Sheraton? Is it the Ikot-Ekpene-Uyo highway? Is it the Specialist Hospital?
But with every revelation Udom only succeeds in re-casting himself. What comes out is a man angry enough to discard the old plastic toga to wear his real self. The brotherliness he pretended to was but a garb to protect his inordinate ambition. He loved Akwa Ibom less but craved self first.
David Augustine captured the Udom Persona and dilemma in his seminal piece titled “Gov. Udom Emmanuel Should Spare Us His Cowardly Revelations”. Please pardon a quote.
“Udom Emmanuel is not a patriot. He is lacking in those patriotic ethos of public interest before self. He does not love the state. He prefers self love to love of the state. Gov. Emmanuel is not truthful. He selects when to lie and when to say the truth. So, one can never be sure which is which…So this governor was aware that “95% of the total contract sum was approved and disbursed by the immediate past Governor as building and site improvement cost” as against the “worldwide standard for building and site improvement cost component of a full-service 4star hotel in an emerging market is 64% of the total cost of the hotel- (Hospital Valuation Services HSV)” yet he went on spending the people’s money without telling the people of the state. Oga, what has changed?”
Nothing changed. The real Udom Emmanuel surfaced. Deceit would always emerge in the face of adversity. A wounded lion soon throws all pretensions to civility out of the window.
Akapabio’s decision to seek his political fortunes elsewhere was the stab that unveiled Udom. His show of fangs is but an illustration of how important Akpabio was to his eight-year calculations.
So for many Akwa Ibom people, especially the independents, the pertinent question thrown up in the evolving politics of 2019 is; can Udom Emmanuel be trusted? But a corollary arises from this question. Is Akapabio a factor in the perception of Akwa Ibom 2019 gubernatorial elections as a low hanging fruit? My answer would be yes.
….To be continued
