Yesterday, I was at the ‘Akwa Ibom State Dialogue’ on the Arise Agenda of the current administration.
It was at a great cost, as I was expected to play a key role in the ongoing International Housing Fair in Abuja.
Let me start by thanking His Excellency, Pastor Umo Eno, for inviting me to the Dialogue, where I ended up moderating the Housing session.
My presence did cause some stir, and probably confusion; but for the benefit of the sincere minds, it will be pertinent for me to offer explanations.
The erroneous impression that Akwa Ibom State belongs to any man in power, must come to an end.
As at today, H E. Pastor Umo Eno has been given the constitutional right to administer the people and the resources of our State.
Anything that he does right has a direct impact on me and my people; as well as anything that he does wrong.
If I honestly and sincerely care about this State, and not my personal comfort and ego, it is incumbent upon me to offer any and every possible assistance to whosoever holds the constitutional authority to administer the people and resources of the State.
This must apply to any and every individual that means well for the State.
I do not dispute for a second, that my being at the Tribunal will be a source of distraction to the Governor.
But here lies the burden of leadership; as a leader must have the capacity to multitask.
It is also my hope that my action will inspire others who are seeking justice for their votes as I am, to draw a line between such constitutional right and considering the plight of the generality of the people that they seek (or sought) to govern.
While many may not be accustomed to the style of Politics played by Pastor Umo Eno and myself, it is my hope (and I believe his, as well) that this will come to be the new style of Politics, going forward.
It will be a style where the bearer of the constitutional authority for the time has a consideration for all on one hand, and the contenders do not seek the death of the baby, but rather, are willing to have the baby kept, to avoid destructive consequences.
I have a burning passion in three directions, namely: (1) The plight of the poor in rural areas (Rural Development); (2) The plight of the youths; and (3) My first passion (Housing).
Participating in the Dialogue, gave me the splendid opportunity to present my ideas on Housing, and these other areas.
In my absence, the ideas of others would probably have held sway.
Finally, I wish to humbly appeal for understanding from the public on the importance of my proceeding with my case at the Tribunal.
To this end, I plead your patient consideration of just a single fact in this regard, which I state as follows:
We will never make progress in Leadership Recruitment for as long as the impunity in Electoral Processes is not adresssed.
In over 1,500 Polling Units, ‘Dash’, ‘Nil’, and ‘Zero’, were recorded as my votes, including my being given just one vote in a whole Local Government Area; and the presidential candidate of my Party scoring over three times the votes that were ALLOCATED to me.
So far, we have unearthed over 60,000 (Sixty Thousand) votes in over 400 Polling Units where our 1, 5, 38, and as much as 72 votes were recorded as ‘Dash’, ‘Nil’ and ‘Zero’. (The unearthing process is still ongoing)
It is therefore one of my prime desires to not only unearth these votes, but to also bring all the officials in all the Polling Units in question, to give a logical reason as to how such votes disappeared between the counting of the Ballot Papers and the inputting of the Results in the Result Sheet.
This constitutes a classic case of Electoral Malpractice; and has clear consequences that will have to do with jail terms.
Where this has been successfully executed, and the culprits jailed, people will in future be afraid to divert counted votes by negotiating with the agents to receive monetary inducements in exchange for the votes in question.
This will be my major contribution to sanitizing our Electoral Processes; and consequently a major victory for me.
I believe you can now see the sense and the justification for my insistence on painfully bearing the high cost of executing this nationalistic assignment.
Until there are consequences and deterrents, our Electioneering Processes will continue to get worse; our Leadership Recruitment will continue to deteriorate; and our systems and societies will be the worse for it.
I welcome any and every idea on how we can extract this ‘Pound of Flesh’, without spilling any blood.
I wish us all well.
*Arc. Nya-Etok Ezekiel
Governorship Candidate,
African Democratic Congress (ADC),
Akwa Ibom State, 2023
