Anietie Ekong
On December 28, 2018, President Muhammadu Buhari flagged off his second term campaign in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. The huge success of the event, the massive and enthusiastic crowd of supporters that thronged the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in solidarity with the aspiration of the President, would have convinced anyone that the All Progressives Congress (APC) is on an upward swing in The Land of Promise, as the state is fondly called.
The choice of Akwa Ibom State for the flag off of the campaign could not have been lost on political watchers. In 2015, Muhhamadu Buhari, presidential candidate of the APC got a paltry 58, 411 of the total votes as against the 953, 304 scored by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP.) Before now it was taken for granted that Akwa Ibom State was a PDP state. There was the boast among PDP supporters that the party is like a religion in the state. This was indisputable.
However, despite the massive electoral support that the state had often given to the PDP since 1999, she has not got much to show for it. It is a known fact that the PDP federal government had not constructed a single kilometer of road in the state between 1999 and 2015. The state was even denied the refunds of the money the state government deployed to construct federal roads. Instructively, the administration of President Buhari has refunded the money to the state. Neither was there much that accrued to the state in terms of political appointment outside the ones statutorily guaranteed by the constitution.
This is in sharp contrast to the present dispensation which despite not having been supported by the state, the Muhammadu administration has done so much for Akwa Ibom in terms of infrastructure and political appointments. For instance, the federal government has awarded the contract for the dualization of Odukpani – Itu (spur to Ididep) – Ikot Ekpene road; contract awarded for the construction of Abak – Ekperakwa – Ete – Ikot Abasi road and a presidential approval for the construction of Section 5 of the East – West road: Oron (Akwa Ibom State) – Calabar (Cross River State.)
There is also the Presidential directive for the dualization of Ikot Ekpene – Aba road as captured in the 2019 budget. Approvals have also been granted for the extension of rail route to Akwa Ibom State and N2.2 billion for the Ibom Deep Seaport which has been captured in the 2018 budget. With the construction of a power sub-station in Ibiono Ibom power supply has been boosted in the state.
Akwa Ibom sons and daughters have been appointed into important positions like the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development (NDDC); Managing Director of the Oil and Gas Free Zone Authority and dozens of appointments into federal government boards and parastatals. Indeed Akwa Ibom has never had it this good. For the massive infrastructure in the state and political inclusion of the people even when they did not support him, Akwa Ibom people believe President Buhari is a fair and just leader they can trust.
This has attracted more members into the party in the last three years. A lot more has happened to raise the optimism of members of the APC that the party would convincingly win the state in the forth-coming general elections. From not having a single member in the National Assembly in 2015, APC in Akwa Ibom State now boasts of two out of three Senators and four out of 10 members of the House of Representatives and six members in the State House of Assembly.
The optimism of the APC taking over Akwa Ibom State is not misplaced. According to the leader of the party in the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio in a recent interview, “When I hear that Akwa Ibom is going to be a battle ground, I laugh because there is no battle ground in a state that has already shown direction. I can confidently confirm to you that the first state President Buhari will win within three hours of voting is Akwa Ibom. This is because of the change that the federal government has started,” he said.
Indeed the defection of Senator Godswill Akpabio into the APC on August 8, 2018 has turned around the fortunes of the party in the state. Apart from state and federal legislators, some aides of Governor Udom Emmanuel have resigned their appointments to team up with Senator Akpabio in APC. Undeniably, the who-is-who in Akwa Ibom State politics ranging from Atuekong Don Etiebet, Obong Nsima Ekere, Senator John Akpan Udoedehe, Obong Umana Okon Umana, Senator Ita Enang, Senator Udoma Udo Udoma and many other political heavyweights are determined to effect a change in the state. Virtually every politician of note in Akwa Ibom State is in APC.
The most significant factor that has given the APC in Akwa Ibom State fresh hope is the poor performance of the incumbent Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel. For almost four years no one can point to any major project initiated and completed by the Emmanuel administration. Even the Governor has realized the anger of Akwa Ibom people that despite the humongous amount the state has collected from the federation account, being the highest earner in federal allocation, he has not executed any major project in almost four years.
Instead Akwa Ibom people have been treated to a circus of propaganda and lies. On billboards, the state government claims it has constructed 1,700 kilometers of road and 37 bridges. When the opposition pointed out that the unseen roads could equal the distance between Akwa Ibom and Maiduguri, the Governor further reduced it to 1,000 km in a broadcast at the last Christmas Carol Festival. Nobody in the state knows the name of the communities that the phantom roads and bridges are located.
Even though they are private investments, many of the cottage industries the state government claimed to have attracted to the state are mired in controversies. For instance, nobody can find the toothpick, rice, paint and fertilizer purportedly produced in the state anywhere in the market. The Governor only flaunts them at the state executive council chambers and billboards to hoodwink unsuspecting visitors and the members of the public.
During a recent campaign visit to Ikot Ekpene, Governor Emmanuel was hard put to explain to the people of the area why, in almost four years he could not open a fully built and fully furnished Four Point by Sheraton Hotel, Ikot Ekpene which he inherited from the previous administration.
The same thing to an uncompleted stretch of the Uyo – Ikot Ekpene road. The world class Ibom Specialist Hospital has been shut by Governor Emmanuel while the managers of the state owned Five Star Hotel, Ibom Hotel and Golf resort had since pulled out citing increasing indebtedness by the Emmanuel administration.
Even the most ardent supporter of the governor agrees that his performance has not been too impressive but their argument is that since Obong Victor Attah and Chief Godswill Akpabio did two terms, he must also be allowed to do two terms. But Akwa Ibom people are not fools. A second term is not a trophy to be donated to anyone. It must be earned.
Ekong writes from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State