From Joe Effiong, Uyo
A veteran gubernatorial aspirant in Akwa Ibom State, Mr Larry Esin, has carpeted the zoning formula currently practised in the state with regard to the election of governors saying it negates the original concept in which the governorship was meant to be zoned to the three major ethnic groups in the state.
Esin who has contested the governorship four times in the state in different political parties, but this time on the platform of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), has also sensationally declared that governorship is not a white-collar job.
At his formal declaration in Uyo on Wednesday, Esin, who started his gubernatorial struggle in 2006 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), where he emerged third behind Godswill Akpabio and Dr Udoma Ekarika, explained that since Obong Victor and Sen Godswill Akpabio were Ibibio and Annang, respectively, the next governor after the duo would have come from Oron.
He said that was the promise made to him and the people of Eket senatorial district in 2006 where there was a stalemate after the PDP primaries, a promise that caused him to step down for Akpabio.
He explained that because the promise was not kept in 2014 as Udom Emmanuel, though from Eket senatorial district, emerged still from Ibibio ethnic group, he has been coming out to contest irrespective of the senatorial district assumed to have the turn, because zoning does not take Oron, his ethic group into consideration.
Esin also said being governor does not consist in sitting in the office, driving around town in air conditioned vehicles and awarding contracts; rather it is a blue-collar job that requires going down to the grassroots and listening to the people’s needs in order to know how to adequately respond .
“Sixty-one years after independence, the condition of life of the average resident of our State and country presents a complicated dimension of the basic challenges of hunger, disease, illiteracy and unemployment.
“0ver 70% of our fellow citizens live in poverty in spite of the wealth of our State. Poverty has become more persistent today as State and local governments lack the moral authority to stem the growing tide of violence and insecurity that perpetuates poverty and a weak regulatory environment.
“They lack the intellectual ability to comprehend the impact of global norms and economic trends on the lives of our people and the economy of our State. For example, the World Trade Organization (WTO) in faraway Switzerland determines the price and quality benchmarks for raw materials and finished products produced by our State and Country, without any factoring of the social, economic and environmental cost of production of our people.
“Such globalization of norms, competition, laws, politics, etc define the development challenge and peril that lay ahead for Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
“It is therefore in the context of Nigeria’s development malaise vis-à-vis the new world order and the rising tide of globalization that Akwa Ibom State’s Economic Development initiative must emanate.”
He said it is the responsibility of the state governments to develop an economic stimulus package to increase productivity across the land, and usher in the century of industrialization, because without industrialization, the economy would continue to grow at marginal digits if at all, and rely on the mercy of the federal government, donor agencies and the international community.
“The Government that I propose will provide leadership that will help us discover true unity in our diversity, and ensure a peaceful coexistence and an equitable distribution of our State’s wealth; so that together we may contain the growing pockets of ignorance and prejudice, and the unanswered questions of poverty.” The aspirant said.
