Recently a coward politician, who lost his mental balance for deceit and treachery in Nigeria’s democracy driven politics when his presidential access for his gossips and backbites to the strongest man in the land, defected to the APC in Abuja to create access to feed his starved unholy habit.
This functional blood driven human machine in the act of devious political compromise of people of low value and of processes, was imposed on the people of Akwa Ibom State through a strange sequential handing over process that distorts the fact that politics is local, first, by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, then by the National Leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and lastly by President Muhammadu Buhari himself, all of them strange to the localities of Akwa Ibom State. When this defective imposition arrived Akwa Ibom State, his first response to the State, after his defection, was “Warsaw saw war, and war saw Warsaw”.
As this article is read, the war-some defector has led a military expedition using the Nigerian Police, under the nudging of his (detector’s) stooge, a retired Deputy Inspector General of Police and leader of the military wing of the pressure group of the APC, assembled as the “ONE” group in Akwa Ibom State, to the gruesome killing of 2 members of the APC in Uruan Local Government Area of the State, and 1 in front of the State party Secretariat of the APC, allegedly on the instruction of the retired chief of police, who called out to the police to “execute him!”.
The killed agent of the major governorship aspirant in the State had insisted on following the vehicle assigned by the party to convey men and materials for the governorship nomination exercise to his local government area Divisional Police Office. While attempting to exclude him from the escort team, a policeman shot and killed him when he rightfully made to join the logistics vehicle to his LGA.
The “ONE” group completely hijacked the processes of the governorship nomination process in Akwa Ibom State scheduled and aborted yesterday, Sunday 30 September 2018 using hired thugs and the Nigerian Police at each of the LGA material and men distribution centres.
The commando displacement of the governorship nomination in Akwa Ibom State happened all over the 31 local government areas of the State, unveiling how the undemocratic, anarchical seizure of the franchise of the weak, vulnerable and law abiding members of the party in the State, to the extent of gunning some of them down in cold blood in order to earn blood money in politics.
Now, let’s take this analogy to heart:
In the dying days of King David Jesse Obed, the signature king of the Jewish earthly establishment, his older son, Adonijah raised a cabal of powerful men from the administration of his father, David, men he lobbied and compromised to garner necessary support in his inordinate and illogical ambition to become King in place of his father.
Ordinarily, the Jews believe that their kings are appointed by the Almighty God, and in the case of David’s successor, God had already chosen a King for Israel long ahead of King David’s indisposition to lead his people.
Adonijah, whose elder brother, Absolom, both children of Haggith, the second wife of King David – he married 4 in all – had earlier rebelled against his father’s leadership, overthrowing him from power for a short period, until God, by providence, dissolved his rebellion and saved King David a divine embarrassment for his sins, arrayed himself to be King, employing King David’s head of the military, his head of the Jewish priesthood, and the king’s noble men following, went unto Zoheleth, the King’s high place for celebratory sacrifices to authenticate his rebellion. Nevertheless, he was unawares that the King’s high place for the coronation of Jewish kings was Gihon.
While Adonijah moved the entire power base of his country to Zoheleth, making all the loud noises, riding on chariots of horses before his crowning, King David called in his favorite wife, Bathesheba Uriah-David, Nathan, his prophet, Benaiah, his Chief of Staff and Abiathar, the coordinate head of the Jewish priesthood, instructing them to attire Solomon in his kingly robes and make him ride on his mule (a young donkey) taking the the portions for the sacrifice unto Gihon. In the Jewish tradition, the donkey is used for solemn religious ceremonies, while horses where used for military expeditions.
The advance to Gihon was a solemn and quite one. With Solomon David Jesse riding on the king’s mule, arrayed in the aura of King David, and all the king’s personal staff headed to Gihon with him, singing hymns and praising God in hush tones. While the noisome pestilence of “Team Zoheleth” was renting and decorating the air in and with debauchery and licence, just around them, the solemn assembly under God was offering sacrifices of anointing that breaks the yoke of instituting a burdensome leadership upon a longsuffering people. This was a fight of faith that overcame an impending evil.
King David had earlier instructed that the loud noises from “Team Gihon” should only be heard after the chosen King has been coronated by a priestly consecration – this was not in obscene money spending. When this noise of divine ascension got to “Team Zoheleth” after Solomon was proclaimed king, like it used to be in those days: while “Team Zoheleth” were wondering at the new noise coming to them, a man ran into them with the news that Solomon has been proclaimed king on the instruction of King David, and he is arrayed in the King’s royal robes, riding on the King’s mule. Members of “Team Zoheleth” knew that sudden death has befallen them. Solomon rode unto the king’s throne, while Adonijah and his senior men pleaded for their lives.
The difference in the happenings of Team Zoleheth and Team Gihon was in how each team followed acceptably laid down procedures. The Jewish kings – they were two; one predeceased and the other predeceasing at that time, had places appointed for their successive ordinations, given before hand. For that period, Gihon was chosen for the ascending king. Ramah was chosen for King Saul Kish and King David’s was Hebron.
And significantly, Jewish Kings do not ride on horses except for war, they rode on mules for ceremonies in order to be different from other nations. In this analogy, it is shown how ignorant Rich Fools, as scripture calls them, always fail to prosecute procedures in the pursuits of their inordinate ambitions. Their thoughts rest on “let my soul eat and get filled, for I have laid up enough for my lifetime”. They constantly exclude God in their thinking.
This is an analogy relative to what happened during the governorship nomination process organized by the APC in Akwa Ibom State, depicting an arrogant show of raw might that will now be put down by the solemn and intelligent pursuit of justice by insisting on the party’s prevalence of fair play in, and the credibility of the process. We are confident in the victory of good over evil.
Now, these are the points to take home from that charade outcome of the governorship nomination, and it is necessarily issued to give appropriate political incentives to Mr President, his Vice President, his National Leader and the National Chairman of the APC when they are reviewing the nomination process they collectively ordered across 27 States of Nigeria, that they may review the exercise in Akwa Ibom State along the following lines, taking note of the procedural error deliberately allowed by the State Working Committee and the politicisation of the Nigerian Police, geared to exclude the majority of members of the APC in Akwa Ibom State.
1. The governorship nomination in Akwa Ibom State was scheduled to be held by “direct primaries” aimed at providing the opportunity for “all registered members” of the party to nominate their governorship flag bearer. The national working committee of the party assigned the direct primaries in order to give every member voice in determining the future of governance of our State. Disenfranchising over 58% of members of the party offends this cardinal and popular provision of the guidelines for the nomination exercise.
2. The procedural irresponsibility and ineptitude of the State Working Committee created the avenue for the vacation of the exclusion of members of the party who did not buy into the “consensus” noise of the pursuers of political vanities in our State. It was a serious error of judgment to have handed nomination materials to the Divisional Police Officers across the 31 LGAs in the State.
There is no where in the Nigerian Police Act that provides for the employment of policemen to serves as Ad Hoc staff for political parties. Handing sensitive electoral materials to DPOs as delegates of the APC State exco members in Akwa Ibom State was unconstitutional, null and void.
The constitutional duty of the police in every electoral process provide security for the men and materials for election, ensuring adherence to all the provisions of the guidelines ruling such elections. It was therefore illegal for the DPOs to be placed in responsibility to personally distribute election materials to who they personally deemed “fit” in their perceptions.
Ordinarily, the State Working Committee were under established obligation in procedure to establish the men in each team handling election materials on their behalf. This team should comprise the delegate of the State Working Committee as “returning officer”, the DPO and a few of his men, and at least one agent each representing the aspirants, if the process must be seen to be free, fair, credible and acceptable.
The chronic irresponsibility of the SWC made them place DPOs as their delegates and they (the DPOs) in turn excluded agents of other aspirants cleared to contest in the nominations except those of the “ONE” group.
3. The compromise of the all the police divisional formations across the 31 LGAs in the State is alleged to have been effected via the hosting of all the DPOs in the State by a retired police chief handling the military wing of the “ONE” group.
4. The solemn credible example of (Dr) John James Akpanudoedehe, a screened and cleared aspirant in the governorship race should be in picture at this stage. He alone received and escorted the men and materials delegated to supervise the exercise in Akwa Ibom State from the Ibom International Airport to the State Secretariat of the party.
He did not divert the materials violently as one of the governorship aspirant did during the ward elective congresses on 5 May 2018 when he diverted the congress men and materials from the airport to a hotel in Uyo. Till now, the State Chairman has not been able to stay with the process that produced him as Chairman, as he has handed over the leadership of the party at the ward and chapter levels in the State to strange men.
Three ways forward are in precedence for the national leadership of the party to tow:
1. There has been an unceasing clamour by the “ONE” group and efforts to impose their aspirant on the other members of the party in the State. The “direct primaries” ordered by the national leadership of party was to provide a level playing field for all members of the party to elect their governorship flag bearer from the list of cleared aspirants for the race.
The order was to test the popularity of each aspirant. So if pursuers of a consensus candidate, for fear of losing at ballot, now decide to sabotage the ordered process to allow for his emergence, then the national leadership should view how an “elective congress” was muzzled into “tenure elongation”.
If Adam Oshiomole benefitted from the defeat of “tenure elongation”, he should not permit its abuse in the process that led to the attempt to implant a “consensus candidate” on Akwa Ibom members of his party.
And if Akwa Ibom must have a consensus candidate to fly the APC governorship flag in the State, let the President, his Vice President, the National Chairman and National Leader of the party decides on who should wear the consensus cap, and he must a strong sustainer of the opposition struggle in the State.
2. Should the bloated power and money mongers pay to sustain their fraud in Akwa Ibom State through the courts, then the Obasanjo/Ararume treatment should be meted to them, or else the members of the former legacy parties in the State will vacate the party for the defecting PDP men. It is impossible to be in the same political party with Godswill Akpabio, Nsima Ekere, Umana Umana, Don Etiebet, Ita Enang and other “Rich Fools” together.
It is a shame that they know and appreciate that “if it is not panadol, it is not the same thing as panadol”, and this is to the national working committee: the governorship nomination process in Akwa Ibom State was hijacked, materials diverted and the rest is left for the national working committee to pass or recuse what these preventers of goodness return as result for the governorship nomination.
We should see how Bola Tinubu takes State Governments in courts: he took Ekiti, Osun, Ondo and Edo States in court – no bye election, no magomago: governors were replaced by governors directly.
3. We expect more: we expect the dissolution of the State Working Committee and the appointment of a consensus candidate to fly the flag of the party, to pay for the sabotage of the governorship nomination process by the “ONE” group, as a minimum demand herein made in the interest of the APC in Akwa Ibom State. The national leadership must ensure the retention of our confidence in the victory of good over evil.
In honour of the dead, here is the names of those shot dead by thugs employed by the “ONE” group:
1. Late Inyang Effiong of Ini LGA Ward 7
2. Late Ukeme Edet Effanga of Southern Uruan Ward 1
3. Late Emmanuel Asuquo of Etim Ekpo LGA (on the instruction of a retired DIG).
May their souls find eternal rest, Amen.
Ini Akpan Morgan is the Convener of the APC Patriots Grouping (APC pg) in Akwa Ibom State and writes in from Uyo via “time.subsidaries@gmail.com“
