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Akwa Ibom money:
Is it safe with Udom or Umana?
By Iboro Otongaran
In the last few days the propaganda team of the sacked governor of Akwa Ibom State, Mr Udom Emmanuel, has fouled the air with the unfounded claim that the state APC governorship candidate, Mr Umana Okon Umana, will hand over resources of the state to Yoruba and Hausa Fulani interests if voted into power. This harebrained piece of propaganda is without doubt the latest in the never-ending scaremongering effort of the PDP which reached its peak during the futile attempt to keep former president Goodluck Jonathan in corrupt and inept power.
The scaremongering designed to keep Jonathan in his job was that if he was not re-elected, the country would cease to exist. We all know that the gimmick failed woefully to save Jonathan. A similar senseless gimmick is underway in Akwa Ibom State to help Udom Emmanuel win power. The gimmick is that Udom is the only one who can safeguard Akwa Ibom money, with the counter pitch that if Umana is elected governor he will hand over Akwa Ibom money to Yoruba and Hausa Fulani people and leave the state worse off. The propagandists pick on the Yoruba and Hausa Fulani probably because some of the prominent leaders of the APC, Umana’s party, are from the two ethnic blocs.
But this is a false claim by Udom’s men. This spin touches on the foundation of political rent-seeking and patronage in Nigeria. So let’s take a closer look at the invidious phenomenon so that Akwa Ibom people can judge who, between Udom and Umana, will better manage resources of the state for the full benefit of its people.
Political rent-seeking, which spawns iniquitous allocation of state resources to vested interests, is basically the unjust and unfair consequence of godfather politics, where the godfather is the money man or an incumbent public office holder who railroads his protégé to power—usually through underhand means. That is what Akpabio did for Udom.
In the context of godfather politics, Udom is bonded; Umana is a free man. It is known even to a kindergartner that the former governor of the state, Senator Godswill Akpabio, is Udom’s godfather. Udom is forever bonded to Akpabio to do his biddings. Udom is under oath to clear all issues of state with Akpabio. That is why Akpabio appointed virtually all the key officers of the state administration—commissioners, secretary to government, permanent secretaries, chief of staff, local council caretaker committee members—while Udom looked on.
Udom is thus a mere formal office holder; the man who wields the rein of power is former governor Godswill Akpabio. That is why he is the one who takes the decisions. By his stranglehold on Udom, Akpabio also decides the allocation of the state resources based on his personal interest, not the interest of Akwa Ibom people. By the immutable bond that makes him Akpabio’s stooge, Udom takes N2 billion from the state allocation monthly and shares it among PDP top dogs, even if he doesn’t have enough to pay salaries, as it happened this December. By the way, Akwa Ibom civil servants didn’t know it’s Christmas!!!
The unfair and illegal transfers by Udom continue the irresponsible use of Akwa Ibom State resources to finance PDP operations and other irrelevant causes that was a special feature of the Godswill Akpabio administration.
Udom is thus wholly and irredeemably a bonded man. Even at the retail level of allocation of state resources like the inter-ministerial direct labour scheme, Udom is not in charge. The man who calls the shots there is Sir Emem Akpabio, as ordained by the godfather, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Udom is therefore clearly not a man to trust with Akwa Ibom money. He is not his own man, and cannot take a decision in the interest of Akwa Ibom people. He is subject to the Akpabio family and owes them allegiance on oath to do their biddings.
Umana, on the other hand, is a freeman. He has no godfather. He is going to owe his office as governor to the people of Akwa Ibom State, who are braving the bullets and all to put him in office.
The outside interests Udom’s propagandists are mouthing around are meant to make up for want of what to tell Akwa Ibom people in defence of a man planted by vested interests to take away their future.
As for whatever support the national leaders of the APC may lend to their Akwa Ibom governorship candidate, it is in keeping with their duty to work for the governorship candidates of their party nationwide. That is why they are leaders of the party. They do not need any extra motivation to work for the victory of the candidates of their party. So the baloney that Umana will handover state resources to outsiders is a flawed scaremongering that is fated to fail as it did during the re-election gambit of Dr Jonathan.
The libellous imputation by Udom that Umana is negotiating to barter Akwa Ibom State resources to outside interests for support is the latest irony that plagues the PDP campaign in the state. I can tell Akwa Ibom people that Udom is making this baseless allegation against Umana because Udom himself failed to get a listening ear from APC top men after repeated contacts personally and through emissaries. We have contact details of Udom’s frenetic efforts to negotiate support from three APC leaders in the North and the Southwest in a fruitless search for reprieve from justice. What was Udom’s bargaining chip in his negotiation plan with the APC leaders?
We know what Udom planned to give away. We are keeping the gun powder dry for the right moment. Udom is not a patriotic Akwa Ibom leader. He represents interests that are antagonistic to the welfare of Akwa Ibom people. He should be rejected at the poll.
