POLITICS

By Essien Ndueso

Music, they say, is an important part of a people, making a significant impact on their daily living. According to William Shakespeare in his famous Twelfth Night, "If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it, that surfeiting the appetite may sicken, and do die. That strain again, it has a dying fall".

So inspiring is the effect of music that be it at parties, burials, worship, dedications or banquets, music's place remain unchallenged.

A friend Uwem Udoh once made mention of a certain king who invited a renowned musician to entertain at a banquet organized for tourists who visited his kingdom.

These tourists were treated to a particular melody, which the musician rendered again and again, making use of a particular string of his guitar. When the tourists demanded to know why that particular string of the guitar was played over and over again, the king disclosed that the string in question had won an award and that other kings were searching in vain to discover this particular string.

In Nigeria, while other states of the federation are searching and praying for the likes of Chief Godswill Akpabio, Akwa Ibom people consider themselves blessed and lucky to have a Governor with qualities that others desire in a leader. This is a leader whose vision for a greater Akwa Ibom State is unparallel. Of course, his developmental strides and interest in the welfare of the people he governs is legendary.

All are living witnesses to the tact and maturity with which he has handled the affairs of governance in the state since assumption of office in May, 2007. The zeal he has put into the completion of projects initiated by his predecessor has paid off and has singled him out as a selfless, unbiased, pragmatic and the pride of Akwa Ibom State. This is evident in his lofty policies, programmes and projects, generally considered as the best for a people who overwhelmingly gave him the mandate to govern.

Under him, history was made on September 23, 2009, when the Akwa Ibom State International Airport, completed by him, received her first ever flight, and since then the state has remained opened to the outside world, with domestic and some international flight operations recorded. The Independent Power Plant, the Free and Compulsory Education Policy, the Child Right Act, the pioneer Fly-Over projects in the state, the dualization of a section of Calabar-Itu Federal Highway and many other roads network across the state, effective health-care delivery system, sustainable human capital development programmes, rural water and electricity schemes, his resolute stand on Unity and Security and the execution of over 3000 rural-based projects, stand tall to the credit of a focused and dynamic Governor, Chief Godswill Akpabio.

Man of the people indeed, Chief Akpabio has stood on the shoulders of democracy to re-unite the history of Akwa Ibom and set the pace for uncommon development that the people will never remain the same again, in just three years of the first term of his administration. Mentioning those projects would suffice later.

Actually, Chief Godswill Akpabio has been receiving awards from different organizations, the media and individuals from within and outside Nigeria. In as much as he is not a stranger to awards, there is something different about the national honour of Commander of the Order of Niger (CON) on him by President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday November 14, 2011.

A country craving for meaningful economic growth and quality leadership in the 21st century could not have been wrong to collectively agree to appreciate a man who has restored the dignity of Akwa Ibom people and who has set the pace for uncommon transformation for his people.

For this, different Akwa Ibom people have described Governor Akpabio in different superlatively glowing terms, and conclude that he is God's special and timely gift to the people of the state.

According to Chief Akpabio Udo Ukpa the Paramount Ruler of Onna, there is an air of fulfillment and satisfaction in the state because the Governor, Chief Akpabio was doing all that he was supposed to do for the state, restoring the dignity of Akwa Ibom. To Mr Bassey Nkanang the President General of Afigh Iwaad Ekid, a foremost socio cultural youth organization in the Eket Federal Constituency, the award was well deserved and a recognition for his selfless service and performance.

On his part, the International President of Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, Akparawa Nse Ubeh, the National award on Chief Akpabio coming from Mr. President himself was an indication of the fact that the whole Nigeria has acknowledged the governor's performance, thus the whole country was honouring him via that award.

Chief Jerry Okpo an opinion leader in the State said that the governor was detribalized and focused adding that as a mark of his ability to unite the entire state, Chief Akpabio has "littered all parts of Akwa Ibom with development projects and other physical presence" an indication that the right man was on the throne.

Also, a friend to the governor, Sylvester Okonkwo, described and categorized Chief Akpabio among the crop of leaders that can take Nigeria to the promise land "with commitment to purpose, passion and love for his people leading to the meteorically transformation of Akwa Ibom."

Indeed, from the realities on ground in Akwa Ibom, Governor Akpabio's achievements are arresting, stupendous and colossal. From an international airport to an e-library via good roads and flyovers, the story is clear, in pictures and in words. A reflection on the free and the compulsory education, free medi-care to the aged, pregnant women and the young, even additional month salary to civil servants in the state, among other government programmes and projects, shows that Governor Akpabio, prior to May 29, 20o7 read the problems of the state correctly, and pronto, tackled them adequately.

He has appropriately committed resources in projects and programmes that has not only made every Akwa Ibom person to be proud of his state of birth, but also take the state to assume the status of a delightful destination for tourists and even investors.

A developer and statesman, Chief Akpabio has ultimately succeeded in preparing Akwa Ibom for global competitiveness.

So, a meritorious recognition from Mr President to a premier of modern development, is just immaculate. On his part, Governor Akpabio himself has already assured that he will only be spurred by the national recognition to do more for his people.

In reaction to this deserving honour on a man commonly called the promise keeper, the people of the state in their kinds have yielded to the drums of celebrations; from the hills of Ibiono, the Mountains of Obot Akara to the arable land of Oruk Anam, the coastal planes of Oron to Eastern Obolo, echoes of drumbeats of joyous music are sounding for the new Commander of the Order of the Niger.

And if your voice is as good as mine, then we could do a duet with the popular lyrics of this song "Akpabio You too Much O, u Three Much O, we salute you Oh."

Essien Ndueso writes from Uyo

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Businessman, politician Chief Great Ogboru was the candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party, DPP in the court ordered rerun gubernatorial election in January 2011 and the April 2011 election, both of which were won by Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.

Ogboru, however, disputes the declaration as made by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC and thus has resorted to the courts for arbitration. Following last Thursday’s decision of the Court of Appeal that Ogboru ‘s quest to overturn the result of the January rerun was an academic exercise, Vanguard took up the opposition candidate on his opinion and options in a telephone interview. Excerpts:

HOW did you receive the judgment?

Like everybody who has been following the case we are very surprised because we knew that we had a valid case in the Court of Appeal but unfortunately the Justices abdicated their responsibility by saying that the appeal was academic. But it cannot be academic because it was the Court of Appeal that ordered a re-run election on the 9th of November. That election took place on the 6th of January.

Now, if INEC had declared that I won the election in January would my tenure have ended on the 29th of May? The answer simply is no, which means that before you determine whether or not the appeal is academic you must first establish if somebody was validly returned.

In this case what is being questioned is not the tenure of Uduaghan but his return which we say was not valid by virtue of the fact that he did not have majority of the lawful votes cast in that election. That is what the court is supposed to determine.

If the court found that I had the majority of valid votes cast in that election then what the court should do, I mean from what the lawyers have told us is to do what they did in Anambra State to vitiate immediately the elections of April 2011 and then uphold the elections of January 2011 and then I would be sworn in as Governor and then the constitution says that from the date you are sworn in you have four years to serve.

So, there is no way on earth that our petition could be said to be academic because there are two sides to the coin. If Uduaghan won the election in January 2011, then off course he has served his tenure and then our questioning the election in that case could be termed academic. But in this case it has not been determined that he was validly elected.

In any case, you have to go one step backward, when we were given the right by the Court of Appeal to contest a re-run election it was presumed that the outcome of that election would be challenged. If we had a right to participate in an election, how come we do not have the right to challenge an unlawful or invalid return?

Those are the issues that the court should have addressed its mind to but unfortunately failed to do so and that is why we say in our view and in the view of the constitution of Nigeria that the court abdicated its responsibility and did not hear our own appeal, but just went straight to the appeal of somebody who won at the tribunal which should not be the case.

It should have been a cross appeal which means that they should have heard the two together, but they only took one and left the other.They heard our appeal but did not give judgment on it. They abdicated their responsibility.

That is why we said that we are going to put it to the Supreme Court to test it because if we have to go by constitutional democracy which we are operating then we should be bound by precedence and the precedence suggests that you cannot go to the issue of tenure without first determining if there was a valid return.

Given your experiences do you believe you will get this justice?

To presume otherwise would be to ask the question how did we get to this situation where we had the re-run election of January. It was the Court of Appeal in Benin that agreed with us that there was no election in Delta State in April 2007 and declared that the tenure of Uduaghan for 3½ years was illegal.

That court has already declared 3½ years illegal! In our own view and from the facts what Uduaghan simply did was to continue in his illegality for another six months. But it is not the duty of the constitution of Nigeria or that of the courts of our country to say that because a tenure has been spent illegally that the tenure has expired.

No. it is only when that tenure is validly occupied that you can say so or when there is no challenge of the tenure during that occupation. That is when you can say so.

But there was a valid challenge to the tenure while he was there, it is only a procedural issue and that does not at all amount to him having occupied a valid or a lawful tenure and it is only when the issue of who was validly returned is determined that we can start to go to step two.

I think the Court of Appeal in Benin frankly did not do a proper job the way we expected men of their caliber to do.

Well, that is this time around?

Well this time around there are different set of Judges and different considerations. It may seem that judgment is more political than legal. Legally, it doesn’t hold any water at all. Politically, I think that it is very capable of creating the very issue that we are trying to avert which is to create instability. I think that that kind of judgment is enough to make people into taking stupid decisions and that is why we are very upset with that judgment.

We have tried to put ourselves in the position of following due process, complying with what the constitution of Nigeria says and what the electoral Act says but we are being told that having complied with all the steps prescribed by the Constitution and the Electoral Act that we have erred. I don’t see how complying with the laws of our country can make you err.

At what point will you give up and say I am tired, I have fought a good fight?

We cannot be tired because of the process, we must exhaust the possibilities. The question of being tired is out of the question and right now we are pursuing this case to the Supreme Court and we are also challenging the return of the 26th of April.

It is not our intention to say that we are tired, we will do what we have to do. It is a process. It is one thing to start a race and not to complete it. The race started from when we were nominated it ends when the final court gives its decision and that is how we see it and that is what we intend to do.

So, what is your assessment of the situation in your state?

There is an eerie calm in the state, people are very unhappy, they see it as the function of a cabal outside the state trying to emasculate the right of the people of Delta State by undue interference by taking extra-judicial measures to vanquish their franchise which they have freely given. I think they are not happy at all. They are not happy at all.

You refer to a cabal outside the state? Who are the members of this cabal?

If you have been following the electronic media, especially Saharareporters you would have seen names being bandied that are creating turbulence in the state because of their personal interests which override that of our state and most of them are not indigenes of our state and they find a willing lackey in a man who was not elected by the people.

Delta State is a cash cow where they come and bleed and that is what is causing all these problems.

A final word

Everything I have said so far is directed at making our supporters understand what the issues are and how we feel about them and what actions we are taking. In a nut shell we are telling them, keep hope alive we have to keep on doing what we are doing until we are proved right or otherwise

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