‘WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING’ BY ETIESE USORO
It is less than glorious how we as a people hastily erase from our collective memory, events that have shaped our political, social and economic lives today as Akwa Ibom people. We are readily vulnerable to the chicanery and guile of wily politicians who without let hound us with promises of ‘nirvana’- a state of complete perfection.
My grouse today is not with making promises. Promises are indeed beautiful things that nurture in us hope; hope of perhaps a better or greater tomorrow. However, the sort of hope I write of today is that which has the effect of a sedative. That administered to us to drift into inertia and a reverie. A false and induced reverie from which we can only be jolted from by the sudden emergence of that nirvana. That glorious state which we are to stumble upon without having stretched a limb or raised a finger.
One may wonder what heralds this nirvana. After the April 2015 gubernatorial elections, those aggrieved with the outcome or perhaps the conduct of the elections sought the intervention of ‘mother justice’ to right the alleged and perceived wrongs of the process. This indeed can only be healthy and encouraged in any constitutional democracy- a strand we are struggling to entrench in our particularly turbulent political praxis. However, the chain of the desirable ends at this point as every action or in fact inaction from this point commences our descent into ‘political slumber’ while we await ‘nirvana’.
We swallow the sweet pills administered to us by politicians that the present governor is just biding his time pending the declaration by the tribunal/court of the state’s substantive governor. They persuade us to recline into our sofas and watch in our semi-conscious state as the present governor takes decisions for the state and administers our resources. They prod us to be disinterested in all he does as the tribunal/court will soon nullify his election.
In this melodramatic scenario, they fail to tell us, in fact we fail to ask of the constitutional or legal status or effects of the decisions and actions of this ‘interim governor’. We fail to take cognizance of the fact that this governor has been constitutionally sworn in as the governor of this state and that everything he does in that capacity is constitutional. His decisions and actions will not and cannot be wished away just for the reason that his election has been nullified. We must remember that he is working with the legislature we elected and if they accord his deeds their stamp of authority, they bear the requirement of legality and constitutionality.
This admonition is timely because I have been at various fora where even those considered opinion leaders have openly expressed and counseled others on the futility of engaging the present state government constructively or otherwise as it is to be short-lived. This portends a dark and dangerous throwback to the days of 2007/08 when the people of this state were stuck in that same reverie waiting endlessly for the ‘impending’ ouster by the courts of then Governor, Obong Godswill Akpabio. I need not narrate here how the greater number of Akwa Ibom people missed the opportunity of collectively laying the foundation for an administration they were bound to live with for eight years.
Unfortunately, in many spheres of public policy, the bridges between the governed and the government had been irreparably damaged and each side acted on its own discretion and volition. This led to a relationship that was usually frosty and clad in mutual suspicion. After eight years, a large cross-section of the populace tunes discordant with that of the government. This lack of symphony was due largely to the fact that the seeds or foundational policies of that administration were devoid of the input of a vast generality of our people. The select few who ensured or supported the survival of that government articulated its policy direction often to the chagrin of the people. The people often lamented becoming victims of a process they should have owned.
In 2015, we are dangerously treading that path again. Our governor, HE Deacon Udom Emmanuel is sowing the policy seeds that will grow his administration. He is laying out his social, economic, developmental policies etcetera. Rather than seek our accent in these signature programmes, we are once again drawn to the ‘media circus’ that is the elections petition tribunal. Our politicians are again asking us to expect ‘nirvana’ very soon, Udom Emmanuel to them is the interim and not substantive governor. I only wish the constitution makes such a distinction. It does not and we have a governor who at the moment is constitutionally and duly elected. His decisions and actions are fully binding on us and will not be varied solely because his election was tainted even if he is so ejected from office.
My message is that we should engage the present government actively, it is even more imperative to do so at this time as his actions and decisions now will largely inform the direction of his stewardship. As those who call Akwa Ibom state home, we must be alive to the strengths and follies inherent in his leadership style and qualities. The bitter lessons from 2007/08 still rankle in most circles; let us banish them now by allowing the tribunal/court to perform its constitutional duties. We have a constitutional government to engage with at the moment, it is our duty and we must not relinquish it.
We must not succumb to this orchestrated political slumber, no leader should be allowed even a minute of unfettered, unrestrained or unchecked governmental power.
Long live Akwa Ibom state and the people of Akwa Ibom State.
‘WHILE WE WERE SLEEPING’ BY ETIESE USORO
It is less than glorious how we as a people hastily erase from our collective memory, events that have shaped our political, social and economic lives today as Akwa Ibom people. We are readily vulnerable to the chicanery and guile of wily politicians who without let hound us with promises of ‘nirvana’- a state of complete perfection.
My grouse today is not with making promises. Promises are indeed beautiful things that nurture in us hope; hope of perhaps a better or greater tomorrow. However, the sort of hope I write of today is that which has the effect of a sedative. That administered to us to drift into inertia and a reverie. A false and induced reverie from which we can only be jolted from by the sudden emergence of that nirvana. That glorious state which we are to stumble upon without having stretched a limb or raised a finger.
One may wonder what heralds this nirvana. After the April 2015 gubernatorial elections, those aggrieved with the outcome or perhaps the conduct of the elections sought the intervention of ‘mother justice’ to right the alleged and perceived wrongs of the process. This indeed can only be healthy and encouraged in any constitutional democracy- a strand we are struggling to entrench in our particularly turbulent political praxis. However, the chain of the desirable ends at this point as every action or in fact inaction from this point commences our descent into ‘political slumber’ while we await ‘nirvana’.
We swallow the sweet pills administered to us by politicians that the present governor is just biding his time pending the declaration by the tribunal/court of the state’s substantive governor. They persuade us to recline into our sofas and watch in our semi-conscious state as the present governor takes decisions for the state and administers our resources. They prod us to be disinterested in all he does as the tribunal/court will soon nullify his election.
In this melodramatic scenario, they fail to tell us, in fact we fail to ask of the constitutional or legal status or effects of the decisions and actions of this ‘interim governor’. We fail to take cognizance of the fact that this governor has been constitutionally sworn in as the governor of this state and that everything he does in that capacity is constitutional. His decisions and actions will not and cannot be wished away just for the reason that his election has been nullified. We must remember that he is working with the legislature we elected and if they accord his deeds their stamp of authority, they bear the requirement of legality and constitutionality.
This admonition is timely because I have been at various fora where even those considered opinion leaders have openly expressed and counseled others on the futility of engaging the present state government constructively or otherwise as it is to be short-lived. This portends a dark and dangerous throwback to the days of 2007/08 when the people of this state were stuck in that same reverie waiting endlessly for the ‘impending’ ouster by the courts of then Governor, Obong Godswill Akpabio. I need not narrate here how the greater number of Akwa Ibom people missed the opportunity of collectively laying the foundation for an administration they were bound to live with for eight years.
Unfortunately, in many spheres of public policy, the bridges between the governed and the government had been irreparably damaged and each side acted on its own discretion and volition. This led to a relationship that was usually frosty and clad in mutual suspicion. After eight years, a large cross-section of the populace tunes discordant with that of the government. This lack of symphony was due largely to the fact that the seeds or foundational policies of that administration were devoid of the input of a vast generality of our people. The select few who ensured or supported the survival of that government articulated its policy direction often to the chagrin of the people. The people often lamented becoming victims of a process they should have owned.
In 2015, we are dangerously treading that path again. Our governor, HE Deacon Udom Emmanuel is sowing the policy seeds that will grow his administration. He is laying out his social, economic, developmental policies etcetera. Rather than seek our accent in these signature programmes, we are once again drawn to the ‘media circus’ that is the elections petition tribunal. Our politicians are again asking us to expect ‘nirvana’ very soon, Udom Emmanuel to them is the interim and not substantive governor. I only wish the constitution makes such a distinction. It does not and we have a governor who at the moment is constitutionally and duly elected. His decisions and actions are fully binding on us and will not be varied solely because his election was tainted even if he is so ejected from office.
My message is that we should engage the present government actively, it is even more imperative to do so at this time as his actions and decisions now will largely inform the direction of his stewardship. As those who call Akwa Ibom state home, we must be alive to the strengths and follies inherent in his leadership style and qualities. The bitter lessons from 2007/08 still rankle in most circles; let us banish them now by allowing the tribunal/court to perform its constitutional duties. We have a constitutional government to engage with at the moment, it is our duty and we must not relinquish it.
We must not succumb to this orchestrated political slumber, no leader should be allowed even a minute of unfettered, unrestrained or unchecked governmental power.
Long live Akwa Ibom state and the people of Akwa Ibom State.
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