Akwa Ibom G22: We will announce our next move shortly, says Ekpotu

Former Akwa Ibom State Deputy Governor Patrick Ekpotu is one of the 22 governorship aspirants who are against the emergence of Udom Emmanuel as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate. In this interview with OLUKOREDE YISHAU, Ekpotu says the group’s next move will be announced shortly

The Akwa Ibom crisis remains unresolved few weeks to election. Why is it so?

It may be that to our party, which is supposed to call it off, has yet not gone full cycle; unaware perhaps that when it does, it may be too late to be resolved. Full cycle is in the realisation by all stakeholders that the story at the end of which only the party’s electoral failure in the state is assured, should be made somehow shorter. It is in the realisation that Akpabio has nothing to lose in the end but the party’s victory in the Akwa Ibom State. It is in the realisation that one cannot logically by greater than 22. And it is in the realisation that there is special danger inherent in any capacity, on either side of the party and G22, for ignoring reason. Psychology and perceptions play essential role in convincing the adversary that any impunity or indifference by him will only lead to his inevitable defeat, and so urges the maintaining of the stability that leads to success. The G22 has, for 33 days tried to compel the necessity for this success while our party, the PDP chooses to sleep and urges us by its acts of indifference to travel further. I want to say that in a rare sense of unanimity,we all in the group have found the time to answer to the Party’s call. And we are prepared for that journey.
We will do it together. My prayer is that God will keep us worthy.

Many people are of the view that the G22 has lost the struggle after the party’s flag was handed to Emmanuel Udom, what is your take on this? 

We may be deemed to have lost the struggle but we have not yet lost our mission – the mission to free the State from hegemonic rule that has seen it worst ever. The struggle may be tied to our Party as it is, but its realisation transcends any particular platform as a vehicle. Just as the creed may seem time honoured, the means to achieve it is itself timeless. Presentation of Party flag to Udom is not an activity prescribed by the Electoral Act or INEC Rules. It therefore does not stop him from being substituted. The alternative it is to continue with impunity that I thought was associated only with the rulership in Akwa Ibom State and perhaps lose the chance of having a candidate in the elections. We will stop at nothing in ensuring that our rights are respected.

We cannot be asked to buy Nomination Forms to participate in a process under expressly defined rules only to have the rules changed somewhere in the middle of the game. And no one thinks we have a right to complain. Not in 21st century Nigeria.

What has been the motivating factor behind the G22 ?

The motivating factor is the common robbery that brought us together, The tragic fate that befalls the State. The increasing voices of cynics out there who tell our people that they can’t win it for themselves and again ask them to go for one that will keep them on that same course and let the chips fall where they may. These have motivated us to rest on the one sentence that sums the spirit of man – No! We can’t. And so even though we are all from different political background, our mission has been one. Though we speak from different perspectives to issues, our vision has been unified. This is the moment and this is the time: to reclaim our dignity as a people and reaffirm the truth that we are one people, indivisible, corporate, bonded together and collaborative. All these are presently lost and anyone who suggests that we keep it up simply wants these challenges of yesteryears to continue to challenge and hunt our future generations and is therefore cannot have our support.

What is the mood like in your group at the moment?

We are in the highest of spirit because we know what we are doing and we know where we are headed. Remember I said that even if the struggle is lost, the mission remains un-lost. So we are in high spirit and consciously pray that our dateline cruises in so that we move to the next level. We feel bedeviled by time.

Now that the ultimatum given by your group has expired, what is your next line of action?

 

We have many options on the table and the time for fainthearted excuses are over. I urge you to await the actions as will be announced by the group shortly. We know how we make electoral victory for PDP even before fate had Akpabio as the governor and after it. And since he has chosen to act as an emperor and God and deliberately severed that link somewhere nearer to the apex of that network, everyone will see that each person controls the link of that network from the point of severance right to the different units. It is only possible to use it to the advantage of the platform he chooses. There will the notion of a mortal being playing God.  That journey as compelled by our party would have begun.

Culled from The Nation