Why Akwa Ibom may vote Buhari, and not Jonathan

One man’s opinion on Facebook reveals a frightening truth – young PDP voters in Akwa Ibom State may not be having sympathy for Goodluck Jonathan.

By Nse Peter

Akwa Ibom is a PDP-controlled state. And being a part of the South South of Nigeria, Akwa Ibom people are naturally expected to vote, either out of sympathy or ethnic sentiment, for the PDP presidential candidate, Goodluck Jonathan who is from another South South state – Bayelsa. But such may not be the case during the February 2015 presidential election. The prevalent feeling in Akwa Ibom is that the state and her people have not fared better since Jonathan became Nigeria’s president in 2010, after the death of Umaru Musa Yar’ adua.

The view expressed by one Uwem Umoh (pictured above) on Facebook somehow symbolises the shift in the thinking of Akwa Ibom people who may likely vote for the APC presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, instead of ‘their brother’ Goodluck Jonathan.

“I have nothing against Jonathan. But I haven't seen any project of his to justify he has earned my confidence to vote him again,” Mr. Uwem Umoh wrote on Facebook, while responding to a post by a fellow Akwa Ibom man who  mockingly asked “does the Nigerian Army withhold the original copies of its officers certificate?” Buhari was reported to have failed to present his academic certificates to INEC.

Uwem Umoh, whose Facebook profile suggests he is a lawyer, stated that he voted for Goodluck Jonathan in 2011 because of ‘sentiment and emotion for a South South man’, but that the president hasn’t lived up to the expectation. “Jonathan has not satisfied that trust and hope of affecting lives or infrastructures or citing laudable projects in my place – Akwa Ibom State,” he said.

“I won’t vote sentiment again,” wrote Uwem Umoh who went on to mention the terrible condition of federal roads linking Akwa Ibom with other states like Cross River, Abia and Rivers as being one of his disappointments with Jonathan.

Mr. Umoh claimed he is a PDP member, but that during the elections he will vote persons, not party.

“I am not faring better with PDP 15- year regime. I am yearning for a new thing. Maybe a change. If Buhari fails in next four years I'll vote Jonathan again in 2019 because he shall still be eligible to contest. I just need a bite and taste of another regime. I need a change please.

“I love Jonathan. But he has not reciprocated that hope entrusted on him. More so, democratic processes at choosing leaders and political offices holders have been bastardised in his time more than ever. People’s voices and choices do not count.

“My being a PDP man does not blind my eyes to the rules of law, tenets and principle of true democracy. Being a PDP person doesn’t foreclose my (freedom of) choice. I may vote Bassey Albert Akpan who is a PDP candidate. I may not vote Jonathan. I may vote Accord party because of Samuel Effanga, but not PDP’s Mike Enyong for federal House of Representatives. I may vote PDP’s Muray Eyo for Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, but may not vote for PDP in other elections. That’s the beauty of democracy.”