2015: Oro Governorship Aspiration Divides Eket Senatorial District

“I very much doubt their sincerity…. I find it very difficult to ‘see’ or be persuaded to ‘believe’ that the current cream of political leaders of Ekid would sincerely support Oro to pick the 2015 governorship ticket.”

-          Mr. Ita Awak, from Oro, former commissioner for information.

“The argument that it is Oro's turn to produce the Governor in 2015 is puerile and not feasible. I am saying that it would serve Oro interest better if they showed greater commitment in their conducts and comments to respecting the Ibibio majority and dialoguing with them for more inclusiveness for Oro people rather than the current grandstanding and empty bragadacio”

-          Nsima Akpan, former chairman, Onna Local Government Council

 

 

 

Chief Ndueso Essien.....  Can they be trusted to support Oro governorship ambition in 2015

 

By Udeme Akpanta

The Oro ethnic group in Akwa Ibom State is convinced that they are the right people to produce the next governor of the state in 2015, and they have stepped up their political campaign to that effect through online, conventional media, and bulk sms. But that seems not to have gone down well with others, especially the Ibibio and Ekid, in the Eket Senatorial District.

There seems to be tension brewing silently over the issue, with Ibibio and Ekid feeling that Oro is jumping the gun, with their continuous campaign that ‘it’s Oro turn’ while the zoning issue is yet to be settled.

“Oro are a minority in Akwa Ibom State and that is a fact,” wrote Nsima Akpan, a retired director in AKBC and a former chairman of Onna local government area, in a recent comment posted in Ibom Forum on July, 22. Ibom Forum is an online discussion group hoisted by Yahoo! “I am saying that it is unrealistic for the Oro to expect to win any election in a democracy that is based on majority vote. I am saying that Oro ethnic mantra alone will not win the governorship for an Oronian.”

Mr. Nsima Akpan’s comment, coming on the heels of reported distraught among Oro, Ibibio and Ekid of the Eket Senatorial District, is perhaps the most critical remarks against Oro 2015 political interest, from a high-ranking figure from the Eket Senatorial District, and may very well represent the frustrations of Ibibio and Ekid against Oro.

Nsima Akpan went further to say, “Oro have done a very poor job of trying to convince the majority Ibibio to part with their votes and invest them with the votes to win the coveted prize.”

“I am saying that the argument that it is Oro's turn to produce the Governor in 2015 is puerile and not feasible. I am saying that it would serve Oro interest better if they showed greater commitment in their conducts and comments to respecting the Ibibio majority and dialoguing with them for more inclusiveness for Oro people rather than the current grandstanding and empty bragadacio.”

“I am saying they should borrow a leaf from Annang people who in 2007 had such a dialogue which led to the much talked about powershift. I am saying that the argument by some Oro politicians that Oro people should join the attempt by some Uyo Ibibios to truncate the well-established zoning arrangement in the state is a clear case of trying to destroy what you cannot get. It is also a product of poor thinking. The pro (zoning) are a minority. In a democracy, they can only make noise; they can't make power.”

But in another online group, Oron Nation Group, dedicated to Oro interest, Ita Awak, a former commissioner for information in Akwa Ibom during the Victor Attah administration, expressed the fear of Oro politicians for 2015 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State.

Mr. Ita Awak, who is from Oro, wrote in the Oron Nation Group, “I very much doubt their sincerity…. I find it very difficult to ‘see’ or be persuaded to ‘believe’ that the current cream of political leaders of Ekid would sincerely support Oro to pick the 2015 governorship ticket.”

Awak says the only way Ekid and Ibibio leaders in Eket Senatorial District can show their sincerity to Oro is “to publicly proclaim that power must shift expressly to the Oro ethnic group in our Senatorial District”. Awak says anything short of this smacks “blatant dishonesty”.

“Let us keep in mind that if we misadventure into helping the Ibibio of our District get the governorship in 2015, it is going to take another 24 solid years before the contest rotate to the ‘turn’ of our district,” Awak warns his Oro kinsmen.

The former speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, Barr. Bassey Essien who commented on the seeming crack within the Eket Senatorial District, advises Oron Federal Constituency to embrace other constituencies within the senatorial district, saying that “it’s premature and funny for any of the federal constituencies in Eket Senatorial District to arrogate to itself the right to produce the next governor”.  “I see it as myopic and primitive,” says Bassey Essien.

“Let the Oro man look at the issue of zoning from the perspective of Eket Senatorial District because to do otherwise will amount to narrow mindedness and in-fighting which is not good for the collective interest of the district,” says the former speaker.

 

Meanwhile, the former state vice chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Mbong Mbong has asked Oro to prepare to produce a senator in 2015, and forget the governorship which he said is meant for Eket Federal Constituency.

 

Mbong who is from Eket told DETAILS in an interview, “the third leg tripod in Akwa Ibom State does not exist because there are other ethnic nationalities like Eket, Ibeno, Andoni of Eastern Obolo that make up the integral part of the whole. So, for Oro nation to use the tripod issue for its agitation smacks of ignorance”.

 

Barr. Edet Eyo Bassey, the moderator, Oron Nation Group, says Ekid and Ibibio should not hold the Oro people responsible for ‘careless’ statements made by individuals. He says Oro understands the important of maintaining good relationship with other ethnic groups in Akwa Ibom, and that is why no governorship aspirant from Oro is known to have made any insensitive remark regarding the 2015 election.

“We want an Akwa Ibom governor from Oro, and not an Oro governor,” Edet Eyo Bassey told DETAILS in an interview.

Bassey however disagrees with Mbong Mbong on which federal constituency should produce a senator for the Eket Senatorial District in 2015. “Both the senate position and the governorship could come to Oro because Oro hasn’t produced a senator for so many years now. But since we can’t take the two positions, we prefer to go for the governorship.”

He says he is aware that some persons from Oro have indicated interest in the 2015 senate race, but that they are on their own because “there is no one person in Oro who can move against the overriding interest of the Oro”.

 

Culled from DETAILS newspaper