Ini Ememobong is the publicity secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State. In this exclusive interview, he speaks on governance in the state and the administration of Governor Udom Emmanuel. Excerpts:
The local government election is slated for October; how is preparation for the election?
We are the most prepared party for the election; and for the level playing field, that is the question for the organisers not us; what we do is to play the game fairly. We ensure that we engage in mass mobilisation, we ensure that there is internal democracy; because immediately we have internal democracy, mass mobilisation and concentration gives carpet for mass turnout. We make sure that our candidate selection process is done democratically. So, at a certain time we have always made sure that we are the party with the highest investment in terms of preparation. It would not change now.
But there are fears in the opposition parties that there would not be a level playing field?
In the previous elections conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) how many posts did they win? APC does not have a significant presence in Akwa Ibom; they are a minority. We are the clear majority, how many wards would you see APC flag and offices in the state? You can’t count APC wards in the state. Many of the people who were chairmen in the wards have defected to the PDP. So, they can continue to express fear; our concern is to prepare for the election and work toward holding transparent primary, so that we choose a strong candidate for the election. Even if NUJ would conduct the election we would win.
Your name was among those recently nominated for commissionership position sent to the state House of Assembly; what is your expectation?
The man who sent the name has an expectation; until you are assigned the portfolio, you may not know what the general demand may be, but the general demand would be to help in a critical area to complete the development agenda of this administration. You know the development agenda has a human face as its centre point. But the general expectation is that you would assist the Governor to fulfil its agenda to the people of the state. It is not to create vision for yourself.
Governor Emmanuel has been accused of embarking on several projects at the same time, which has resulted in several of them being uncompleted. What is your take?
He has eight years tenure in the state, so let people judge him after that. Let them wait and judge him after May 29, 2023. Eight years mandate broken into two, the midterm mandate was affirmed by the people by giving him a second term. When the miracle of Atuemba happened; people did not know that the 300 bed-space world class hospital was possible at such speed. No need to worry a man who is alive and still working. He is alive to his responsibilities as governor of the state and to his people and managing the affairs of the state; there should be commendation but people want to talk just for criticising sake. He can create magic before 2023, and until then we should just watch and pray for him.
What is your take on insinuation that the zoning formula should be discarded since all the three senatorial zones have occupied the governor’s seat?
Zoning is a PDP matter, if there is anything PDP has entrenched in Nigeria, it is the culture of zoning; that is why someone from a minority can be the governor, and that is the beauty of zoning. If you allow politics to be a game of numbers it means that Bayelsa State would not have a president that it had, PDP should be applauded. Zoning is a matter of PDP and only PDP understands. I have heard such complaints from two people, formerly PDP members and now APC members in the state. They said then that in 2019, that zoning should be discarded, but we did not agree, but when we went to the election they went to Eket to bring a candidate. Why did they not go to Uyo to bring a candidate? Zoning has brought sanity and peace not only to Akwa Ibom but across the country. Even in Ukanafun, elections used to amount to a large number of deaths, but today between Afaha and Ukanafun they can select their people without crisis. Today, zoning has come to stay and it is a constitutional issue in the party.
We members of the party would say when we are tired of zoning; even in this local government election we would zone. Some offices have been zoned, because if not, you would allow the chairman and the secretary to come from the same place.
How would you feel if in Akwa Ibom, the governor and the deputy come from Ibibio who are the majority in the state? It does not bring equity in distribution of positions in the state.
May we know some of the achievements of Governor Udom Emmanuel in the last five years in office?
You should answer that, because when you come here you fly through a plane, how many states in the country can you do that?
Ibom Air is the youngest airline in the country. The airline is functional and is a huge achievement for the state. In a state where the indices, the government is still trying to attract investment in the productive sector; to be able to do this is a great achievement. We are able to maintain peace; that is why everybody wants to come here. You post Army, Police officers here they don’t want to go; and when they go they leave their families here.
But some local governments, like Orukanam are alleging marginalisation in the siting of infrastructure?
You can get statistics, there are people even if the road in front of their house is tarred, they would still complain. But you need to go and do a vox-pop in Orukanam and know. What about the state university where the other campus is located? It is in Orukanam; if you go there you would see the buildings and other infrastructures when they were commissioned and built and you compare.
