How realistic is Ekere’s single term guber ambition pledge in A/Ibom?

The Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Nsima Ekere who is vying for the governorship position of Akwa Ibom State made a committal statement during a rally in Eket.  While delivering his acceptance speech, he promised that if elected he would serve for a single term of four years. The 1999 Constitution (as amended) makes provisions for governors to seek a second term in office at the expiration of the first four years.

This statement has since generated debate and controversy given that campaign promises in Nigeria and utterances at political rallies are often taken with a pinch of salt.

Again, Ekere comes under criticism by observers for playing on the intelligence of the right-thinking people who believe that such statements made in the past were never adhered to. Many see it as a way of currying the favour of voters to enable him get into office in the first place.

There are instances where many politicians did not feel any obligation to the statements they made while campaigning. For instance, when Muhammadu Buhari was campaigning in 2014, he had promised to serve for only one term if elected president but today, he has willingly accepted to run for a second term without any recourse to the statement and promises he made in the past.

Similarly, former President Goodluck Jonathan was said to have promised to serve only for a single term when he was first elected as president but he reportedly abandoned the pledge when he sought for re-election in 2015. He lost the election with many thinking that if he had served for a single term and allowed another candidate from another section of the country, perhaps Nigeria would have been better off than it is today.

In Akwa Ibom State also, there is a raging controversy that Governor Udom Emmanuel before being elected had entered into an agreement with a section of the Akwa Ibom South senatorial district to be a governor for only one term.

This has since been vehemently denied and Governor Emmanuel has already received the backing of his party, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the sole candidate in next year’s election.

While Ekere has made a pledge to run for a single term, he has anchored it on the youths agreeing that he should only go for a single term. In other words, when the youths come back and ask him to go for a second term, he would have no choice than to accept their request.

 “Today I have been given a form and I have been asked to run. I would run on one condition. The first condition and the only condition is that you must agree that I run for only one term,’’ Ekere said during the rally.

Given that such statements made in the past were never adhered to, should Ekere’s statement be swallowed hook, line and sinker?

There is a subsisting political arrangement in Akwa Ibom in which each of the three senatorial districts of the state produces the governor for two terms. This agreement has been implemented and two senatorial districts have done so already. For example, both Akwa Ibom North East and Akwa Ibom North West senatorial districts have taken their turns as it were.

Now, Governor Udom Emmanuel who hails from Akwa Ibom south senatorial district is seeking a second term and Ekere who is also from the same senatorial district is running, if he were to succeed, it means Governor Udom’s bid for a second term would have been truncated though if Ekere were to win, the senatorial district would still have done two terms.

However, the major snag here is that Akwa Ibom North East is already waiting in the wings for Akwa Ibom south senatorial district to complete its tenure in 2023 so that it takes over the governorship of the state. If Ekere is elected governor, many believe he would jettison his one term pledge more so as he had stated his decision would be dependent on the youths who must agree that he should run for a single term. This therefore, means that the youths can put him under pressure to go for a second term, a development which looks vague and suspicious.

As the man at the helm of affairs at the NDDC, he sits over a budget of more than N400 billion yearly.  Though the commission may not receive all its allocations in a given year, a substantial part of it is usually released for the development of the Niger Delta region and states within the catchment area. If that is the case, should Ekere not be contented with supervising the development of the region? Having served as a deputy governor of the state before, it seems his quest for the number one office in the state is all out to truncate the political arrangement in the state. Be that as it may,  Ekere knows that with a single term as governor, he would hardly be able to accomplish much in bringing development to the state, creating jobs and adding value to the system. Perhaps, if he loses out during the polls, he might have lost his position as the managing director of NDDC.

Since the political scenario in Akwa Ibom  State took a new dimension with the defection of former Senate minority leader, there has been an  increased rivalry between PDP and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

It seems that the defection has tilted the political calculations but it remains to be seen how it would significantly alter the outcome of next year’s general election in the state.

According to commentators, though Akpabio had defected from PDP to APC, the political gladiators in the senatorial district are still in intact with PDP.

“We have only lost about two percent of the voters; we cannot for whatever reason go with him to the other party. Our main worry is the refusal of President Buhari to sign the electoral bill into law; we are for peaceful elections, we are no war-mongers and our instrument of peace is the Permanent Voter’s Card,’’ one commentator from the district said.

Indeed, the political atmosphere in the state looks charged and given the unsavory statement credited to one of the gladiators, it seems most probable that the only way  to restore confidence and credibility in the forthcoming election is for President Buhari to sign the electoral bill into law.

And with the promise by Ekere to serve for only one term if elected, it seems politicians in the state are all out to win the votes of the electorate with promises that they may not be able to keep.

ANIEFIOK UDONQUAK, Uyo