Ini Ememobong has traversed the political terrain of Akwa Ibom State in the last few years. He was Special Adviser (Political) to Mr. Udom Emmanuel while serving as Secretary to the State Government and retained the position during Mr. Udom’s governorship campaign. He is currently the Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Akwa Ibom State. In this interview with our Correspondent, PATRICK ODEY, he spoke on the crises in the party at the national level and sundry issues.
The government of Gov. Udom Gabriel is two years old, but the PDP administration in the state has been 18 solid years. Everything contemporary that you find in Akwa Ibom State is PDP. Where you are now (Le Meridian Hotel and Golf Resort) is PDP, the road you drove on before coming here is PDP, and the infrastructure you have been enjoying are all PDP. His Excellency, the governor has brought additional vigour into governance. He came into power at a point there was a sharp drop in resources, but he was still able to do a lot more. The way he executes government projects with strength and ingenuity, we have indeed seen so much with very lean resources within a short span of time. Comparatively, if you juxtapose what he has done with what other governors have done, you just believe other governors are on vacation. So, the governor has done extremely well in the last two years and that is my assessment.
Industrialisation, job and wealth creation and sustainable infrastructural development are the key policy thrust of the Udom administration. To what extent has he been able to achieve these so far?
When you see factories beginning to spring up and when you see the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), data indicating Akwa Ibom is the second user of Forex for investment after Lagos State. These are key indicators. When you see the syringe factory that is on-going, when you see the metering company that is on-going, and the pencil and toothpick factory already completed, and when you see private companies springing up here and there, it shows that the time has come in our clime when industrialisation has become the order of the day. The governor has been able to achieve all these. He is matching words with action sufficiently.
We are lucky; it has not affected the PDP in Akwa Ibom State. It’s been one strong family, like what you saw at the stadium during the administration’s 2nd Anniversary. All of us from the ward chairmen to chapter chairmen wore the same uniform. There is no question as to who is the party chairman, there is no question as to who the ward chairman is and who the chapter chairman is. We do not even have issues at the zonal level. But we trust that the Supreme Court will bring an end to all the issues involved at the national level. For us at Akwa Ibom, we don’t have any problem, we are not factionalized. It is a purely national problem; even Alhaji Ali Modu Sheriff knows that we are one in Akwa Ibom State.
Who were the Oron people that he signed the one-term pact with? That is the question. To the best of my knowledge, I was the special adviser (political) to Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel when he was Secretary to the Government of Akwa Ibom State and special adviser (political) when he was governorship candidate, such agreement does not exist. Let the people who are saying this come out and prove it. You hear people saying it was a proposal but we rejected the proposal. A proposal remains a proposal and people will clearly tell you that the proposal was not from the man himself. But the proposal is a proposal. There are three basic elements in law; there must be an offer, there must be an acceptance and there must be an intention to create legal relations. Was there an offer, an intention and an acceptance to create legal relations? So absolutely, the people were flying a kite. Even if there was a proposal, which became an intention, there was no acceptance. The Oron nation is today better off in this administration than ever before. You don’t need a governor to come to your place before you can benefit from governance.
Today, Gov. Udom has built roads in Ibiono, he is not from Ibiono, he has built roads in Abak, he is not from Abak, and he has built roads in Okobo, but he is not from Okobo. Governance must be egalitarian in nature; it must spread. If governance is about a place, then everybody will wake up to obtain governorship nomination form and that will make a jest of the whole exercise.
You remember that, in the march of the children of Israel towards Canaan, there was a time the people turned away from their God, people sought to worship other gods. Did that stop the manifestation of God? Absolutely, no. This is God’s agenda, the Egyptians you see today, you’ll see them no more. We will not worship strange gods. The same people who are defecting today, came out to say that Udom couldn’t win the ticket but he won, the same people said he would not win election because he was contesting against people who knew politics than him but he won, they said he would not win at the court, he won; they said he would not be sworn-in; he was sworn-in.
I can assure you that the God that gave him that nomination, the God that gave him that election, the God that gave him supernatural performance; will be the same God that will be with me in 2019. For the people who are defecting, can a man build a house and leave his with wife and family to another persons’ house? Absolutely, any person, who does this, is not considered a man. Those who are defecting have nothing to do with the chances of PDP in 2019.
The Governor has two more years to go in this first term, what advice would you give him for the remaining period of the term?
Let him listen to the voice of God because God will not disappoint him. No matter what people say, let the voice and the counsel of God continue to lead him. If God can turn the heart of a king, will he not change the advice of the ordinary person? I will advise the governor to continue to seek the hand of the Almighty God in everything he does so he will not disappoint the people of Akwa Ibom State
Having served as the PDP Publicity Secretary of Akwa Ibom State for some time, what are your challenges so far?
I don’t have challenges. I would have been challenged if my governor was not performing, but I have a governor and a party chairman who are very much on the ground and are doing extremely well. My challenge would have been those who spin lies, but there must always be such people in the society to complete the circle of human existence. But you know what? The counsel of Ahithophel will never stand. Marketing PDP this time is a very simple thing to do, there is what the Americans called self-evident truth. I don’t have any challenge at all, so to speak.
What is your advice to the people of Akwa Ibom State?
They should heed the voice of reason, respect the God-given leadership in the state. That is all I want them to do.
