The Crown Prince, Dr Ekerendu entertaining the press during the interview
The Crowned Prince of Afaha Ubodung was recently on a hot seat
answering questions on his aspiration for the president general of Oron
Union and what he hopes to achieve for the Oro people when voted into
that office. He however spoke glowing on a number of issues as they
affect the Oro people in the conglomerate called Akwa Ibom State. He
spells out his action plan and strategies toward ensuring that an Oro man
emerges the governor of Akwa Ibom State come 2015. “I want to take that
platform, and like NAFDAC used to say, to shine our eyes and make sure
that every effort –the AFANGI philosophy of Oro will be mobilized on that
platform to make sure that we reach out to all political interests in Nigeria;
because this time around, having governorship in Akwa Ibom transcends
the interest of Akwa Ibomites alone, it involves that of the dominant
parties in government and in Nigeria, and we are capable and we believe
we have what it takes to reach out to those political interests outside Akwa
Ibom, outside Oro, so that we are sure that the sympathies that we will
articulate… will be sufficient to turn the groundswell of opinion in favour of
the party supporting a candidate from Oro extraction”. Offong Okodio,
News Editor with Insight Newspapers and chairman, Media, Research and
Strategy Committee –Democracy in Action, alongside a prominent member
of the committee, Barr. Emem Benson, were there to interview the Crowned
Prince. Read on.
Dr, you are welcome to our media platform!
Thank you. I appreciate your efforts so far.
You are Chief (Dr.) Edet Ekerendu, as we know you. Could you tell us more
about yourself?
No, I am the Crown Prince; I am not a chief, because my dad was a clan
head and automatically I am from that royalty. I can’t take a chieftaincy
title; you will get to know the difference as we go on.
Alright sir! Certainly our audience will want to know who the Crown Prince
is; tell us.
It was in the year 2000; I was already a Federal Permanent Secretary when
the clan head of Afaha Ubodung, His Highness, late Chief Etiese, gave me
the title “Crown Prince”. Crown prince simply means when there is a
vacancy in the clan headship in Afaha Ubodung, I don’t need to struggle
with anybody; I simply step in. I have what they called the first right of
choice. I will be the one to say sorry, I don’t want it, as indeed I have done
so far; but it will come. When I was also a permanent secretary, I made
sure Akwa Ibom State as a whole was electrified, during the time of Arc
Victor Attah, that no Akwa Ibom money was invested in rural electrification
. That was left to me to pool federal resources to the tune of 1.5 billion for
rural electrification in Akwa Ibom. That was not a small feat, as indeed the
ex-governor of Gombe State was taking care of Gombe State, and then the
late Minister of Power, Agagu, was also taking care of Ondo State, with
particular reference to Ejele area. So, the three musketeers, if you like, in
the Ministry of Power made sure that power got to the rural areas of
Nigeria, but they needed to redeem their own states and communities
based on past neglect of the military in that sector. Now I am retired for
the past thirteen years and half. I have devoted my time to community
service, especially in Oro and other platforms. I have a foundation with
which I am rendering services to humanity. But then, I also was a
candidate for the senate seat of Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District under
the platform of the then ANPP as it was called. We had two strong political
parties. I had a chance to win because it was Oro turn, as our people said,
but the regime then had the politics of allocating votes and of course we
rested it at that. So, for that senate thing, we put it on the side line, and we
are focussing on one thing now, which is the 2015 governorship, then after,
every other things will follow.
Is like you are very passionate about politics?
Well, politics in the sense that my community, Oro, is a minority in Akwa
Ibom, minority in Nigeria. If you make reference to the Wellington
Commission in the ‘50s, special prescriptions were made for remedying the
situations of the minorities; and that is why we have states created in
Nigeria. It was on the basis of the Wellington Commission’s reports; and
in any case, my late father was strong in politics, with Barr. O. O. Ita, and
of course they carried the day through out because they were pursuing the
creation of states in Nigeria, especially for the minorities; that is what they
used to call COR –Calabar, Ogaja Rivers States. Everybody is pleased that
these states have been created but they don’t remember how many people
fought for them to be created. So, I am indeed passionate about politics
until that minority, unfairness and marginalization are removed; we will
continue as long as we have the breathe in us to pursue doggedly. You
know the politics of Oro and Akwa Ibom within the federation of Nigeria. It
is not just by chance that we are the number one oil producing state in
Nigeria but it is because we had also fought for it. I think we will talk in
detail about that.
Sir, you tried to say something about your father. Who and what was your
father?
My father was the His Highness Chief Jackson Antai Ekerendu. He was a
school teacher; he was a lay preacher; he was a counsellor; he was a
politician.
You must have been a regular visitor to Akwa Ibom and must have seen
the on-going development there in the state. Looking at Akwa Ibom State
generally, what is your thinking or opinion?
When talking about development, we only hear of the uncommon
transformation of the state; and that is, as you rightly said, with particular
reference to the northern part of Akwa Ibom State, but what we called
Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District, part of it, because of its standing on
oil matters, it has been also partially developed. But when you come to the
five local government areas of Oro, there is no development; we can even
say that there is a decay; that is why we are saying nobody else develop
his own area than the person in the saddle of governance. Nobody will do
it better for you than you, as they say he who the shoe pinches will know
what to do. So, that development issue is at the back of our mind, why we
say 2015 must happen, and will surely happen, by the grace of God.
Looking at the on-going agitation for Oro to produce the next governor of
Akwa Ibom State, a lot of people have argued in some quarters that the
Oro people are looking at it from the narrow prism of an Oro governor and
not a governor of Akwa Ibom State of Oro extraction. That is to say the
agitation by the Oro people is simply based on ethnic sentiments, that they
want to produce the governor of Akwa Ibom State just to satisfy the Oro
Interests. I would want you to comment on this.
My comment is simply that once there is an idea, that idea is always very
difficult to die until it takes its full bloom. I can compare it to a seed;
when you plant it, you have to nurture it; when you nurture it, you have to
harvest. And I will say the rotation principle in Akwa Ibom was planted the
then Governor Victor Attah; it did not matter what his motives were, but it
was nurtured by Governor Godswill Akpabio because he became the
beneficiary of that principle. Then the harvest of that idea or seed planting
must come to Oro because they are now the third largest indigenous
ethnic nationality in Akwa Ibom State. So, if it is said to be sentimental, it
is not, because that is the root of Oro agitation; it has its own origin, if you
like, history. You can say 16 years can be counted as a long period and
some political ideas that had been planted is blossoming and you believe
that Oro people would not see, and as part of Akwa Ibomites they have to
reap the fruits of that idea. So, what we are saying is that the tripod
principle puts Oro into the ratio of 5, 3, 2; and that means whoever is the
governor of Akwa Ibom State will not put this ratio, the basket and the
principle aside. He will have to implement that to the letter. But you will
see that an Oro man becoming a governor, he will stop the marginalization
of his people that has openly been implemented in the past 16 years. That
is what we are passionate about. We are saying that other majority groups
will always get what they deserve and what their strength and population
in the state will give to them; nobody can take that away from them. But
for Oro, something has been taken away from them, which is development,
and they will make sure, if they produce a governor, they will not only
develop the entire state but they will develop that neglected area.
Judging from the 5, 3, 2 ratio that has been in place for a long while,
would you say Governor Godswill Akpbio has been fair in applying that
principle?
You can say that it is worse during Governor Akpabio’s tenure. Arc Victor
Attah actually tried his best because it was the beginning of the
implementation of that idea. When it came to physical development, Arc
Attah did not do anything other than what Akpabio is doing -marginalizing
Oro. When it came to the ratio principle of 5, 3, 2, politically, occupying
political offices, Attah did try because at that time we had a speaker, we
had also a chairman of party and we had about 3 or 4 commissioners, but
now we don’t have a speaker, we don’t have party chairman, we don’t
have up to 4 commissioners out of 21. Now, we are saying that that
principle is almost dead during Governor Akpabio’s tenure, and the
marginalization in the development sphere has heightened our agitation;
and it makes that agitation fair and acceptable; and we are saying, by
God’s grace, it will come to pass.
Presently, there seem to be a dichotomy between the Ibibio and Oro
because of the mismanagement of the political situations in the state by
Governor Akpabio. Now, the Ibibios are laying claim to the 2015
governorship as against the zoning principle. What is your take on this?
My take is that those who want to contest have the right to contest. But
you know in politics, there are structures, there are party platforms, and
there are gentlemen agreements. Those are what will help Oro. But if you
say nobody in Ibibio land should come out, that is not correct. They will
come out, but we are saying that the gentlemen agreements reached by
whatever platform Oro candidate is going to pursue his governorship
interest must be understood by all concerned. You can see the difference,
the interest of the minority has to be agreed to at the caucus and at the
party executive level. But individuals will always have the right to step
forward; that means you will be running against the current, so to say,
because unwritten agreement and the party’s thinking will not favour you;
but as an individual, nobody stops you from aspiring. Indeed, when Arc
Victor Attah and Godswill Akpabio became governors, nobody was stopped
from coming out to buy form and to run for governorship, because those
individuals had the right to do so. But what we are saying at the
governmental and party levels is that that acceptance, that unwritten
agreement by the party platforms, a consensus of opinion is that
whichever candidate we have coming out, we will zero in; we will do
everything to ensure that the delegates will deliver it to a particular
candidate of a particular extraction. That is what everybody, no matter
what you say, should understand; because the issue of consensus on party
platform to produce a candidate is actually in making sure that a
candidate who emerges comes from the unwritten code. But the party’s
constitution says you can buy a form and see how far you can go during
the primaries. So, I want to use this medium to make sure that everybody
understands the distinction between the consensus by the party organs or
party platform of which candidate they want on the basis of rotation as
against all candidates that have the freedom to come to the field.
There is currently an unfortunate argument from some quarters that the
Oro people never support the creation of Akwa Ibom State and as such
they have no moral justification to aspire to produce the governor of Akwa
Ibom State. Apart from that, they have also argued that Oro has no
number and also no politician in Oro has the financial weight to aspire to
that position. I want you to also speak on these issues.
Well, as I have already said, when you are talking of consensus, when you
are talking of agreement, when you are talking of rotation, when you are
talking of principle of fairness, numbers don’t come in, because those
numbers will be galvanized to reach the consensus which is on the table.
Now, if you say Oro did not support the creation of Akwa Ibom State, I
have just told you about my father; we had our own house burnt down
during Okpara’s time in the defunct Eastern region, simply because we
were asking for a state. As a basis of electioneering, my father and others
were saying -vote Action Group because it was the only party that desired
state creation. If you vote for NCNC, they did not want state creation. So,
we continuously won elections on the basis of state creation. On states,
what did General Gowon do with the opportunity he had to counteract the
secession plan of the late Ikemba Nnewi, because those were the majority
groups that did not want states to be created, they preferred the status quo
while the minorities referred to in the Wellington Commission will remain
under political under-development. So, to that extent, historically, Oro
people were in the vanguard of state creation. General Gowon found that
agitation and consistent votes by our people in Oro for Action Group which
stood for states creation -to create the first 12 states in Nigeria, which
included the then South Eastern State. And when other military authorities
continued to look at state creation, they then came to Akwa Ibom State.
Nobody had any more agitation other than the original agitations for
creation of states. General Babangida in particular, this time not Gowon,
created Akwa Ibom State based on the principle that Nigeria must be
divided into states in such a way that minorities would not be hugely
created; we would not have people who are Ibibio or Oro or Annang
languishing under the majority who are called Igbos. So, they also created
their own states for them as they have: it was East Central State created
by General Gowon and later split into 5 states. So, when Akwa Ibom State
was created, it was created on the principle of state creation by the
military, to reduce minority domination in Nigeria. So, those who don’t
know that history must go and read it. In fact, the history of state creation
is not a recent thing, nobody campaigned for the recent ones. Nobody
could say Oro did not support the creation of Akwa Ibom State. That is my
take on that.
Let’s get back to Oro proper. We are made to understand that you have
interest in running for the office of the President General of Oron Union,
what inspires you to seek for election into that office.
That’s a good question. You know, for every community, they have to have
a cultural platform with which they can pursue certain interests. Culture is
for the entire people; if it were politics, you would have differences; but
culture –the fact that you are Oro makes it all inclusive. Though that
platform is not political, but at least they have political interest that they
can understand is the desire of the people of Oro. It may not be 100%
interest by Oro people but the majority interest of Oro, politically, will be
the stand of Oron Union. So, come 2015, we believe there are a lot of
things involved. 2014 will be too important for you to leave Oron Union in
the hand of somebody who don’t believe in the interest of Oro people,
because so far we have even heard that there are certain interests and
individuals who are trying to subjugate the overall and collective interest of
Oro people to the background, as they prefer to have the deputy
governorship position under another governorship candidate. To make sure
that does not happen, I want to take that platform, and like NAFDAC used
to say, to shine our eyes and make sure that every effort –the AFANGI
philosophy of Oro will be mobilized on that platform to make sure that we
reach out to all political interests in Nigeria; because this time around,
having governorship in Akwa Ibom transcends the interest of Akwa
Ibomites alone, it involves that of the dominant parties in government and
in Nigeria, and we are capable and we believe we have what it takes to
reach out to those political interests outside Akwa Ibom, outside Oro, so
that we are sure that the sympathies that we will articulate and will be
using your medium, will be sufficient to turn the groundswell of opinion in
favour of the party supporting a candidate from Oro extraction.
We have just been informed of your aspiration for the office of President
General of Oron Union. As you rightly said, 2014 and 2015 governorship
are very paramount to Oron Union, as far as Oro interest is concerned. I
want you to speak specifically on your action plan for Oro to actualize its
dream of producing a governor of Akwa Ibom, assuming you are elected
the president general of Oron Union.
They say we don’t have the majority and I say when you preach fairness,
you can bring majority to queue behind you. So, my strategy is to get the
majority in Akwa Ibom to accept that the 5, 3, 2 ratio has been established
and nobody will lose out when Oro candidate for governorship emerges
from that part of the state. It will be an article of faith that development
also in that ratio will take place. But if you follow that same ratio, it
means that a governor of Oro extraction will make sure that the 2% ratio
for its own people will be faithfully implemented, because you cannot take
a knife and stab yourself. We will make sure that your own ratio comes to
you, so that nobody will say they have been cheated. You can’t cheat
yourself. The other one, they say we don’t have money; and we believe
from our cultural platform, we will reach out to other Nigerians to see that
fairness and rotation are very important; even as Nigerians also pursue it
to make the siting president – a president. We are going to mobilize Oro
people one-on-one. All stakeholders in Akwa Ibom State will be reached;
we are not going to leave any stone unturned without reaching out to
opinion leaders on this matter. What do we have at hand to speak to them,
you have to have written words which I learnt the think-tank has
developed. We will improve on that, make it less voluminous and concise.
Now, traditionally, you don’t visit people without carrying drink. So, as part
of that strategy, we will need resources; when we visit the stakeholders, we
must drop something on the table so that they can listen to us; and when
we must have finished talking and would have left, they will understand
that Oro people are cultural people, that they understand how to talk to
people. That is where we are talking of persuasion; we are not talking of
numbers in the ballots that we don’t have. We are talking of the majority
that we are going to persuade to support us not only at the primaries but
also when they votes are being dropped in the ballot boxes. We should not
forget that there are other political platforms that Oro are not going to use
and other Akwa Ibomites are going to use. So, you are not talking about
just Oro candidates; we are talking about all candidates from other
political parties. But thank God, we have the majority of a particular party
in Akwa Ibom, and it is that platform we are talking so convincingly about
and we can have the majority to elect a candidate of Oro extraction who is
going to successfully win the primary and subsequently the governorship
seat in Akwa Ibom State
Dr., generally, the body language of the Akwa Ibom State governor, Chief
Godswill Akpabio, tends to favour an Ibibio of Akwa Ibom South Senatorial
District extraction. What is your reaction to this?
Today, that is his body language, and we are saying, in recognition of
whatever interest he is pursuing at the moment, we will also work, just as
you had asked, what is your strategy?. As president general, we will reach
out to the governor; we will reach out to the people the governor listens to;
we will reach out to the party headquarters; we will reach out to Mr
President, to make sure that Governor Akpabio does what some other
person had done to make him the governor of Akwa Ibom State, which he
is. So, our first gratitude to God is that he has zoned the governorship to
Akwa Ibom South Senatorial District. So, there is one more step for him to
take, we believe he will take that step in 2014, no matter what he is doing
at the moment; and that is why some of us have stepped out to be the PG
of Oron Union; because there is no other elected political person with the
clout so far; even if there is, the cultural platform, like I told you at the
beginning, is inclusive in principle of all Oro people, and that interest is
what we will use to tell the governor this is what Oro people want and if he
is not doing it, others who are also in the same political platform with him
will tell him on our behalf. That is the most important aspect on this
campaign. The most important aspect is that we are going to tell the
governor that if his colleague could support a candidate successfully in
Anambra State, that he should support Oro candidate to become governor
of Akwa Ibom State. The basis of all that we have is fairness, rotation, and
5, 3, 2 ratio. On uncommon transformation, we will make sure that our
candidate has the eye and mind of development like Governor Akpabio, so
that the uncommon transformation will not end in his time but will be
taken far more beyond what he is considering as uncommon
transformation, to make Akwa Ibom one of the state in Nigeria that will
become a destination not only for development in Nigeria but for the whole
world to come and see the Akwa Ibom wonders.
For the first time in the political history of Akwa Ibom State, two important
political positions, the governorship and the senate, appear to be due in
favour of Oro, the senate position, given the fact that for over 30 years now
an Oro person has not taken the senate position and has never taken the
governorship position of Akwa Ibom State. Now the argument has been
that Oro cannot aspire to the two positions at the same time, they must
chose one, and Oro people are saying no, it is our right; we can as well
take the two. What is your comment on this situation?
Personally, I told you in 2013, I ran for senate simply on the belief that Oro
turn had come, and if they had allowed one man one vote, I believe I
would have been a senator for Akwa Ibom South in 2003 against Senator
Udoudoama. Luckily, between his father and my father, they had worked
together for the state creation. People have said since he was 4 years in
senate, he did not bring any development to the senatorial district; and of
course it was time for him to be voted out when I aspired to replace him. I
am now saying if we have our eyes for governorship position, which of
course is a prize to be won by Oro, I would have said let us go
governorship. Except yiou are selfish before you will want to be a winner
takes all and unless you are not considering the political interest of others
within the senatorial district. You would remember the serving Senator of
the district was saying that she will support us for senate while she would
be aspiring for governorship; and I think there was a near booing on that
statement.
TO BE CONTINUED.
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