UDOM, EKERE AND THE JINX BY Nsibiet John

Away from the activities of some noisy followers, who feel their stunts can win an election for their principal, the 2019 governorship election in Akwa Ibom State if it ever turns out to be a straight butte between the incumbent Governor Udom Emmanuel and NDDC big boy Nsima Ekwere will be an interesting one.
Both men are noble and their fathers are retired teachers. Above all, they come from Eket senatorial district which is favoured to produce the Governor till 2023. And this is why perhaps reasons camps of both men are the busiest at least for now.
It would however be fool hardy for anyone to assume that other Akwa Ibomites will not stage a surprise. If I argue in that direction, then not many Akwa ibomites and Nigerians will take me serious.
But the issue is that if and when the battle line between Udom Emmanuel and Nsima Ekwere must have been drawn, then it will be a fight to finish. It will be a battle not only for the soul of Akwa Ibom State but for the creation of a record, the protection of pride and the breaking of a jinx.
In the interim, both men are sitting on a jinx that is yet to be broken and the outcome of the 2019 governorship election will either break or continue the jinx. Beginning from the Governor, he hails from ONNA Local Government Area where Clement Isong hailed. From 1979 to 1983 in the then Cross River State, Obong Clement Isong from Awa clan in Onna Local Government Area presided as the Governor. In 1983, he sought a second term, but the minority conspiracy robbed him of victory. Isong was a celebrated banker and a former CBN Governor. Isong’s political history says he was a good Governor. So it therefore goes to suggest that Isong did not fail to get a second term because he did not do well as a Governor. He lost that election because of the conspiracy from the minority ethnic groups that made up the then Cross River State. Donald Etiebet of blessed memory benefitted from that conspiracy. Donald was from Oruk Anam Local Government Area.
With this, those opposing Udom Emmanuel’s second term bid say it is a jinx that Onna doesn’t do a second term. However shallow and ridiculous this argument may sound. It should not be swept under the carpet because of the dynamism and changing nature of politics. One may rightly posit that, that event of 1983 may not see the light of the day in today’s Akwa Ibom especially now that very key political actors from Uyo Senatorial district sees Udom’s second term election beyond 2019.
Those in this school of thought argue also that what happened that year was in then or say old Cross River and not in the present day Akwa Ibom especially when in the present democratic regime Obong Victor Attah from Uyo Federal constituency and Godswill Akpabio of Ikot Ekpene Federal Constituency did eight years of two terms each respectively.
Of course, the chances sited in the above scenario just fired the confidence and chances of pro Udom into a dimension of positives. This goes to suggest that given a fair chance and spot, Udom’s 2nd term ambition may be sealed and delivered. The only seeming predicament being that the Akwa Ibom Governor belongs not to the ruling party. This is seemingly why those who oppose his return in 2019 feel they have the knife and the yam.
But in the midst of all these, Udom sure has his sight on the trophy and with the way and manner he has been going about his services to Akwa Ibom people, he generates much confidence by the day.
For Nsima Ekere, the big boy of NDDC, he has been around for a while and sure knows the implications of not creating an impact in the coming governorship election if he is ever going to contest in 2019. This may be his last contest for Governorship position.
If he joins the guber race for his state, this will not be the first time NDDC big shoddy will be seeking to govern his state after serving in the commission. Onyeama Ugochukwu served in NDDC, Timi Alaibe also served in the commission as MD/CEO both men in their time had hoped to become governors of their respective Abia and Bayelsa States at the end of their tenure. But failed to even pick tickets of their parties PDP as it were. Even when decamping to another party was the option. They didn’t get the seat of their government House.
NDDC hierarchy’s post political history in the south is always replete with failures to clinch the governorship seats for their respective states. The stories of Sam Edem, Udo Mboso, Senator Ewa Henshaw, Timi Alaibe, should not be forgotten in a haste. No matter how stylish they have always tried to be, victory has always eluded them.
This is the jinx the present MD/CEO of NDDC Obong Nsima Ekere will have to break if he is to emerge victorious as the Governor of Akwa Ibom Come 2019. His forebears in NDDC have not always emerge as Governors of their states and in this wise, he comes face to face with the jinx. To set a new record, he has to surmount this barrier.
This barrier however looks on the surface easy when one considers the fact that other top shots of NDDC failed as members of the PDP when the PDP was in charge of power at the federal level. Today, Nsima Ekere belongs to the APC and the APC is in charge of power at the National level. Can the party skew anything and everything to favour him? If they do this and Nsima emerges , then, that will be, apart from breaking the jinx of NDDC top shots failure to succeed in election as governors of their respective states, a reinterpretation of the Barrel.
But then, this does not look quite easy as forces contending for the APC ticket of Akwa Ibom State with some real and others imagined intention are much. For supporters of NUE, the 2019 governorship election offers the best and brightest chance for the Ikot Abasi Ibom NDDC big man and he has to do everything, just everything to claim that seat.
It could be argued that Udom Emmanuel and Nsima Ekere sure have to fight and how the battle pans out remains to be seen. For Governor Emmanuel, he has crossed the Rubicon of primaries as his party, the PDP have since confirmed their determination to send him on a second term. The Governor is sure of the PDP ticket. The case of Nsima Ekere at the party level (the APC) is not yet confirmed. The likes of Udoedehe, Asuquo Okpo, Edet Effretuei, Ita Enang and even NPC man Ben Ukpong are waiting to wrestle the APC ticket with Nsima Ekere. Although odds favour Ekere, in politics, nothing should be taken for granted.
Again, that takes us to another jinx starring Ekere in the face. The jinx of emerging the governorship candidate of his political party. Twice he has sought the ticket of PDP as governorship candidate, twice he has failed to make it or say he has been schemed out. He has to break this jinx by emerging the candidate of his party, APC and come to square up with Udom Emmanuel who is already a sure bet for the PDP guber candidate. Who will break this jinx? May 29, 2019 will tell.