Ballot revolution to honorify gangsterism
The online hooliganism and media banditry that have characterized the activities of supporters of the YPP candidate have given them out as a herd that would be dangerously intolerant of differing viewpoints should they blunder their way to power. Instructively, the demeanour of their principal suggests gleeful endorsement. A similar reservation, captured differently last week by a keke rider, found expression in these words: “I know YPP can’t win but let’s imagine a worse case scenario. Should it happen, then cultism will walk boldly on two legs in the streets of Akwa Ibom”. That was a perspective and everyone should share this growing suspicion.
Genuine causes birth revolution. Always, it is driven by intrinsic convictions; never by the indecent ambition of an individual. Not wretched excuses. Not for once did Bassey Albert loathe the imposition in PDP — his former party, for as long as it benefitted him. He never expressed dissent for all the time it served his desires. All of a sudden, he’s deodorizing his aspiration with the fragrance of liberation. But the stench isn’t going away. A masked liberator. He should be seen for what he is.
A leadership that will likely trigger a resurgence of gang wars in Akwa Ibom should not be an option. The reverberations of insecurity on a society are widespread and profound. Its trauma on the people is better imagined than experienced. Elevating gangsterism to statecraft as a policy will bring to ruins the gains of the last seven years in reclaiming the state from the grip of avoidable insecurity. The business of conducting state affairs is beyond ‘sailing’ and gyration. It is dangerous to handover leadership to anyone who would feel the criteria for political patronage, and gateway towards relevance in government, is to ‘belong’, a euphemism for membership of an outlawed group.
There’s a compelling need to correct the errors of the past. Young people with promising dreams and laudable visions — with faces worn by sand and wind — should be promoted to the table of negotiation on state-building. Not kept at the city gate in first and blatant preference to gang affiliation. Brawn must no longer trump brain. It is a flawed pattern which should be mobilized against. Building a new world requires the destruction of the old. We owe Akwa Ibom a duty to make it one of our most important inspirations.
‘Ballot revolution’ in its present context is the height of audacity by political ‘yahoo men’ in stringing together an extravagant and deceptive phrase to swindle their way to power again. Gang membership of unlawful association should never buy a first-class seat on Akwa Ibom’s political flight.
