The Making Of Next C’River Governor
5 min read
Umezulike Desmond-cruz
Beyond the rhetoric and political razzmatazz, Cross River State needs a Governor who can possibly raise the dead. By this I mean, one who can do the near impossible to salvage what is left of us as a state. One who can take what is left of us as an insolvent state and transform it to something beautiful. To be more specific and particular, we need a miracle worker as our next Governor. And this is why I view it as absolutely denigrating and insulting to our collective sensibility as a people, reducing the Governorship position of our dear state to a mere parochial and fraternity sentiment, where a group of persons are hell-bent on mortgaging our state and our collective patrimony just to pursue the lifetime ambition of a man who sees the Governorship position as his birth right, under the guise of zoning— for Christ sake, we have grown pass such cabalistic approach in our politics as a state. This is time for real business.
So, it is in consideration of this immutable fact that I have painstakingly followed the activities of all the Gubernatorial aspirants in the mainstream Political Parties in our state. And I can attest that, while the forecast for the 2023 election is still beclouded by a lot of uncertainties, especially in the APC–as to who gets what, how, when and from where– the Peoples Democratic Party appears to be more resolute in their approach to choosing a Gubernatorial flagbearer. And speaking realistically and statistically, except God decides otherwise– which is not foreseeable, as the voice and choice of the people is predominantly the voice of God– Distinguished Senator Prof Sandy Ojang Onor will emerge as the flagbearer of PDP– the indices and favourabilty factors are glaring as there are reproducible. Little wonder a few other aspirants, sensing imminent defeat, have resorted to infantile propaganda against the candidacy of Sandy Onor. There seem to be a new found phobia, in the camp of some PDP aspirants, called SANDYPHOBIA (The Fear of Sandy Onor’s candidacy). So, while we wait for the Governor to choose between his long-time friend, Chief Barr Chris Agara and his adopted Political godson, Asuquo Ekpeyong Jnr, as APC Candidate, we must condition our mind to ask the right questions and choose the best candidate between Distinguished Senator Prof Sandy Onor and any other person from the APC.
We must begin to look beyond party affiliation, clannish inclination, tribal and Senatorial sentiment and elect a Governor who can bring back our Glory days. As a state with the 2nd lowest Allocation from Federal Government and high debt profile, coupled with a comatose economic and commercial activity, with businesses and SMEs closing up and leaving the state in droves, we need a Governor that can revive our Agricultural and Tourism potential, a governor with the Political will to fight insecurity. A Governor who understands the plight of the masses, one with enough experience of how the Local Government level functions. We don’t need another digital Governor that will give us digital Superhighway, Spaghetti Flyover, Deep Seaports and Industries only on the pages of Newspapers and Billboards conspicuously hanging in the streets of Abuja and Calabar. We need a Governor that can give us only the basic things–Security, Good Roads, Health, Education, etc–, revive our economy and take adequate care of our Civil servants and retirees. That is the Miracle—working governor we all deserve in 2023, and I am optimistic that we can collective achieve this, if we jettison political sentiment and put Cross River State first.
So far, Senator Sandy Onor has crossed the Rubicon and there seems to be no going back in his governorship aspiration.
Like Gaius Julius Casear who during his reign as the Governor of Gaul (Present day France) was ordered by the Roman Senate to step down from his military command and return to Rome. For Casear, leaving his command in Gaul would mean loosing his Community to criminal prosecution by his enemies, knowing this, Casear openly defiled the Senate authority by “crossing the Rubicon”. Julius Casear, like any other person was not allowed to enter Italy armed. To do so would amount to a declaration of War. However, Casear did. Before crossing, he was quoted to have said “The die is Cast” meaning “a decision has been taken and there was no going back”. This singular act led to the Casear’s civil war, which he later won, leaving him in a position of near unchallenged power and influence.
Like Julius Casear, Senator Sandy Onor has crossed the Rubicon. It is now a fight to finish. For instance, it is common sense that the Senatorial Primaries will be conducted before the Gubernatorial Primaries, which invariably means that one cannot lose a Gubernatorial Primaries and still stand for the Senatorial, as the Senatorial Primaries precedes the Governorship. So, you can easily deduce the infantilism and defeatist tendency in the propaganda against Senator Sandy Onor. And in case, you would want to argue that the party may probably arrive at a consensus where Senator Sandy Onor will be prevailed upon to step down for another person, I can in good authority, assure you that, the Irrunando of Africa, the Orator of the Senate, the one they call the Original Caterpillar, has long pass that stage. He is obviously the man to beat as far as the Governorship position is concern. For a man who has so audaciously and synergistically fought for the survival of the Party alongside the leader of the Unconquered Generation– Civilian Brigadier General, Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe– it will take more than just a mere parochial and hegemonical sentiment to get them out of the race. You can’t beat this team, because “they are not joking, and they are not Small Children” (apologies to Senator Sandy Onor).
Conclusively, I think it will do other aspirants a lot of good if they concentrate more on winning the heart of Delegates with Motorbikes and Mini-buses than spreading unfathomable fallacies against a man that have already crossed the Rubicon. And like Julius Casear, who crossed the Rubicon, dared the odd and won, I wish Distinguished Senator Prof Sandy Ojang Onor triumphant and resounding victory.
*Desmond-cruz sent this from Calabar
