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2023 Opinion Politics

Now That APC Has Produced A Formidable Candidate, He Should Be Allowed To Choose His Running Mate

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“Senator Prince Bassey Otu Knows Who Will Best Compliment Him In The New Office Of Governor He Now Sorts.”

Now that the prediction I made long ago in a clear analysis which was logical and acclaimed by most of my ardent readers to be comprehensive enough for an article I wrote in which I predicted the Governorship election in the state to be a battle between the two leading parties in the state, namely the ruling APC and opposition PDP.

And between Senator Prince Bassey Otu of our great party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Senator Sandy Ojang Onor of the People’s Democratic Party, the (PDP), has come to pass exactly the way I said it, two months before now.

The party in the state should give me some credit and the benefit of taking my advice seriously on political matters as one who is versed with the inside knowledge of the political imbalances as well as the goings-on in our state and as an Oracle whether or not they accept that appellation.

What we have today in the party at the National level is against popular Democratic practices, especially in a partisan environment.

Where the Vice President or the Deputy Governor in the case of state governments, are given the right of first refusal to take charge of the party leadership as well as the one to assume the office left by the incumbent who should be the closest to the outgoing person than a fresher, no matter the pedigrees being flaunted by such an individual.

Which is why I wouldn’t base my comparison on these matters, extensively on the experiences of the United States of America where we seem to have copied most of what we practice as our democracy.

Why? Because their incoming presidents or governors are usually those who were previously deputizing the incumbents now outgoing, who are preferred as their party flag bearers in the ruling party almost all the time during periods of another election to usher in a new government to make for continuity.

It is usually so In a situation where the deputies are neither interested nor willing to run for one reason or the other, and the most viable candidate of the party amongst the aspirants in the race is chosen. And it makes sense. I will not concentrate on that experience as it exists in a so-called more advanced Democracy you would argue.

Turning to us here, ours is an unqualified practice of favoritism influenced by money, tribalism, or religion. We do not practice Democracy as it should be practiced. It is man-know-man here as they say in broken English. It is so in our great party the All Progressives Congress (APC) which happens to be the ruling party today in the country.

The story is not different because those at the top in the hierarchy of government, and those who oversee the party have mystified the current President, General Mohammadu Buhari to see things their way, which often breeds confusion and apathy amongst different groups, to the extent that the man is no longer interested in the many ideologies by their advocates or anything, other than to dawdle for his tenure to elapsed I guess, for him to return quietly to his home town in Daura in Katsina state and rest. It is all written in his body language as the observers would say.

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But not so with the incumbent Governor of states governed by the ruling party who must stay put and firm enough to see that their successors win the forthcoming governorship elections at all cost.

And this saw the emergence of APC flag bearer in most states controlled by the party including my state of Cross River in the person of Senator Bassey Otu, (Sweet Prince) but not without a series of dramas where the candidate had to go through an unusual disruption characterized by innuendos from several interest groups and alignments within the party which saw him being blackmailed at the dying minutes of the game with frivolous allegations so inane all of which were untrue meant as a way of preventing him from moving forward in the elections, even when they all knew he was the fittest to challenge whoever the opposition party might bring forward, they still cared less.

We were told that the allegations were all from an inside job where they masterminded or encouraged the issue surrounding the rejection of copies of the secondary and primary school leaving certificates he presented by the screening panel of the party in Abuja.

And that took the whole place by storm for one who had a university degree certificate handy and had attended similar screening exercises severally without complaints to now be accused of not having primary and secondary school certificates, was disheartening and had a demoralizing effect that almost made many party faithful lose hope in the party’s chances of winning the opposition PDP on hearing the news of Prince Otu’s disqualification.

Assuming he hadn’t those documents to present subsequently to the panel as the opponents had thought, for which he was accused of not having, risking disqualification on finding out the allegations to be true eventually that he was dismissed from service where it was said that he worked as a banker before leaving for the United Kingdom as alleged by his fictitious accusers? What would have been the storyline?

Of course, the story would have been different now, as none of those featured prominently around the party’s flag bearer now did make efforts to be around the same way at Abuja to help him out or at worse made statements publicly in the press on television, print, or the various social media platforms as it were, to exonerate him. None did.

Rather, they were dead silent, saying nothing whatsoever, hoping the devil would have its way as usual. Hypocrites, and turncoat politicians. They’re everywhere.

However, much as we hail the current Governor of the state fervently for the decision he took of having his successor come from the Southern Senatorial District of the State and insist on that without succumbing to external coercion, we do humbly emphasize here also as a plea, by imploring that the candidate of the party who has emerged as it’s the flag bearer, being Prince Bassey Otu should be allowed to decide on who becomes his running mate, or who is considered to be competent of complementing his efforts who is now the one to steer the ship of the state solely after the exit of the current Governor and his government in few months.

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The flag bearer of the party at this stage should be persuaded to select his running mate by himself quite independent of the party nor the current Governor, from one of those distinguished as being popular enough amongst members of the contestants who is widely known and accepted by the party members and none member alike, as is been done elsewhere in circumstances of this nature, and one who has the supporter structure to complement in the effort to win the general election against the opposition People’s Democratic Party the (PDP) and not bring in sentiments in the exercise which may cause the party to lose at the end.

This is not the time for that. All bickerings should be buried and differences are de-emphasized and all hands should be on deck to see to the party’s victory.

It is the turn of the electorate to determine who governed them and not a supplementary way around it. Especially now that the party’s chosen candidate and reaffirmed by the delegates in the primary elections seems to go well with the preponderance of the electorate who are impressed by the choice of Prince Bassey Otu, the party should be cautious not to do what may cause a public summersault to provoke the electorate to think otherwise in this case over their preference of who governs them.

Presently the prevailing rating of the people for this present administration in earnest is not too healthy to stimulate the idea of nominating just anybody as the running mate to Senator Prince Otu, despite his popularity.

The party on its part should rather concentrate on providing the candidate with the needed support from the angle of the party executive committees in structures at all levels, to see to the success of the party’s candidate instead, while the current Governor in his breadth plays his part in the required areas of material and other support anticipated of him as the incumbent Governor of a ruling party desirous of seeing to it that the candidate coming in as his inheritor wins the general election squarely and with a landslide.

This is eminently so, whereas the two arms of the support base within the party involved in the campaign which includes the Governor are to play their required rule, the candidate in this instance being Prince Otu, who is not new in the terrain, should be allowed to choose those he feels are capable of driving his campaign amongst his team of supporters, from those who have shown total commitment and have been with him closely in the journey from the onset of the internal fight.

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This is so to keep the spirit and momentum alive without any discordant voices occasioned by opportunists who may want to hijack or determine the pace instead of those who had embraced the dream and kept it alive fervently. The three arms in this case are to function simultaneously aiming at the same goals with no ambiguity.

As one who has displayed the feat of an Oracle of the party, I had long in my predictions and copious analysis over the period showed how the pair of Senator Prince Bassey Otu (Sweet Prince) as the Governorship candidate of the party with Senator John Owan Enoh, (Able Joe) as his running mate, will constitute a very formidable pair to challenge anybody the People’s Democratic Party the (PDP) may decide to bring forth.

And I still believe the prognosis is still tenable especially so when Owan Enoh, with a disposition similar to Prince Otu, in his wisdom, decided to throw in the towel by withdrawing from contesting in the primaries, stating the supremacy of the party as his reasons, in support of the present flag bearer who is Prince Otu. Particularly so because Senator Owan is inarguably the next to Otu in terms of popularity and followers, be they of party members or none party members.

His choice as the running mate will not only give a fillip to the contest but will guarantee our chances of winning; a hundred percent more than any other person chosen on the bases of sentiments or out of vendetta or both.

This is not the time for bickerings. And gladly so because Prince Otu by nature and antecedents, is not known as one who pays vengeance, certainly not at this moment in the struggle to change the narrative from an unimpressive rating of the leadership breading down discordant from the populist, and over an election that requires everything strong enough to guarantee to win, should be employed to confront the enemy with, without hesitation.

Our focus now should be on how to win the formidable opposition team of the People’s Democratic Party the (PDP) who are going to do everything to see to the defeat of the ruling party if they could, both at the National level and at the states ruled by the All Progressives Congress (APC). This is why we shouldn’t be seen taking chances for any reason whatsoever.

This, we must guide jealously to avoid a situation similar to that of PDP of old where the former Governor, His Excellency, Senator Liyel Imoke was being blamed over for bringing somebody said to be against the people’s will, held against him till date, according to information which spread everywhere. We learn often from the mistakes of others to get things right often.

End Time Message.

GOD WITH US…..

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