2023: Forecasting Akparawa Ephraim Inyang-eyen’s victory in Eket senatorial district
Some days ago, I had a conversation with a friend of mine from Ikot Abasi, one of the Local Government Areas in Akwa Ibom South (Eket) Senatorial District. In the midst of the conversation, she told me that she’s aware that I am pro-PDP because I have many friends there but that she wants me to support YPP. This came as a shock to me for two main reasons. First, my friend has never been keen on politics. This was the first time I have heard her talk about politics. Secondly, she is not based in Akwa Ibom so I was surprised when she showed that much interest in the politics of the state. As we talked further, she told me that she consciously declines to discuss politics with her friends especially in Akwa Ibom to avoid negative outcomes. She went on to say that she is a registered voter in her village in Ikot Abasi and will definitely come home to vote during the general elections.
Believe it or not, there is an awakening among the electorate and a silent revolution that will spring heartwrenching surprises in the forthcoming elections. Eket Senatorial District, where the governor of Akwa Ibom State, Udom Emmanuel hails will not be an exception. Akparawa Ephraim Inyang-eyen, the candidate of the Young Progressives Party (YPP) for Eket Senatorial District is leading the first-of-its-kind grassroots mobilisation across all the communities in the area. As a former Commissioner for Works in the State, Mr Inyang-eyen had already traversed across the state so he is not a stranger to the communities and their peculiarities. It appears that during his time as Works Commissioner, he had left some enduring legacies in many of the communities which are now speaking for him.
So far, Mr Inyang-eyen has been the most visible and heard senatorial candidate among communities in Mkpat Enin. For instance, during his campaign visit to Asong Village in Ukpum Minya Ward 3 other villages in Mkpat Enin on Tuesday, the people of Asong poured praises on Ephraim Inyang-eyen who was the Commissioner for Works when the 12.742km Awa Iman-Asong-Ikot Edim-Ikot Emem road was constructed and commissioned. Addressing the people, Akparawa Inyang-eyen described Asong as his “adopted home” and noted it was the reason he was instrumental in the construction of roads in the community. In their separate remarks, the Chairman of the Village Council; Youth President of Asong; Woman Leader, and former Clan Youth Leader, lauded the sincerity of Akparawa Inyang-eyen to facilitate the construction of Asong Road and the provision of pipe-borne water to the community.
All the communities he has visited in his ongoing campaigns have the same message. It’s either Ephraim Inyang-eyen was instrumental to a government project in the community or he personally undertook a critical intervention in the area. Unlike others, Ephraim Inyang-eyen is not just making promises of what he will do when elected, he is promising to consolidate on what he has done in the past. One of the biggest mistakes that the people of Eket Senatorial District had repeatedly made in the past was to continuously vote for people who had nothing tangible to show as achievements in their previous offices. Of course, these people who were practically shoved down the throat of the masses by their exploitative party failed to give the area the much-needed representation. The result has been the years of devastating underdevelopment and negligence the area has suffered.
It is an undeniable fact that the Senatorial District needs to break free from the shackles of political marginalisation and it is also a fact that such a feat cannot be achieved by continuing with the same political party that has been responsible for this perennial misfortune. The people of Oro Nation must see the coming election as an opportunity to elect a senator who will have the guts and courage to demand their inclusion and recognition as oil-producing communities. The people of Eket and Ibeno are in dire need of a Senator who will not connive with oil multinationals to shortchange the people. Every part of Eket Senatorial District has a bitter story to tell about their experiences over the years. Therefore, the emergence of Akparawa Ephraim Inyang-eyen on the platform of YPP has offered the people of the Senatorial District a rare opportunity to take their destiny into their own hands.
Juxtaposing Ephraim Inyang-eyen’s pedigree and the revolutionary approach of the YPP, it is easy to foresee an Ephraim Inyang-eyen victory come Saturday, February 25, 2023. Ordinarily, electing Mr Inyang-eyen as the next Senator for Eket Senatorial District is the most appropriate thing for the people because the man towers above all other contenders in terms of impact in the communities. However, the people will have to stay above all the unfounded conspiracies and baseless sentiments from a desperate candidate and his failing party who are only interested in misleading the voters with their bogus campaign promises and meaningless sweet talks. The people will have to vehemently reject a political party that wants to turn public offices into one man’s inheritance at the detriment of other well-accomplished, and competent indigenes of the area. The people of Eket Senatorial District must sincerely ask themselves if one man is allowed to spend nearly 30 years occupying public offices, what will be the fate of other indigenes of the Senatorial District.
Ukeme Oton writes from Ikot Ebak, Mkpat Enin Local Government Area.