‘A Deputy Should Be 100 Percent Loyal to the Governor’ Nseobong Okon-Ekong
Dialogues with Mr. Moses Ekpo, Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State on how deputy governors can avoid conflicts with their principal, while ensuring a harmonious working relationship for the benefit of the people
There is notion in some quarters that projects by this administration is concentrated in the homestead of the its principal officers like the governor, commissioners and yourself?
I wouldn’t tell you to come to Abak and see what is happening, rather I will tell you go around the state as much as you can. Look at what is happening. That’s the template that we are having for every part of this state. I’m not saying that the previous administration didn’t do things. They did things. You give credit to (former governor) Godswill Akpabio for what he did. He did a lot, but the intention is that we should be building on that. And that is what this administration is doing. Most of the projects that were initiated at that time are being completed by this competition. My personal view is that the zoning system for the governorship of this state is meant to be able to provide, at the end of the day, a holistic development in every part of the state.
If you have governors or leaders take development to their own areas, by the time they take development to their own areas, you will discover that the entire state would have been developed. If you look at Uyo, anybody who knows it from the beginning, the real Uyo has no semblance of what you knew yesterday. The reason is that we think that the state capital should be the first port of call to anybody. Let development radiate from there to other places and that’s what is happening in this state. I believe that if the tempo continues, if there’s anything to learn from this administration by others who will follow, within a short time, Akwa Ibom would be unique. Even in terms of economic development, there’s a lot of things on ground. By the time everything is unfolded by our completion time, we will have a lot to show.
Some believe that your choice as deputy to Governor Udom Emmanuel was for stability.You were expected to bring your experience in government to bear. Again, considering your age, the thinking was that you will not be driven by ambition into a conflict with the governor. In what ways are you doing this?
This is the most peaceful place you can have in this country, inside government and outside. It’s only good governance that can modulate this kind of a thing. In my little way, I think to provide that stability, there should be peace even within governance. For me, I have a dictionary that defines loyalty and when I interpret it, loyalty has no percentage. If you’re 90 percent loyal to your boss, then it’s not complete, it doesn’t help. It should be 100 percent loyalty. Governor Udom Emmanuel shares opinion. There’s no better way to govern. This state is the most peaceful state, even in government. Once the government is in factions, then the entire state will be in factions. We don’t want to create divide and rule. Governor Emmanuel listens to everyone. He listens to his colleagues in the cabinet and when decisions are taken it’s a wholesome decision.
There’s a move to review the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, will you advocate for a constitutional role for deputy governors?
If it’s a constitution, must everything be written down, to say, ‘the deputy governor must or must not do this and that? Even if they are written down, are they not turning them overboard? For me, if you have a constitutional role for a deputy to say he should do this or that, it becomes a bit selfish. When you take on a job with the governor, it not as if we sat down and said this is what we will divide. It’s a mutual understanding, so I key into what his focus is. If I do, I follow him, if I don’t, I don’t follow him. It’s very clear. What are we going to propose to be included in the new constitution as a role for the deputy governor? It’s very clear, you deputize for him. You are to do those things the principal does when he’s not available.
The role of the deputy governor is so critical, even as a candidate, like what happened in Bayelsa state. It’s a joint ticket. Whatever affects the deputy governor automatically impacts on the governor. And is it true you were chosen by former Governor Akpabio for this role?
All I’m saying here is if the nation considers that it is important to define roles for a deputy governor, will it ever be in conflict with what the governor is doing? I think it’s a mutual understanding between two people.
The former governor didn’t choose me. It’s the party that chose me. If it was the former governor, I would have decamped with him. I’m not opposed to defining the constitutional role but what will this role be in our case? No matter what you inscribe in that constitution, are practicing it here? What we want is the interest of the people. We should be very careful in saying what a deputy governor should do or should not do. The 1999 constitution is not a constitution of the people. Let the people agree on a constitution. The constitutional reports are there. Why are we not looking at them? In those reports, you see semblances of what a peoples constitution should be. In our own case, it was the soldiers that gave us the constitution. Nobody had a say. The right thing to do now is to look at all the reports and get a group of Nigerians to scrutinize it, but not on political party basis.
On security issues, the South-west governors have come up with their own peculiar solution. Do you think the Southsouth should go in that direction?
We are not following anyone. We are looking at it and studying it. As soon as it is ready it will be made known. For example, why is Akwa Ibom the most peaceful state? It’s because we involve everyone from every strata of the society.
Are Akwa Ibomites peaceful or docile?
We are not docile. In your village, for example, don’t you know who the bad people are? Even the parents know who they are. How do you secure a place? Through information. The ability to give information to enable the management of security is what is affecting this country. These people who carry out these disturbances are not ghosts. They are our people. We know them. We will do what we think will help our people. The day Nigeria starts believing that everyone is related to each other, we will start to have peace.
Do you believe that there’s a Fulani agenda to take over this country?
I don’t know. This agenda, where’s it developed? When you take over, what does that mean? People might say that at this point in time that there’s a lot of killings, that could be true. But what’s the basis of doing that? I’m sure a lot Fulanis and Muslims have a conscience. It’s to appeal to that conscience and the only way to appeal to that conscience is for those people to believe that they are part and parcel of the entire country.
We have reports from villages in Akwa Ibom of attacks by herdsmen. When the women go to the farm and sight these herdsmen, they run back. That’s very true. We are looking at those reports. But what I normally say to this issue is who owns those cows? We should also know.
Cattle rearing is business. It could be that those cows are owned by Akwa Ibomites and they hire Fulanis to keep them. It could be because they have expertise much more than we have.
But why would they arm them with guns?
If they arm them what is the overall government and security agencies doing? Are herdsmen supposed to be armed? If they are not supposed to be armed what is the law saying about it? if there’s a law at all, has it been enforced? Has the Federal Government enforced the laws? If they did, these people won’t be carrying arms. Or are we saying it’s part of the Fulani agenda that’s why the federal Government is saying nothing? Fine a Fulani man is President. Doesn’t he have collaborators including southerners?
He must have collaborators for it to work. Nigeria has a very complicated situation which every well-meaning person should see how to address. Take the herdsmen thing for example, if the law doesn’t provide for them to be armed, why are they being armed? If they solve that matter, then the issue of herdsmen can be dealt with easily. Whoever hires them you are not expected to arm them. If you arm them, it’s against the law. If this law is enforced, then people will know you can’t arm them and of course they can’t frighten people in their farms. Who should help those helpless people? The government using the law. Will it be fair to say that the government in power is encouraging the Fulani agenda? If they are encouraging the agenda, who makes up the government?
At the end of the day, you hold the Federal Government responsible. It’s the Federal Government law that should be effective in these states. Everyone should obey the law. That’s why I say our problem in Nigeria is so complicated. And nobody should say I’m not part of it. If the present government at the centre is being run by the All Progressives Congress (APC), do we have only Fulanis in the APC? Of course, we have all Nigerians. So, everyone including my people here are part and parcel of it. Anybody who will want to do things that will be against his own people then that person is not well. For me, the issue that is at hand is the issue of leadership.