Editing hundreds of mails that come in daily from Cross River state is one of the best things that has happened to me in the last two years.
These mails come both from our reporters and other Cross Riverians who want to have something to do with us or our platform, CrossRiverWatch.
Now that elections are around the corner, the mails have run into their thousands, some of them very laughable.
What these mails and the fact that I am constrained to read all of them hoping to find something news worthy, have done to me is that, I have by so doing, gathered so much information about a state I hitherto knew very little about, yet I did not set out to do that.
Both from the materials we publish and the ones we trash, I have ingested so much of facts, truths, lies, rubbish, nonsense and sense about Cross River state that, I have decided to make Cross River my business as clearly demonstrated by my time online in recent times.
It is getting more and more interesting by the day. More energy is released into my system as every day brings a new ray of knowledge about my home state.
Because we decided to make Cross River our business, there was an unleashing of information into the system and today, a state that prior to two years ago was difficult to read about online, boasts of the highest number of websites/blogs focused on reporting socio-political activities in the state. We are followed closely only by Rivers State.
This has substantially raised the level of consciousness of our people both at home and in Diaspora. Unlike before, today our people have access to information with which they can make informed judgment about events and people in the state.
The ongoing political log jam in the state has its root in the enhanced consciousness of the people, particularly the elite in the state who now have other alternative avenues of airing their views and reaching the citizenry directly.
In other words, our people may just have refused to continue being chickens on the queue or effigies nodding to the sound of the gongs. My people indeed perish for lack of knowledge. Our acclaimed docility is not because we have been afraid, Nay! It is because we did not have the right or adequate information about how our lives have been run from Peregrino House over the years by successive governments.
But this is only a sign of what is to come. The standard has just simply been lifted. What does it portend for the next governor? What does it portend for the next party chairmen? What does it portend for the next police commissioner in the state?
They must all come clean. Our people will continue to ask questions. We will not suddenly go mute. Now the people can talk.
Now they have a place they can go to and be heard without NBC sanctioning them, without a governor sending his security people after them and so on and so forth.
Before I forget, people are calling for cease fire between the so called, Imoke/John Okon Vs. Ndoma-Egba/Jedy Agba factions of the ruling PDP.
I refuse to join my voice to that call. Unlike the federal government that rushed to ceasefire that they did not start, (because you cannot cease fire that you did not start), I will urge both factions to continue the fight until they fight to finish.
See, it is in their fight that Cross River state will be free from that sluggish snail that has been put on our State logo, {in case you have not noticed it, check the state logo and see the snail on top!}
Some Benefits of the so called quarrel:
Beginning from the mundane, unlike before, this year alone more than 500 cars, 3000 keke NAPEP (tricycles), 3000 bikes, thousands of sewing machines, grinding machines and cash amounting to hundreds of millions was distributed by politicians in a manner they have not done in the past.
In the past, because the issues were easily sorted out in bedrooms as family affair, the largesse was not this big. Ask the party big wigs, and they will tell you this has been their best election in terms of what is coming in from both ends.
The second benefit of the rofo rofo fight is that information is coming out. Both the one you read in the public space and plenty others that cannot be put to the public. There are so many people now that are talking and saying things that they know and would honestly not have spoken about before. That can only help to strengthen the system.
The third benefit of the lie lie fight is that, the fight is making the road to 2015 more robust and interesting. It is no longer a family affair. The family has scattered, at least for now. Whoever will become governor will know that the political terrain of Cross River State is no longer the same.
The fourth benefit is that the fight has also empowered the people to become the real opposition to government policy. In order words, they are taking ownership of the process slowly. The politicians are now running online to give account. Each side has recruited people to push their case in the court of public opinion to see how they can sway it in their favor.
The fifth benefit is also that the fight is exposing the leadership content and strategic thinking of both sides. At the end, some people will be demystified. We will know that some people were not what we have always thought them to be. That is what all great fights do. They ultimately help us to know who the real warriors are and those who can earn our confidence.
See, it is not only the road to the promise land that is a battle, even the road to Heaven is a greater battle. We should not be afraid of battles, particularly the ones that will lead our state to a higher pedestal like the ongoing one.
This moment is the moment our state has been missing. A moment when those who know what is wrong with our state, those who have collectively held our state either down or up depending on what you think, those who have created and machinated the challenges that are bugging down our state, will openly disagree and quarrel so that the people will know the truth about how our lives have been run and decide where upon to lay our hopes.
See, Imoke, Ndoma Egba, Jedy, Duke and even their most vocal lieutenants are all in the same age bracket. All became successful at very young ages. Imoke was Senator at 30, Ndoma Egba became Commissioner for Works when Akwa Ibom was still part of Cross River at 26, Vena became Obudu LG chair at 26, Duke celebrated his 37th birthday in office as Governor. Jedy was born a Prince and heir apparent to his father’s throne. His father is the longest serving Paramount Ruler in Nigeria.
They know what is wrong with our system. If the system is having any problem, they contributed to creating it. They need to quarrel and tell themselves the truth. Me and you cannot fight them. It is only themselves that must fight themselves for our state to move forward…so let the fight go on.
Leave feedback about this