Eyes On The Ball, Pitfalls OBA Must Avoid

 YPP as presently constituted is headed by a true man of God, Apostle Nyeneime Andy. OBA must be seen to be walking in the path of justice, equity, and fairness to replicate what the man of God stands for, by so doing, his transducers will be heaping coal of fire on their own heads. OBA must know that it is God, who heard his prayers and secret cries, and has decided to vindicate him by offering him a fresh window to actualize his political ambition by choosing him as a tool for the liberation of Akwa Ibom State and her people.... Toney Etido

All is now set for the 2023 gubernatorial electoral cracker in the oil-rich Akwa Ibom State. All thanks to the Young Progressive Party (YPP) for making it possible for the people’s darling candidate, Sen. Obong Bassey Albert, popularly known as (OBA) to vie for the office of the governor of Akwa Ibom state in next year’s election as against the machinations of some few individuals who wanted to truncate the wish of the majority.

The recently conducted fresh primaries by YPP have put pay to what has all along been rumoured over the months, after Governor Udom decided to play god by imposing his preferred candidate, against Senator Obong Basey Albert, who appears to be the choice of the people.  What this means is that OBA is going to stand election, as the fresh primaries reaffirmed and gave him the legitimate and official platform to stand election in the 2023 governorship contest in Akwa Ibom State, an opportunity he sought, and was ready to pay “above the roof” to secure from his previous party, the PDP, “the acclaimed religion and god of Akwa Ibom State.

Now knowing that he, (OBA) is the desired and preferred choice of the people of Akwa Ibom State, “from top to bottom”, as against the unpopular choice of some few selfish enemies who are only interested in continuing to perpetrate the anti-people and anti-progress policy which they have been practicing, policies and system that have completely rendered our people, paupers. The Senator and governorship hopeful must consciously watch out for and avoid the pitfalls that characterized his former party, the PDP, the party which the people now absorb/detest and are ready to revolt against in the coming Ballot Revolution.

YPP under the leadership of Apostle Nyeneime Andy has Isaiah's 60:2 deliverance mandate for the people of Akwa Ibom State, a mission to tackle the pitfalls of PDP and bring shared prosperity and development to the people of Akwa Ibom State. OBA must acquaint himself with this heavenly vision of the YPP under the custody of Apostle Nyeneime Andy,  the mission to tackle these pitfalls that have plagued our people, over time.

OBA must avoid the usual practice of patronizing party elders and so-called political leaders. Give them their respect, but not at the expense of the people. This set of people in PDP constitutes a bottleneck that has hindered us from growing and developing as a people. These people circumvent justice, fairness, and equity in the polity. They stifle development with their selfishness and greed; they block the flow of government’s responsibility to the people and disrupt the righteous and equitable distribution of opportunities to everyone.

 OBA should know the fact that everyone has one vote and be at peace with himself. OBA must upturn this tide and practice and ensure that every resource meant for the people gets to the people; he should appoint only credible and non-greedy people to oversee, while he establishes a mechanism for periodic evaluation and assessment. He should not just dole out money, or any palliative, or delegate such an assignment to middlemen and think that’s all. OBA should know that some of these so-called “political leaders” he might want to patronize can cause him to lose the election. The fact remains that people who naturally would have wanted to vote for him out of sheer love, some on sympathy grounds could change their minds because of the evil meddling of those political leaders. Some so-called political leaders and “personalities” in some LGs, Wards, and Units are so hated by their people because of how they had shortchanged the people in time past, that the people wouldn’t mind throwing their votes away than to help that greedy politician to succeed.  It should not be lost on him that in the 2023 general election, votes are going to count now.

OBA must avoid the band Wagon effect, where he might be seeking to upset the existing party structure, and substituting the same with “HIS PEOPLE”, for all are now his people. The ones he inherited, and the ones he bigoted. The truth be told, YPP is a party that follows due process, it would, therefore, be ill-advised for him to think with the status quo in favor of “his people” as such action cannot augur well for the party at this crucial stage. YPP as presently constituted is headed by a true man of God, Apostle Andy. OBA must be seen to be walking in the path of justice, equity, and fairness to replicate what the man of God stands for: by doing so, his transducers will be heaping coal of fire on their heads. OBA must know that it is God who heard his prayers and secret cries, and has decided to vindicate him by offering him a fresh window to actualize his political ambition by choosing him as a tool for the liberation of Akwa Ibom State and her people. Strictly street, parallel, top to bottom, should be the designed pattern; using middlemen to filter the people should be systematically avoided at all costs.

Chapter party chairmen and other agents of the party must be compelled to follow suit in driving this new movement of people-centric order by ensuring that whatever is given and earmarked for the people gets to the people. We must start telling ourselves the truth, shunning deceits, lies, immediate gratification, cheating, stealing, and oppression. We must show our people by our behaviors, sincere words, and actions that we would truly and most definitely, lookout after them. We must not derail from the love of God, love for our neighbors, and of course, love for ourselves.  We must all do this to succeed.

OBA must watch out for these things!

Toney Etido is the Publicity Secretary, Young Progressive Party (YPP), Obot Akara Chapter.