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There is a drummer in APC. When it suits his ego and pecuniary motives, he rolls out his gong and cymbal, beating the sounds of war. But unlike Akin, the talented drummer boy and singer in Cyprian Ekwensi’s famous book —The Drummer Boy – this APC drummer has no control over the rhythms and melodies produced by his own drum. He rolls out his drum and beats to the irregular sounds of war once he is guaranteed a pecuniary benefit. This drummer, who is neither a veteran nor conqueror of any known political battle, sits in the comfort of his home before the camera and fans the embers of war. Listening to him speak on borrowed robes in front of the camera about 2023, one would think that the end has come for the PDP in Cross River State. His vituperation brings back reminiscences of his inglorious days in PDP, when he went on rampage on National Television, issuing threats to the highs and lows, even to the supreme deity of Rivers State Politics — Nyesom Wike. He crowned himself Chairman of Party and sought to demystify every other contender, but then, fate knocked him off the cliff, just before dawn.
Bruised and bloody-mouthed, he found refuge in the broom-wielding occultic party, APC. Through the shenanigans of his paymaster, the drummer became the leader of his new conclave and like the merchant of political war that he is, he sought to lead his party into a media war, not just within Cross River State, but down to the sacred dwelling of the supreme deity. To ingratiate his paymaster, he issued lily-livered threats to the supreme deity. Aware of his enfeeblement, the supreme deity defied his puerile threat and stormed the abode of the drummer, and as expected, the drummer abandoned his drums of war and ran away with his tail in-between his legs.
Today again, the drummer has gone on rampage on National Television, announcing the obsequies of the indomitable Peoples Democratic Party in Cross River State and gloating over the use of state-sponsored violence to steal the mandate of the PDP in Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency; and in his characteristic manner, promised to use a sledgehammer against a formidable Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, whom he clownishly referred to as a fry. Clearly, this drummer is already setting the stage for anarchy, come 2023 election. Like the harbinger of doom, the APC —aware of their conspicuous failures in Government -– has sent him on National Television to send a red alert to their food-on-the-table foot soliders.
But beyond the drama and the beating of war drums, there’s an inescapable reality facing the APC, which is, the people are aware of their many failures and the only option left for them is to resort to violence. And in rolling out their drums of war, the APC-led government has started arresting, indiscriminately, members of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Northern Senatorial District. I guess that is the drummer’s definition of a sledgehammer. In their desperation, they have appointed both the living and the dead into government, paying them paltry sums ranging from 20k to 30k. But while the drummer and his men continue in their drama, it appears the people are getting more emboldened to withstand their antics and stand in solidarity with the PDP in reclaiming the State. To regale his viewers, the drummer played to the gallery by whipping sentiment in support of a southern Candidate and dismissing the PDP as an appendage of the dwelling of the supreme Political deity. Yet, no Government has disparaged the Southern Senatorial District like that of the drummer’s paymaster, who turned Calabar into a cesspool, with potholes and debris competing with pedestrians in the city.
It is worthy of note to remind the drummer that no one party has the monopoly of beating the drums of war. Let it be made known to him and his co-travellers that in PDP, there are veterans of many Political battles and conquerors of not a few. The last Ogoja/Yala elections exposed the cheap and desperate tactics of the APC, and they should be prepared for a fitting counterpoise if they dare the people a second time. Security agencies are respectfully invited to take note.
The drummer must be prepared to face defeat, not by guns and thugs, but through the ballot and by the power of the electorates.
