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Tag: #Umezulike Desmond-Cruz

  • Peter Obi Endorsement Of Sandy Onor And The Issuing Of Threats To Igbo Community In Cross River State By The APC BY UMEZULIKE DESMOND-CRUZ

    Peter Obi Endorsement Of Sandy Onor And The Issuing Of Threats To Igbo Community In Cross River State By The APC BY UMEZULIKE DESMOND-CRUZ

    PETER OBI ENDORSEMENT OF SANDY ONOR AND THE ISSUING OF THREAT TO THE IGBO COMMUNITY IN CROSS RIVER STATE BY THE APC

    Understandably, the endorsement of Senator Sandy Ojang Onor, the Gubernatorial candidate of the PDP in Cross River State, by Mr Peter Obi, dealt a traumatizing and deafening blow on the APC in Cross River State. While I heartily sympathize with them and in the spirit of sportsmanship, acknowledge their right to react to the issue of Obi’s endorsement of Senator Sandy Ojang, I honestly feel it is sickeningly insulting for the APC to issue threats to the Igbo Community in Cross River State, just because Mr. Peter Obi endorsed Senator Sandy Ojang Onor.

    I read with utter dismay and grave concern a publication attributed to one of the Spokesperson of the APC in Cross River State, wherein, he flagrantly accused Mr. Peter Obi and his people–the igbos– of trying to reintroduce what he referred to as “internal colonialism” and vowed that his Party will do everything to stop Mr. Peter Obi and “his people”. Firstly, let me acknowledge the fact that it is the constitutional right of Mr. Peter Obi to endorse any Gubernatorial candidate, and in this case, if there is any Political Party that has the right to react offensively to the endorsement, it should be the Labour Party in Cross River State, and not the APC. I mean, we have over 14 Political Parties in Cross River State fielding Gubernatorial Candidates, why is the APC the only party whose feathers are ruffled by this endorsement? Why are they trying so hard to incite the people of the State against the Igbo community in Cross River? Why are they making unnecessary reference to the bitter issues of Civil War and the pre-colonial era?

    More worrisome is the fact that Peter Obi’s endorsement of Senator Sandy Ojang Onor, has no ethnic coloration, as Sandy himself is an Ejagham Man from Etung Local Government and married to an Ejagham woman from same Etung Local Government Area. Sandy’s mother, who is from Akamkpa is also Ejagham and not Igbo. I am pretty sure that, if you trace the genealogy of Senator Sandy Ojang Onor, at least, to the 4th generation, you may likely not find any ancestral link with the Igbos. And same goes to his Deputy Governorship Candidate, who is proudly an Efik Princess, from a reputable Royal family. So, on what basis is the APC trying to whip up ethnocentric sentiment against the Igbos in Cross River State, due to Mr. Peter Obi endorsement of Senator Sandy?

    I am an Igbo man from Cross River State–proudly and unapologetically so– and I speak on the basis of Self–preservation and morality, not Politics. The APC in Cross River State must as a matter of utmost importance, stop the fanning of these smoldering embers of hatred against the Igbos in Cross River State. The Gubernatorial candidate of the APC must call to order, some of his overzealous media handlers, lest they set the entire state on fire. I am an Igbo man and it is my inalienable right to support whosoever I deem fit to govern our State. Enough of the threats!

    ©Umezulike Desmond-cruz

  • Cross River 2023: Beyond The Drama And The Beating of War Drums BY UMEZULIKE DESMOND-CRUZb

    Cross River 2023: Beyond The Drama And The Beating of War Drums BY UMEZULIKE DESMOND-CRUZb

     

    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.

  • #500m Stabilization Fund: Cross River State Is A Crime Scene BY UMEZULIKE DESMOND-CRUZ

    #500m Stabilization Fund: Cross River State Is A Crime Scene BY UMEZULIKE DESMOND-CRUZ

     

    A senior citizen of this State called me earlier today and insisted that he would love to read my opinion on the trending issue of #500million Stabilization fund received monthly by the government of Cross River State as revealed by the RMAFC recently. Though, a Chieftain of the APC and a close ally of the Governor from the Northern Senatorial District, he had expected me to heap a truck load of coal on the governor over the issue. While I admit that the CPS to the governor tried strenuously to robe the past administration of His Excellency, Mr Liyel Imoke, into the inglorious Bakassi-gate saga, by alluding to the fact that the state have been receiving the #500million since 2008. By making reference to past administration, the CPS aimed to gaslight Cross Riverians and stylistically shift the focus from an issue-based debate to partisan Politics. The aim is simply to share the blame equally between Leaders of the PDP and that of APC, thereby turning a serious matter into Political chicanery.

    But then, I feel there’s a dimension to this whole thing that we care less about. The truth is, there’s an organized crime going on in this state, orchestrated by the elites and fueled by their inordinate desire for resource control and one of the conduit pipe for such display of avarice is the Bakassi Resettlement Project. Since the lost of Bakassi peninsula to the Republic of Cameroon and the subsequent lost of 76 Oil wells to Akwa Ibom State, they have been a few elites eating fat from the plight of Cross Riverians, irrespective of their Political Party affiliation. Till date, they are still Cross Riverians amongst the elites whose company accounts are used to launder money and subsequently shared amongst few cartels in this State. Have you bothered to ask yourself why some elites, even those in the opposition Party, don’t have the nerves to speak even if our state is on fire? The answer is simple, most of them are complicit in this heinous crime against our state. I know of one woman that have continued to make a heavy fortune out of the plight of the people of Bakassi, unfortunately, while she continues to milk her own people, she’s lionized and canonize by the same people whose future and destiny she has bastardized.

    The control of resources, like in most Capitalist venture, is the major yardstick for Politics in this state. Most of our leaders are not necessarily interested in what becomes of the State. They are only interested in what becomes of them and their pockets. This is why you hardly see or hear them condemn the ills of this current administration, because they are either benefiting from it or hoping to benefit.

    By the way, why are we all acting surprised about the #500million as if we are not aware that this current administration is the era of Intellectual Money and Other People’s Money? Is this not the same administration that received 18billion Naira from Federal Government as payment for the Federal Government Roads constructed/maintained by past administrations? Is this not the same administration that received Paris Refund money, Bailout funds and receives ecological funds yet cannot holistically account for it. If they can voraciously gulp 18billion Naira, Paris Refund, Ecological fund, Bail out Funds, what is small sum of #500million that they cannot embezzle?

    #500million is it for eba, is it for Garri, is it for Ewa, dodo or Agbado?

    May Affliction Never Arise The Second Time!!!

    *©Umezulike Desmond-cruz*