Welcoming the new AKISIEC

BY Nsibiet John

Akwa Ibomites especially those that are pessimists always love to criticize any action taken by Government.

The reason is not because they are critics. It is simply one of the few ways we can express the disappointments we have had in those that have been saddled with positions of leadership.

Most often than not, our leaders hide under some nomenclatures like Executive fiat, hallowed chambers and judiciary jurisprudence to commit very hard, naughty and sometimes heinous crimes against the electorate.

And since we are in a season, in times where our votes don’t count, the only way to express frustration and anger with
government is to criticize and criticize and criticize.

To make matters worse, government always play into our hands by the unpopular decisions and appointments
they make.

In a nutshell, in most instances, the government is always full of contradictions.

Akwa Ibom has equally had its fair share of these contradictions.

This explains why the appointment of Aniedi Ikoiwak into AKISIEC as the chairman of the commission received
some hard knocks especially from those in the opposition.

This does not however mean that even the critics does not reserve some good points for the former Rivers State
INEC boss.

They do. But the criticisms initially as it is and was, is to make the new AKISIEC Boss understands that he may be regarded as a saint outside here.

But at home the story may not be the same.

The coming on board of Ikoiwak and his team into AKISIEC is timely. Gloria Ukpong’s team was long overdue for dissolution.

The inability of members of that team to glue together, the widely reported fraudulent activities of Mrs. Ukpong and the fingering of the commission’s treasury are pointers that should have
thrown that team off earlier before last week’s dissolution of her commission by the Governor.

With all the wrongdoings of Gloria Ukpong’s AKISIEC it was doubtful that she was going to preside over the coming Local Government Election. It was even more doubtful that any of the commissioners so appointed will
stay back.

Now, they are history. But what happens to the rot they created and left behind in the commission? We may treat this poser another day.

As Aniedi Ikoiwak steps into the ring, there are a lot of things, a lot of issues for him to handle, if we are to enjoy the best of a free and fair Local Government
Elections.

It is very urgent that he must restructure at least to an extent AKISIEC.

If he appears not to understand the personality flow therein, I think the ever
vibrant and active Mr. Pat Ifon will be on hand to direct.

This restructuring of AKISIEC should be done in such a way that every political party, everyone who is interested in the forthcoming election gets a sense of fair play.

The suspicion in AKISIEC has always led to the blames on leaders of that commission whenever an aspirant fails in
most times controversial circumstances.

This restructuring should be carried out in a way that it gives AKISIEC some percentage of independence.

Even though we know that States Electoral Commissions are off shoots of the office of the Governor of such states.
And this is the unfortunate aspect of local Government Elections.

This is rightly so because in most cases, the wish of the people do not prevail. The Governor’s wish or the wishes of supermen in government always prevail
over that of the people.

To make matters worse, we boast so sadly of the more restrained and diplomatic politicians who in their reservations do not help matters because they simply
align when scenarios like this when it comes up to play.

And yet the state electoral umpire must satisfy the man who made this appointment.

So viewing from this prism of satisfying the man who made this appointment, Ikoiwak appears to be in a fix.

He is not used to presiding over elections of this nature.

In this particular election, there seems to be no space. In the ones he is used to, there may be space where he can
negotiate his interest.

But in this one, his interest may
not be considered.

This should not deter him. He should package well and be ready to receive the hit. Those who oppose the appointment of Ikoiwak have a genuine cause to do so.

But he should not be sacrificed. He is here to prove himself as an unbiased election arbitrator.

The argument that Aniedi Ikoiwak is a card carrying member of the party, PDP is illogical and nears no truth.

There is nothing to suggest that, such assertion is true. He may have been in the days of yore but speaking in the now,
that believe is a nullity.

Rather than accuse him of belonging to any political party, we should argue that he may be sympathetic to a particular party.

For now, the party he is being sympathetic to is not known. After all Attahiru Jega, Maurice Iwu, Abel Guobadia were sympathetic to political
parties in their times in INEC as the numero uno.

And now the task before Ikoiwak becomes even more daunting and challenging.

He needs to make very specific demands to ensure that he gets this job done effectively.

He should resist any attempt to be bamboozled by commissioners and aides of government.

These people have a way of getting away with their idiosyncrasies on local Government election matters.

But the election umpires will carry the stench.

Aniedi Ikoiwak should be reluctant to accept and or make unpopular decisions.

As he prepares for this task ahead of
him, he should be mindful of the fact that power is transient.

By now this man should have realized very clearly that Governor Udom Emmanuel appointed him to serve in
AKISIEC because of the integrity we believe he has.

It is equally to dispel the rumours in most quarters that the Government intends to play mago mago with the coming LG elections.

This man cannot afford to fail. Interestingly, he has the likes of Pat Ifon to work with. The Ifon that I know is a go getter. In the past months, I have observed the dedication, commitment and above all, the honesty he goes about discharging roles assigned to him, I cannot believe less that he will be different in this one.

With Pat Ifon as an ally in this new AKISIEC, I can say for sure that issues of personality clashes in the commission will be a thing of the past.

I can believe that the chairman can go to bed with both eyes closed. Ifon is obroad minded and it works for him, just like such broad mindedness will put this AKISIEC miles away from the
previous ones.

This period appears to be a ceaseless motion in AKISIEC and Akwa Ibomites will be watching eagerly what this
commission with Aniedi Ikoiwak on the driving seat will have to offer.

The first task however is to put AKISIEC
in order where wranglings and rumblings by members can be led to rest. And peace restored.

The second is the big one, Elections and every process therewith. As these
come to play out, let us welcome the new AKISIEC and wish them well.