By Samuel Odungide
Going by the usual shenanigans following political aspirations and blackmail by aspirants, the front runner in the race for Akwa Ibom North-East Senatorial District in 2023, Ambassador Ukai Udeme Emmanuel told reporters during an interview session that the state needs to be liberated.
Explaining further, the former vice-chairman of Uyo Metropolis sai that the mindset of Akwa Ibom people needs to be re-engineered and oriented to suit the present global development.
Hear him: “Our mindset must be taken care of very important. The mindset of me looking for something and if I don’t get what I want. I should be able to say “Oh, this brother has gotten it, let me support him”.
“Mindset that even if we are a thousand seeking for a seat or any political position, we should go there and with an open mind that it is a contest, and like in sports, one person only will emerge a winner, in a football match. We may seem to be enemies, but, immediately the match is over and a winner is declared, we become friends, we become as one. We should have this kind of mindset in politics”.
He disclosed that he has promoted a football competition in order to create awareness and sensitise people to be engaged in healthy competition. He said he tagged the tournament ‘Politics like Football”
He posits that nobody deserves to die during the campaign and election period or kill one another, because, according to Ukai, what motivated Mr. A to aspire also applies to Mr. B. He worries over the insensitivity of the populace regarding their choice of leaders.
*Nobody should kill or be killed for it. Nobody should blackmail for it. Whatever may have made Mr. A contest also had made Mr. B contest. Have it at the back of your mind that you either win or you lose, but Akwa Ibom remains.
To the electorate, he said: “We must say the truth as it is. The electorate should be able and bold to tell an aspirant that he or she has not done well in previous assignments or that he is not capable, they should say it that the aspirant is not a good one to his face.
We should start sending such signals so that the next person would realize the need to be of good character if he intends to aspire”.
On his ambition to represent his people at the Red Chamber in 2023, the popular Uyo politician said he is in the race to introduce a new narrative in the style of governance.
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He quipped that he will introduce charity into governance apart from other forms of human and structural developments. He urged the ruling party to which he belongs to allow internal democracy to have its day during the primaries, boasting that, everything being equal, he will beat any aspirant to the ticket.
“If we are sincere, from the internal democracy that has to do with our party. Delegates are fair and want to be fair at the primaries, all aspirants should keep their money away and come to the field like me as Ambassador. Ukai Udeme Emmanuel, let them also come with their names to the field, I will win them. That is if internal democracy is advanced.”
The Senate hopeful hinted that he will bring active democratic dividends to his people. He declared that he is not going to Senate to amass wealth but to work as a ‘Smart Senator’, promising that if after 2 years, he is seen to be not performing, he should be recalled promptly.
Ukai said that the Senate is not a place for old politicians with bags of money or former governors. He said it is not an office as a passage for retirement saying that he should be considered on the basis of his antecedence.
He commended the party leadership for holding the party together and creating a level playing ground for aspirants, stating that with the style of leadership, the party will continue in its winning streak.
