IF you resided in Akwa Ibom State or anywhere near it prior to the last general elections in the country and was subjected to the barrage of propaganda by the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and its promoters, including the onslaught of some media reports, you would have been justified to conclude that victory in especially the governorship election in the state by the party was a done deal.But going by the hard reality, as reflected by the election results, the opposition party is a paper tiger that confused high posturing and brash propaganda with popular acceptability.Propelled essentially by a vocal section of the media, the opposition party kicked up so much hype, leaving many unsuspecting observers with the erroneous impression that the party was the issue and the one to beat in the race for political control of the state.It is a fact that in the countdown to the governorship election in the state, the ACN propaganda machinery simply ran riot, becoming so intense and gripping that a sizeable chunk of the electorate began to have second thoughts about the capacity of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to retain political control of the state.The desperate wrestle for the mind of the electorate was, to say the least, reinforced by some sympathetic media organisations for obvious reasons.Following the unfortunate events of March 22, during which properties belonging to the Akwa Ibom State government and individuals valued at over N200 billion were destroyed, allegedly by ACN supporters, this section of the media simply jettisoning whatever shred of neutrality they may have been left with.The arrest and subsequent prosecution of the partys governorship candidate, Senator John James Akpanudoedehe by the Police provided fuel for propaganda to rage even further.To this section of the media, it did not matter that innocent people were murdered in the Uyo mayhem, or that the campaign office of President Goodluck Jonathan, who had nothing to do with the contest for the political control of the state, was razed.As a professional journalist who has operated in editorial management positions in several national newspapers, I was disgusted by the poisoned chalice that some of my professional colleagues were bandying in the name of journalism.Although some hawks in the PDP were insisting that the ACN candidate ought to have been made to face the full wrath of the law for the madness that was allegedly masterminded by his supporters, just like any other offender, moderates in the party argued that doing so would amount to playing into the hands of the opposition and their sympathisers in the media, who would automatically scream that it was a ploy to stop the former minister of State for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) from contesting the election.I may not be privy to the interplay of intrigues that eventually secured bail for the former senator, but I am aware that his eventual routing in the election in Akwa Ibom State was a classic case of anti-climax.Contrary to claims that ACN would wrestle power from PDP by a landslide in the election, the party landed on its belly, badly bruised, electorally.The total of 163,449 votes it secured in the polls is insignificant, compared to PDPs 957,585 votes.Even in Uyo, Udoedehes stronghold, ACN beat PDP by a miserably slim margin.So, what was the inspiration for all the noise, especially by so-called analysts, who were neither on ground to make informed assessment of the political matrix of the state nor aware of the fact that ACN did not have the requisite political structures on ground to win electionsThe first indication that ACN may have been manouvring itself into an electoral cul-d- sac was the bickering by party stalwarts over funds allegedly released to its candidate by the national leader of the party.And as you very well know, a house divided against itself just cannot stand.Thus, the stage may have been set for ACN to approach the elections with a multitude of fifth columnists masquerading as party supporters. This is more than enough reason for any political party to lose an election.Not even the overdose of propaganda unleashed on the electorate by a section of the media could remedy or mitigate this initial disaster of concealment.As they say, a dog without teeth can bark, of course, but it cannot bite, hence a liability rather than an asset to its owner.Rented crowds cannot compensate for lack of coherent strategy.Again, there is the issue of proper structures, without which a political party cannot be said to be serious in its campaign for political power.Apart from perhaps the state capital, it is doubtful if the ACN candidate maintained campaign offices in the 31 councils of the state.Akwa Ibom is bigger than Uyo, which has always been Udoedehes traditional stronghold. Winning election in Uyo, even if by a slim margin, does not translate to victory throughout the state, otherwise, Maj-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari would have won the countrys presidency after securing the votes of his kinsmen in Daura.These are fundamental indicators, which ACN supporters found convenient to ignore in the harvest of propaganda they deployed.From the results of the National Assembly elections, informed political observers realised that this would set the tone, some kind of barometer, for the remaining elections in the country.The presidential election confirmed this projection, which is why discerning analysts could not understand where supporters of Buhari, presidential candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), derived the notion that a candidate whose party lacks national spread could suddenly win the countrys presidency.The results of the governorship elections, especially in Akwa Ibom, were merely a consolidation of the trend of spread, which is a valid political assertion.The spontaneous jubilation that greeted the announcement of the governorship election results in Akwa Ibom is a pointer to the fact victory was recorded by the popular candidate.Election is a contest and as in every contest, there must be a winner and a loser. The victor should be magnanimous in victory and try as much as possible to carry every one along, including the loser, just as the loser should imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship and take the loss gallantly.If an election has been fought and won, then it becomes time for losers to be gallant enough to leave the trenches and relocate to the drawing board to re-strategise in preparation for the next election.Even if there are genuine issues to contest, that option should be pursued within the ambit of due process. It is certainly ungracious to continue to grate on the sensibilities of the people of the state and keep charging, like a furious ram, without providing justifiable reason for doing so.If one continues to agitate for the sake of agitation, or perhaps for the fun of it, then it might be unrealistic to complain if one loses public sympathy in the process.It is against this background that the decision of the Akwa Ibom State Chairman of ACN, Chief Aniekan Akpan, to congratulate Governor Godswill Akpabio on his re-election should be viewed.Though some members of the party disowned the chairmans action, even going as far as saying that they have unilaterally suspended the chairman for taking that decision, one cannot run away from the fact that Akpans gallant show of maturity marks the threshold of a new political culture in the country.Instead of banging his head on the wall in a futile contest, even when it is obvious that there is little or no justification to do so, Akpan congratulated the winner of the election and pledged his support and that of other progressive people in order to move the state forward.Akpan said he was not apologetic for his action and urged those who claimed to have suspended him to go back and read the partys constitution, which he said, clearly spells out the procedures for the removal or suspension of any official of the party.Already, the Congress of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP), in a communiqué sign by 12 political parties and read at a press conference in Uyo by its state chairman, Linus Udofia, has endorsed the election result and congratulated Akpabio on his victory.-Umosen wrote from Uyo
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