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| L-R : Messrs Uche Secondus, Joseph Odok, Kalita Joe Aruku and Nche Bikwe |
Efio-Ita Nyok|12 December 2017
Simon Utsu, popular Nigerian social commentator/public affairs analyst, has called on Cross River youths with avowed membership with the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to refrain from gossiping the just concluded National Convention of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which saw the election of Mr Uche Secondus as substantive chair NegroidHaven can report.
Utsu made this disclosed this disposition, Monday, via his social media (Facebook) timeline where he entered nothing less than seven grave paragraphs titled, ‘The APC and its New Found Love for Gossip’. Utsu particularly took a swipe at Mr Joseph Odok the embattled social change agent, Mr Kalita Joe Aruku the Deputy Youth Leader of the APC in Cross River and one Mr Nche Bikwe, a member of the APC in the state.
Utsu, who queried this recent development by APC Cross River youths as being despicable observed that the APC in Cross River is a political party which have not been able to organised itself into formidable force.
His words, ‘It’s no longer news that the main opposition party in Nigeria, the People’s Democratic Party successfully held her convention over the weekend, what is news is the fact that since its conclusion, the APC as a party and it’s members have preoccupied themselves with what they claim is the ‘fallout’ from that convention.
‘There’s no single active APC person that I know who hasn’t taken out time to poke his nose and at the same time spin a falsehood about the PDP convention- with some claiming dollars flowed like rain and even going ahead to painstakingly doctor images from their(APC) 2014 primaries where dollars were shared by Amaechi and co and using the photoediting software (photoshop) to superimpose the PDP’s logo onto those envelopes! El Rufai put in a word, likewise Amaechi likewise Rochas!
‘My friend Dr Joseph Odok who is their most vocal youth leader in Cross River has made close to 200 posts and 500 comments on the same subject matter in a period of 3 days- isn’t that a record? Also, one Kalita Joe Aruku who is usually touted as one of their youth leaders in my state has done overtime on this same subject in the last couple of days. An acquaintance of mine who is an APC local government chairmanship candidate hopeful, Nche Bikwe has been refreshing his Facebook by the second ready to pounce on any thread that has to do with the convention and pour some bile on it. These are just a few out of the thousands of jittery APC supporters who have expressed watery opinions in the above regard.
‘To crown it all up, their national publicity secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, who was politically born into the PDP and only left a couple of years ago after the PDP saw to his political (and financial) growth had the impetus to release a press statement this afternoon castigating the same convention- by playing the weak tribal card and claiming the Yorubas were being ‘punished’ by the PDP for not supporting the party in 2015.
‘Isn’t this extremely despicable? I’ve never seen backbiting and gossip on this level ever! How can grown men and women spend over 72 hours gisting (gossiping) about the peaceful family meeting that went on in their neighbour’s house? To what end? Would this idle talk bring Nigeria out of this (seemingly) unending recession their party plunged us into?
‘Earlier today, the new PDP Publicity Secretary pointed out that the APC had contravened their constitution by not conducting a convention in the last couple of years —it’s even worse in a state like Cross River where their over one dozen top shots haven’t been able to organize themselves into a formidable opposition —with Governor Ayade who is of the PDP, purported to be firmly in control of their (APC’s) skeletal structures in the state.
‘Let me end this post with a short story. As a teenager, I had a cousin who was living with her guardian. Her guardian almost sent her packing back to the village because she filled the “hobby” column on her JAMB form with “gisting”. Her guardian was very furious as he questioned why someone he had trained for over a decade would be publicly beating her chest over her ability to gist (gossip). A word they say, is enough for the wise’.
An independent investigation by NegroidHaven reveals that on 10th December 2017 at 8:44 AM, Mr Aruku said on his wall : ‘So nobody in Cross River was good enough to be in the PDP National Exco?’. On the same date, by 10:04AM, Odok said on his Facebook page, ‘The injustices perpetrated in the last PDP convention has reduced her to a regional party. Too early to declare South West insignificant’. For Bikwe, it’s, ‘
‘Hope Gov. Wike’s choice of Secondus would not turnout to be like that of Sheriff, again?’. Our correspondent couldn’t chronicle the entire account of threads these youths articulated in view of the successful convention.
Popular human rights activist and legal practitioner, First Baba Isa, couldn’t conceal his surprise at the development under review when he submitted recently, ‘Interestingly, nearly all the commentaries I have read about the PDP National Convention are written by APC members, a party that is yet to successfully hold her own National Convention. Is this a sign of intellectual growth and political awareness or that of restless busybodies?’
What do you think about Utsu’s criticism of these youths? Do you think a political party which, after four attempts, haven’t been able to convene an elective national convention, has the moral locus standi to critique another political party which has? Is this not the challenge of being busy-bodies in another person’s business?
Hmmm!
Efio-Ita Nyok
Is a Blogger, the Editor-in-Chief & Publisher of NegroidHaven
