CRS, Will The Vassal Remain The Vassal – Kumini

In times of rest, Warriors are easily relegated and the place of honor is a philosophical debate rather than a mapping of Valor.
Stories from a distant land can comfortably assume the position of tales but what can we say about our testimonies as they become our history soon enough?
A geographical enclave vast enough to be installed statehood is a monumental treasure to the stakeholders, Lords and Vassals alike.
Cross River state as a state is blessed with many things, focal of which includes political umpires. The immediate responsibility of any public official is to discharge his/her civic or official duties as defined in his portfolio.

Entrenched deep in the DNA of any public official such as a state governor however, is the innate desire to build, culture and maintain political structures to preserve his or her political posterity and relevance in the theatre of power.
In view of the recent development in cross River State and the dissolution of the governor backed excos, one may hurriedly draw conclusions on either side of the coin, but, a careful look at the soup of things will inform any political analyst that the state is simply threading the same old path as defined in the age-long political equation of the state.
While my ink may dry in an effort to educate a novice on the internal workings of the state political framework, one could simply refer to the feudal system, where a vassal receives his wages for services rendered to the Lord, but, don’t forget; the Lord is still Lord and the vassal only a vassal, however massive the land accumulations.

Flip a few pages back in the historian book, you will come across the occurrences that brought the incumbent to power: the odd thing, perhaps, might be that, supposedly, the incumbent ought to be the one in charge of the power-play this time around. But, in a normal feudal system, things can only take the shape they have taken now and not the supposed way (I hope you get the point now?).
In simple terms , a vassal,at the most , can ultimately become an affiliate: The tall dream of becoming a Lord is massacred on the fateful day of the masquerade dance; when the Lord heralds himself before his subjects.

The Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) would, perhaps, want to thread carefully in matters as this, because, the Nigerian political landscape has changed dramatically to the point that the PDP is now a gamble an aspirant may be willing to avoid. The APC, on the other hand, in a quest to national dominance, could be willing to more than palliate the incumbent by furnishing him with all his excos and more, as incentives to lure and capture the state. The options are before Ayade as we speak, considering a switch to the APC wouldn’t be tasking. More easily so, Ayade has been, for the longest time, a bed-fellow of the APC and a Buhari sympathizer (a Buharist) who has managed to remain in the good books of the general thus far.
Its a rather juicy gamble many of his adviser would press the green button, but, the big question ringing in Ayade’s mind is “how can I become Lord with my own political structures? “. Well, it is a good place to start: But even Imoke will not furnish his(Ayade) caucus with answers; his existence or not still plays out the dilemma: “It is a feudal system”. Just before a decision is reached however, consider the parties carefully:

PDP has a history and the Lords has build political mechanisms to function well (remember how the incumbent was brought to power). Their continuous interest thus, cannot be quell so easily. As a statement of fact, their protégé, senator Gershom Bassey, is waiting out the current administration to exhaust their tenure so he can be installed as the next worthy vassal. the links are inexhaustible. APC, on the other hand is a virgin and fertile land, yet, unpredictable, as there are not enough track records in the state to grade their success story. the possibility of having an APC-let Federal Government is a math for fortunetellers while the battle for governor Ayade’s political identity is a matter of immediate demands.
The outcome of the tussle will determine to what significance the house of Ayade’s Insignia plays in the political battlements of the state: it shall ultimately make or mar the Ayade’s Dynasty.

Common to every model, everything new is a replica of the former, nothing new under the dial. Need we stress the fact that the current power-play has been in the fore right from the inception of the dispensation of democratic rule? the manner and ways Mr Donald Duke was brought to Power by the founding fathers, the manner and ways Mr Donald Duke revolted against the lords in an effort to edge his own brand as a political powerhouse in the state, the way and manner by which the system fought back despite initial, or, arguably, overall success of the Duke dynasty, only goes the mile to buttress the point that, the wheel of political state-wide feudalism is spinning at full speed and the state is only a fat cash-cow to the elite group of political god-fathers.

Whether Duke vanquished the lords and became Lord himself is a question answerable by his current influence on the political affairs of the state. There is, apparently, a loci of interest in the short history of of this model in the state: the advent of the current index – the emergence of senator liyel imoke as governor.
Recall how that went totally against the will of the then incumbent, his anointed candidate was definitely not Liyel. Mr Donald Duke was an early student of a feudal system. A picking of the Lords, who arguably, was himself a product of the Lords – a descendant of the original bloodline, emerged Victorious against the will of a seating governor, Donald Duke.
In his time however, Sen.Liyel Imoke installed his choice as a successor in the state he ruled for thesame number of years as Donald Duke.
The challenge before Ayade now, is how best to go against the system that brought him to power: to peacefully remain the vassal that he is and allow state matters be adjucated by the feudal Lords or spin the whole table around, fight for his right in the party and state, by enforcing his political identity and demand a permanent seat amongst the Lords, while opening his arms wide to absorb the un-repressive firepower of the system and expect crucifixion should his Tactics fail