Emmanuel Makes His Most Audacious Political Move Yet

Nseobong Okon-Ekong writes that Governor Udom Emmanuel has executed a deft political master stroke that many stakeholders did not see coming

Stakeholders of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and political pundits in Akwa Ibom State who had their fingers crossed for a long time were caught napping on Sunday evening when Governor Udom Emmanuel revealed the man he prefers to hand over governance of the state to.

Pastor Umo Eno, the man after Emmanuel’s heart currently serves in the state executive council as Commissioner for Lands amd Water Resources. It is one year exactly since he was brought into the cabinet, in a strategic reshuffle that has allowed him to understand the inner working of government at that level.

For close to two years Eno’s name was frequently mentioned in political discussions as Emmanuel’s likely successor along with the likes of Mr. Akan Okon, Commissioner for Aviation and Special Duties and Mr. Udom Inoyo, a former executive director with ExxonMobil. Outside the Akwa Ibom governor’s catchment, Senator Bassey Albert and Rt. Hon. Onofiok Luke made no secret of their intention to contest the governorship election.

Albert, Inoyo, Okon and Luke have openly inaugurated campaign bodies that continue to work for the realisation of their ambition.

With the recent turn of events, however, Inoyo and Okon are likely to eat the humble pie and beat a retreat to queue behind the governor’s preferred candidate. Bassey, who, arguably has been most zealous in his quest for the governorship position has elected to keep his gun powder dry for now. But Luke will have none of it. He came out smoking in a statement that communicated his unequivocal resolve to chase his dream to be governor of Akwa Ibom State in 2023 to the end.

Luke who stormed out of the stakeholders meeting where Governor Emmanuel was assisted by former Governor Victor Attah to make his choice of Eno public, later issued a seven-point statement titled, ‘We Are Still on Course.’ He said among other things that he attended the meeting out of respect for the governor and as a loyal party man. According to him, the Umo Eno agenda was not previously discussed with him and he heard it first at that meeting. While making it categorically clear that he was neither against the choice of Eno nor his aspiration, he stated, however, that his aspiration to serve the state in the capacity of governor remained on course. He called on his supporters and those sympathetic to his cause to note that he was as resolute as ever in the desire to give the people purposeful leadership in the office of the governor come 2023.

It should be noted that Eno, Inoyo and Luke hail from the same local government area-Nsit Ubium, one of the three local government areas; including Nsit Ibom and Etinan, which Luke currently represents in the House of Representatives.

The sense of entitlememt displayed by Luke is similar to Bassey. Both men claim they had a gentleman’s agreement with Emmanuel to succeed him. But which of them exactly was this unwritten deal entered with?

In the run-up to Emmanuel’s 2019 re-election bid, the political waters of Akwa Ibom was unusually muddied by the defection of former Governor Godswill Akpabio to the All Progressives Congress (APC). Akpabio had misjudged the political alertness of the people. He thought he possessed the magic wand to sway majority of Akwa Ibomites to his side. It was the resolve of Bassey and Luke to remain in the PDP and throw in their entire network of leaders and supporters that saved the day for Governor Emmanuel and PDP in the state. For this, Emmanuel was reportedly fleeced by the duo of Bassey and Luke. This was a very painful and humbling experience to the governor who played along until the treasured crown was places firmly on his head. By not supporting either Bassey or Luke, Governor Emmanuel, apart from exercising his sovereign choice, could be sending a message to who it may concern on how not to take advantage of one whose back is against the wall.

With their vaunted notion of self-importance, Bassey and Luke and their supporters believed Emmanuel would remain their victim to exploit at will and forever. The frequent boast in town was that Emmanuel will not be in a position to chose his successor. They painted him as weak and lacking the political machinery to prove himself. It did not matter to his traducers that he had delivered to the Akwa Ibom people on his most important promise to industrialise the state. Ibom Air is one of the leading airlines in the country today. All approvals and initial financing for the Ibom Deep Seaport have been concluded. The flour mill, syringe factory, metering factory, vehicle assembly plant, coconut plantation and many more are all on showcase as his achievements. The third Ring Road is near completion, flyover bridge, finished roads and bridges in different parts of the state, renovated and better equipped hospitals and massive agric products have helped to create a new image for Akwa Ibom. The state has become next to Lagos in attracting FDI. Above all, the Emmanuel administration relishes its attainment of zero tolerance for violence and cultism, thereby, promoting peace like a river in the entire state, which is best exemplified by the cordial working relationship between the governor and his deputy, Mr. Moses Ekpo.

His reliance on the Omnipotent to help him surmount seeming impossible odds has never been in doubt. The Akwa Ibom governor’s re-election campaign, when many thought he was going to be taken out by formidable foes like Akpabio, Nsima Ekere, Senator John Akpanudoedehe, Mr. Umana Okon Umana and Senator Ita Enang in the opposition APC, was executed with the broad theme, ‘Only God.’ Indeed, only God could have delivered him from that powerful gang-up. For his exit agenda, Emmanuel knows why it is important to acknowledge God in all his ways. Therefore, his succession agenda is being prosecuted under the banner of, ‘That Same God,’ while the designed political vehicle for that purpose is the Maintain Peace Movement (MPM). This statewide group led by the immediate past National Legal Adviser of the PDP, Hon. Emmanuel Enoidem quickly dwarfed the long entrenched and self-promoting groups sponsored by Bassey and Luke. Once MPM came on stream, the camps of Bassey amd Luke became depleted. Many who previously owed allegiance to them quickly switched political loyalty to the MPM structure set-up by the governor. It was the first irrefutable evidence that Emmanuel would indeed influence the emergence of his successor.

Carried on the shoulders of That Same God, the Akwa Ibom Governor quietly and steadily started to exert his influence. Having learnt the ropes in politics, he dealt a political master stroke at the PDP National Convention last October in Abuja. At an event where it became clear that the PDP governors had a firm grip of the party, Emmanuel opted to have no national officer of the party from Akwa Ibom. This had never happened since the formation of the PDP in 1998. Indeed, Akwa Ibom is one of the states that can have anything from the party for the asking, having remained faithful to it. Apparently, Emmanuel does not want the kind of worries Prince Uche Secondus, for instance, brought upon Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State. In a couple of instances, national officers of political parties have been known to cause grave concern to governors of their home states. The way things are today in the PDP, it means that information coming from the national secretariat to Akwa Ibom will not be filtered, altered or delayed, it will go straight to the leader of the party in the state-the governor!
With the MPM firmly established in all nooks amd crannies of Akwa Ibom State and no opposition at the national secretariat, does any still doubt the capacity of Governor Emmanuel to crown his preferred successor?