Emmanuel’s Attempt to Ambush Democracy in Akwa Ibom

BRIEFINGNOTES

Without waiting for the Peoples Democratic Party to provide a level-playing field for interested aspirants to vie for the party’s 2023 governorship ticket in an open and transparent primary election, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel has stirred up the hornet’s nest with his public endorsement of a preferred successor in an attempt to dictate to his party and the people of the state, Ejiofor Alike writes

As the Nigerian political stakeholders continue to encourage greater participation of the people in all stages of the electoral process, Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel recently attempted to reduce the state to his private fiefdom where he anoints leaders without recourse to the choice of the people of the state or any political party.

Emmanuel had won his second term in the 2019 general election through sheer determination of the people of the state, who defied the ‘war’ threat of Senator Godswill Akpabio, now Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, and came out en masse to vote massively for him.

“In 2019, Warsaw shall see war and war shall see Warsaw. The 2019 elections will be a full-scale war and my party-the All Progressives Congress (APC) will win,” Akpabio, a former Senate Minority Leader, was quoted as saying shortly before the 2019 elections.

Despite these threats, the people of the state stood by their choice of Emmanuel, from the primary election to the governorship election.

With the result of the election, Akpabio’s reign as the godfather of the state ended on a sad note.

But as the governor is rounding off his second and final term, the choice of the people and the ambition of members of his party no longer appear to be relevant to him.

He has assumed the role of a new godfather with his public endorsement of a preferred successor without waiting for his party to conduct a primary election.

Emmanuel recently shocked political pundits when he named his Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, Pastor Umo Eno, as a preferred successor in 2023.

Eno was unveiled at the PDP stakeholders’ meeting at the state Governor’s Lodge, Uyo.

Eno, who is relatively unknown in Akwa Ibom politics, was appointed commissioner in January 2021. Before then, he was preoccupied with his hospitality business – running a hotel in Eket and doing food supplies to Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited.

Photographs of Eno kneeling down for the new godfather of Akwa Ibom politics were all over the Internet last week.

A former governor of the state, Obong Victor Attah, made formal presentation of Eno, on behalf of Emmanuel, to the stakeholders in the meeting

So, instead of PDP to unveil its governorship candidate, democracy was turned upside down as the main opposition party unveiled Emmanuel’s governorship candidate.

The governor later explained that the reason he preferred Eno as his preferred successor was because he meant well for the state.

Speaking during an interview in Uyo, the governor said: “Let me say this emphatically; I mean well for this state, that is why I waited for God to show me the man, who would continue with the pace of developmental strides we have started in the last six years plus and then move the needle even further.

“Pastor Umo Eno is a highly respected person. He has enormous capacity; he’s an epitome of humility, and is blessed with the common touch, a compelling story and is God-fearing.

“He is a successful entrepreneur, who has employed our people, lifted thousands from poverty to prosperity. He will be coming to the office of governor with an economic blueprint that will further guarantee employment, development, and economic prosperity for our people.”

With this pronouncement, the governor has ambushed democracy and foreclosed the ambitions of other PDP members who are aspiring to the highest political office in the state.

By also declaring that Eno “will be coming to the office of governor with an economic blueprint that will further guarantee employment, development, and economic prosperity for our people,” Emmanuel has told the people of the state and other political parties that Eno’s victory as PDP candidate at the 2023 governorship election is a done deal.

Expectedly, Emmanuel’s premature misstep has drawn the ire of some stakeholders in Akwa Ibom PDP and caused a rift in the State Executive Council as some commissioners nursing governorship aspiration are said to be plotting to fight back.

The Chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Judiciary, Hon. Onofiok Luke, who is also nursing governorship ambition reportedly stormed out of the stakeholders’ meeting after the announcement.

The Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Iniobong Ememobong and his counterpart in Economic Development and Ibom Deep seaport counterpart, Mr. Akan Okon, were said to have shunned the meeting when they learnt of the agenda.

On his part, Luke, who played a key role in Emmanuel’s re-election, said he was not aware of the agenda of the meeting but attended to honour the governor’s invitation.

“I’m not against their endorsement; and I’m not against the elders of the state. But I’m saying the endorse­ment could have happened after proper consultation.

“I went to Obong Attah and asked him why didn’t you talk to all of us who are in this race? Why didn’t you talk to Senator Bassey Albert? Why didn’t you talk to Akan Udofia? Why didn’t you talk to Akan Okon? Why didn’t you talk to James Iniama? It was Obong Attah that made the presentation, not the gov­ernor.

“We would have loved their endorsement but that would have been after due consultation. But whoever they would endorse should be the choice of the majority of people in the state.

“So, for me as Onofiok Akpan Luke, I am in the governorship race. I am going to stand election on the platform of my party, the PDP. I am not part of that endorse­ment at all,” Luke reportedly explained.

The governor is no doubt entitled to have a choice of successor in a democracy but his choice should be a reflection of his party’s choice after an open, transparent and fair primary.

By publicly announcing a preferred successor before PDP’s primary, the governor is trying to cow members of his party, other PDP governorship aspirants and the people of the state into submission, which is a rape of democracy.

With the unlimited resources of the state at his disposal, the Akwa Ibom governor will not spare the state’s resources to ram his choice down the throat of the PDP members and the people of the state.

But his opponents claimed that he controls only less than 30 per cent of the party’s structure in the state, while Senator Bassey Akpan is the one with the party structures across the three senatorial districts.

With the influence of Akpabio and other members of the opposition, threats by other PDP stakeholders, and his weak control of the party’s structure, it will be an uphill task for the Akwa Ibom governor to install his alleged surrogate as the next governor of the state and realise his alleged term third agenda.

Emmanuel has indeed played into the hands of his political enemies and set the Akwa Ibom PDP on fire with his premature endorsement of a preferred successor.