Tale of a Godfather and His Son: As PDP Gubernatorial Candidate Kneels to Governor Emmanuel

HighLife

Politics can make tigers out of house cats in Nigeria, and house cats of tigers. This is one of the sentiments that followed a viral picture that revealed one gubernatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) kneeling before the executive Governor of Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel. And while folks began to murmur about the seeming oddness of the photographed scene, Emmanuel went on to anoint said candidate as his preferred choice for a successor.

There is no doubt that Governor Emmanuel of Akwa Ibom is very popular among his people. However, despite how well-liked he is, there are times he still gets knocked for the decisions he makes. This is one of such times.

One of the promising candidates set to succeed Udom, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, was recently captured kneeling to Udom and his wife. According to the report that followed the viral picture, Eno (who was the state Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources) had gone to officially see Emmanuel and seek his blessings on his (Eno’s) aspirations to succeed him.

In expressing this reason for his visitation, Eno did not hesitate to go on his knees while Emmanuel had his right hand on his shoulders. The photographed scene makes it look as if Emmanuel was praying for Eno, except that the eyes of Emmanuel’s wife were wide open. It also looked as if Emmanuel was telling Eno to calm down and get up. But it was only a picture (which would have been best in this case by a thousand words), so there isn’t much that can be concluded from it except that Pastor Eno was kneeling before Governor Emmanuel who happens to be a deacon.

The way this kind of hierarchy goes, it is Emmanuel that ought to be kneeling to Eno. However, political ambition has a way of reversing roles. Eno got to be anointed as Emmanuel’s successor anyway, so all protocols were duly observed.