A percipient look at Governor Umo Eno’s adroit and historic handling of the PDP local government chairmanship nomination process which produced consensus chairmanship candidates, including a record number of five women, who were formally nominated on Saturday
By INEMESIT INA
In what looked like a dress rehearsal of the October 5, 2024 local government elections, the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) held its primary for the nomination of chairmanship candidates in all 31 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Akwa Ibom State on Saturday, August 3, 2024. Given that consensus candidates had already been adopted in all LGAs, Saturday was simply coronation day. Every candidate was nominated by affirmation.
Councillorship candidates in all 368 wards of the state had taken their turn earlier that day in their respective wards. Nomination by affirmation was also the order of the day.
The nomination, this time, has been unprecedented, at least in two respects.
One, compared to the last six PDP chairmanship primaries, it has gone down in history as the most rancour-free in the state.
And two, it is the most gender-inclusive, what with the emergence of five female chairmanship candidates, the highest number since the creation of the state in 1987.
Credit for this history making must go principally to one man – Governor Umo Eno, the PDP State Leader.
Trajectory of Akwa Ibom PDP’s Local Government Chairmanship Primaries
The PDP, which was formed in August 1998, held its first local government chairmanship and councillorship primaries in Akwa Ibom in November that year, barely a month to the local government elections. It was a free-for-all in the field. All hell broke loose as competing and desperate aspirants and their godfathers, associates and supporters went to war. Even in six LGAs (Ibesikpo Asutan, Etinan, Itu, Ikot Abasi, Mkpat Enin and Oruk Anam) where governorship aspirants were allowed to handpick chairmanship candidates, there was turmoil.
The party, then at infancy, mismanaged the nomination process in some LGAs so much so that it lost 10 LGAs (Uruan, Nsit Atai, Etinan, Itu, ONNA, Urue Offong/Oruko, Udung Uko, Etim Ekpo, Ika and Ukanafun) to its main rival, the All Peoples’ Party (APP), and two (Nsit Ubium and Esit Eket) to the Alliance for Democracy (AD).
The July 2002 primary was worse. It was complete chaos as top state PDP and government officials as well as some strong aspirants hijacked nomination materials amidst horrifying violence. That led to hot pursuit, stalemate and even ferocious gun battles in not a few LGAs. It was a show of shame.
Akwa Ibom was tense. The spectacle of blood, sweat and tears across the state became a poignant and abiding lesson on how not to do primary.
The supreme irony was that the same party officials had gathered all the aspirants at Ibom Hall in Uyo and given them firm assurances of a free and fair primary, two days before the evercise. Many aspirants, who spoke with this writer at the venue, left convinced of the party’s sincerity. But it turned out to be a grand deceit.
With hardly any credible primary held anywhere, the battle shifted to Government House in Uyo. There, Governor Victor Attah, apparently alarmed at the imbroglio in the field, embarked on a trouble-shooting exercise. He constituted a committee, chaired by a former APP State Chairman, Chief Assam Assam, to resolve the disputes arising from the botched primary. In the end, chairmanship candidates emerged.
By the time, the local government election held two years later, the wounds of the nomination had healed enough for the PDP to win 30 LGAs, conceding only Ikot Ekpene to the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP), the APP successor-party.
The next PDP local government local government nomination took place in March 2008 during the administration of Governor Godswill Akpabio. Chairmanship candidates were generally selected by consensus in Government House. However, the consensus nomination was deemed imposition by many aggrieved aspirants. There were loud complaints. In a few LGAs where there was stiff resistance to consensus, contests were allowed in the field.
In the general election, the PDP again won all but one of the chairmanship seats with the ANPP taking Ini.
The March 2012 primary, still during Akpabio’s time, was more of contest than consensus.
The general election, which followed the nomination, was the first one in which the PDP had a clean sweep of the 31 LGAs, a tradition that has endured till date and is unlikely to change.
Taking a cue from his predecessor, Governor Udom Emmanuel adopted a combination of consensus and contest in the October 2017 and August 2020 primaries.
Then came Eno
Eno is the first Akwa Ibom PDP State Leader to go for an all-out consensus arrangement. And it has paid off handsomely. Contrary to expectations, virtually everyone within the PDP has fallen in line with very little ruckus.
As a result, for the first time ever, PDP’s local government chairmanship candidates have emerged very smoothly and peacefully.
The feat did not come on a platter of gold. Unknown to many, hard work was involved. The Governor spent some days in July engaging, mollifying and reconciling contending interests in all LGAs.
Affirmative Action
Affirmative action for women, as championed by Eno, has come into play in the nomination.
There is a record number of five female chairmanship candidates.
For Akwa Ibom women in politics, this is a clear departure from the bad old days when the nomination of female standard bearers for election at the grassroots’ level was a rarity.
Statistics
No woman secured nomination as chairmanship candidate in the 1998 and 2002 PDP primaries.
One, Deaconess Owoidighe Ekpoattai (ONNA), did in 2008.
There was improvement in 2012. The number rose to four – Princess Mfon Ekong (Nsit Ibom), Mrs. Kenim Onofiok (Udung Uko), Princess Felicia Bassey (Okobo) and Mrs. Gloria Useh (Ikot Ekpene).
There was reduction to two in 2017 with Lady Emem Ibanga (Nsit Atai) and Mrs. Victoria Tallick (Eastern Obolo) becoming the only female chairmanship candidates.
In 2020, the number rose again to four, namely Emem Ibanga, Mrs. Akon Michael (Ibesikpo Asutan), Mrs. Precious Selong (Urue Offong/Oruko) and Mrs. Agnes Udoenwewen (Obot Akara).
Now, Eno has raised it to an all-time high – five. And the quintet are Mrs. Otobong Aaron (Nsit Ibom), Mrs. Uduak Ikemesit Ikott (Esit Eket), Mrs. Glory Ekah Effiong (Ibeno), Mrs. Ime Effiong Charles (Abak) and Engr. Otobong Essien (Ikono).
It is epochal.
Gov Eno and the Historic Akwa Ibom PDP LG Chairmanship Nomination
