Friday June 6, 2025|
By Anietie USEN
♦️It is heartbreaking for the overwhelming majority of Akwa Ibom people to contemplate the prospect of joining and voting for any other political party except the PDP. The PDP is in the DNA of Akwa Ibom voters. One of the reasons is that all the gigantic and nationally acclaimed development strides of the State since the return of democratic rule in 1999 have been accomplished by the hands of PDP governments. The sentiments of the people for the PDP is therefore very understandable. PDP has done the State proud.
♦️Whenever politicians in Akwa Ibom boast that PDP is a religion in the State, the meaning is that Akwa Ibom people are committed and devoted to the PDP as they are to their churches. As a matter of fact, some Akwa Ibom people are more committed to PDP than to their churches.
♦️The implication is that just as it is difficult to move Akwa Ibom people en masse from their churches to another church, so it is to change Akwa Ibom minds from their abiding love and loyalty to the PDP. It is organic.
♦️But that’s just one side of the story. The other side of the story is in two parts. First, the love of Akwa Ibom people for their Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, who is just two years old in office is exceptional, unprecedented and perhaps extreme. There is an outpouring of love for this Governor across party lines and a groundswell of goodwill for him across the length and breath of the State. It is second to none in the 38 years history of this oil-and-gas rich State on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.
♦️This is not just because of his down-to-earth and grassrooted style of leadership, but more so because of his deep sense of fairness in allocating State resources and doing justice to every section of the State, devoid of discrimination. Everywhere he went in the two years as governor, he was doing good. He connected deeply with the high and the low in the land, and secured a place squarely in the hearts of the overwhelming majority of the people.
♦️Just like the PDP, the love for Governor Eno in Akwa Ibom is organic, extensive and catholic. There is nothing anybody can do about that, except, perhaps envy his style and record of accomplishment. He has in a very short span of two years won the hearts of the people, for his empathy, compassion and identification with the plight of the less privileged. His trait as a humble and humane leader is not because he is a pastor and has some godly influence behind him. It is because that’s who he is. A good and caring man, a sincere servant of his people, a great leader, firm and fair in his dealings. For that, he is adored, even by his political opponents, if any, these days.
♦️But there is a twist in the tale. Governor Eno is poised to quit the PDP for the APC, the ruling party at the centre. What shall separate Akwa Ibom from the love of the PDP? Shall Umo Eno? Wither the love of Akwa Ibom people?
♦️This is the political crossroad and a dilemma that Akwa Ibom people have found themselves in at this point in time. It is the talk of the town, in beer parlours, market squares, University campuses and even churches. Where goes the love of Akwa Ibom people in times like this? To the PDP or to Governor Umo Eno or to both?
♦️To be sure, Governor Umo Eno himself is not different from most Akwa Ibom people. He is a passionate lover of PDP. He speaks with deep affection and respect about the party and former Governor Udom Emmanuel, who afforded this affable, rural pastor the opportunity to become a governor in the midst of redoubtable political stalwarts. But there is a spanner in the works or as the Americans would say it “a wrench”. There is a problem.
♦️Right now, the PDP that Akwa Ibom people love so much is virtually in comatose at the National level; afflicted on every side and almost crushed; perplexed and almost driven to dispair; hunted down and almost abandoned.
♦️Everyday you turn on the TV, there is news of the PDP heavyweights, governors, Senators and other National Assembly members, trooping out from the PDP to the APC. It was the legendary Chinua Achebe who wrote that “whenever you see a toad jumping in the broad daylight, then know that something is after its life”.
♦️It would appear to many observers that something is after the life of the PDP. There are forces, external and internal, centrifugal and centripetal, hunting down and determined to see the total eclipse of our beloved PDP before the 2027 elections. If you were a politician and prospective governorship candidate in the shoes of Governor Umo Eno, what would you do?
♦️Many members of the PDP are doing something about it. Some are now scampering and exiting the party in droves in the hope of forming another party. But the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, said last week, it was not in the mood to register new parties.
♦️One of the affected groups gunning for registration as a party is the National Opposition Coalition Group, that is planning to challenge the APC, the ruling party, in the 2027 elections. The Coalition was seeking to be registered and known as All Democratic Alliance, ADA. But INEC, for now, seemed to have pulled the rug from under their feet.
♦️When a house is on fire, the most important action is to prioritize safety and get yourself out of the building as quickly as possible. In plain language, as at today, the PDP as a vehicle for contesting the 2027 election is, at best, risky and perhaps unmotorable.
♦️The uncertainties in the party right now are too many to be ignored. The great PDP that ruled Nigeria from 1999-2015 is today factionalised, fractionalised and saddled with three National Secretaries, namely, Samuel Anyanwu, Udeh Okoye and Setonji Koshoedo, appointed as the Acting National Secretary, three weeks ago in the midst of a seemingly stubborn and intractable party crisis. Which of these three National Secretaries will sign the nomination forms of Governor Eno for a well-deserved second term? Which of the three National Secretaries, if any, will eventually be backed up by the party, legal technicalities and the almighty courts, if the case returns to the court ?
♦️Cases abound in Plateau and Zamfara States in the recent past where landslide election winners later became losers in the courts and were replaced by those who barely garnered a handful of votes in distant second positions. What happened in Zamfara and Plateau is the fig tree that a foresighted leader like Governor Eno must learn from. No politician wants to go through such a catastrophic ordeal of being thrown out of office on technical grounds after winning a hard fought election.
♦️And then there is the issue of Congresses of the parties, which are willy-nilly coming up in August this year, and particularly the implications of the Congresses for the 2027 elections.
♦️Against this kind of backdrop, Governor Eno is wise, proactive and right to lead his ardent supporters to join the APC. After all, virtually all the APC chieftains in Akwa Ibom today were members of the PDP in the past and there is nothing that says they will not come back to the PDP when the vehicle is motorable again.
♦️Over the last couple of weeks, the Governor has taken time to explain the predicament to his teeming PDP loyalists in an effort to secure a buy-in. Often, he does it with parables and analogies. At other times, he spoke in clear terms to people in his inner circles about the departure to APC.
♦️On Sunday, June 1, 2025, during the Covenant Service in the State House, usually held on the first day of every month and attended by elites in the State, the governor waxed Biblical as he made one of his last ditch attempts to persuade the State to follow him to the APC.
♦️Instead of his standard remarks at the end of the Covenant Service, that usually pointed to the activities and policy direction of the government, the Governor simply mounted the pulpit and gave out four Bible portions to be read at home by the elites. The Bible portions were: Romans 8:31-37, 2 Samuel 15, Psalm 34:19 and Numbers 10:29-32.
♦️Here is what Numbers 10:29-32 says: “One day Moses said to his brother-in-law, Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, “We are on our way to the place the LORD promised us, for he said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us and we will treat you well, for the LORD has promised wonderful blessings for Israel!” [30] But Hobab replied, “No, I will not go. I must return to my own land and family.” [31] “Please don’t leave us,” Moses pleaded. “You know the places in the wilderness where we should camp. Come, be our guide. [32] If you do, we’ll share with you all the blessings the LORD gives us.” Many have read the Bible portions between the lines and have decided to follow him.
♦️Let’s go with Governor Eno! He will treat us well!! He will share with us the blessings of the APC!!!
Why Governor Eno Is Right And Wise To Join APC
