Friday June 27, 2025
By Eneh JOHN
History has remained an antecedent looked back on, to reflect events in times past, which helps to shape the present and future of mankind. But what we will not forget in a hurry, is the 6th of June, 2025, where the political dynamics of the state was altered.
There are quite significant dates in the history of the state, like the September 23, of every year, May 29 of every year, including the famous August 8, 2018, these dates are quite historic in the annals of history in Akwa Ibom, because, it connects politically, from whatever prism you may view it from.
Like every other day could pass, the 6th of June 2025, did not pass for an ordinary day. It was a day well anticipated, followed by June 21, 2025. It was one day that mixed feelings had engulfed the entire state, as anxiety grew widely.
To some persons, the day should not have come, but at last, it came, but the memories it left, will always not be forgotten. It was a day that Governor Umo Eno stood between the present and the future, and a day that will go down as one Akwa Ibom people will always remember.
Governor Umo Eno once said, “That a leader must see far off than the people he is leading, and that a leader should have the ability to see what others are not seeing.” With the defection of the Governor to the All Progressives Congress, despite the criticisms and diverse opinions that have trailed his movement, the Governor alone sees what we are not seeing.
As a core loyalist of His Excellency, and one of his foot soldiers, since the 19th of April, 2025, when I first wrote a piece titled: WILL GOVERNOR UMO ENO DEFECT TO APC? THE UNANSWERED QUESTION AKWA IBOM PEOPLE ARE ASKING,” where I stated emphatically that I had enough brooms in my house to go with the Governor if he defects to the APC, I had come under attack on that piece, but like the rock of Gibraltar, I refused to bulge and stood by my piece, declaring my unalloyed support for the Governor’s defection.
The weeks, months and years to come, will shape the destiny of the state and usher us into a future that we are yet to see today. This is the first time that a sitting Governor of the state is moving to another political party, and like I once predicted in my piece, new political players will come on board, and others will go down, that is already happening.
As we gravitate towards this history, Governor Umo Eno will be remembered for this great move, his enduring legacies through the ARISE AGENDA, will outlive him and place Akwa Ibom State in the zenith of leadership strides.
We will all be witnesses to the truth that this movement to the All Progressives Congress will yield more desired development to the state.
Let time do the talking for this defection and prove naysayers wrong.
*Eneh John, PhD, who is SA, Media, to the Akwa Ibom Governor Umo Eno, is a Journalist and Associate Member, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, writes from Ikot Uso Ekong, Eket, AKS.
Gov Umo Eno: Putting Akwa Ibom On The Cross Road Of History
