I Came Like John The Baptist, Gov Eno Defends PDP-to-APC Defection

Monday July 27, 2026
www.thenewsdesk.ng

Akwa Ibom Governor, Pastor Umo Eno, has likened himself to a political forerunner, saying he defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the All Progressives Congress, APC, ahead of many of his colleagues who have since followed the same path.

Pastor Eno spoke in an interview with TVC on Friday, July 24, 2026, where he addressed criticism that trailed his early exit from the PDP and explained the thinking behind his defection.

The governor said his decision was born out of practical necessity, insisting there was nothing wrong with aligning with a party in a position to deliver funding for the state.

“You can’t be hungry all the time. Why don’t you reject it? The man has done well. Funds are coming. Allocations are coming. And we’re able to have funds to get to work for our people. And so I had to. It was a decision well thought out,” he said.

Governor Eno said the presence of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, a fellow Akwa Ibom indigene, in the APC also shaped his decision, as remaining in a different party could have created a damaging contest for political control of the state.

“The Senate president is from Akwa Ibom. I don’t see how we would have maintained the peace trajectory we are talking about with me in another party and the Senate president in another party. The soul of the state is what everybody will be fighting for,” he said.

On his exit from the PDP itself, the governor said he had foreseen that the party would not support his re-election bid, a position many dismissed as premature at the time.

“I did not see through how the way my party then, the PDP, was going, who will endorse my form for a second term. And people said no, it’s too early to judge. But it’s one of the instincts of leadership — your ability to see the future where others can’t see,” he said.

Eno noted that his prediction had since played out, as several governors elected on the PDP platform had also decamped to the APC.

“Today, you can see who is going to endorse these forms. On which platform will I have run? Almost every serving governor, even second-term governors, have now left the party. Then you expect a first-term governor… So why did they leave? The same people who said I was too quick, I shouldn’t have done that — almost all of them have left. Some of them are with me now in the APC,” he said.

The governor described himself as a trailblazer among his colleagues who later joined the ruling party.

“I said to them, I came like John the Baptist to prepare the way for you,” he said.

Eno added that leadership was ultimately judged by outcomes over time, insisting that recent political developments in the country had vindicated his decision.

“A leader’s judgement call must be such that over time, people will know if you’re truly a leader or not. What has happened today in this country should vindicate some of us.

“And people should be able to be humble enough to say we’re sorry, we were wrong, you were right. But human character, sometimes it’s difficult to apologise,” he said.