Friday May 23, 2025|
There appears to be an unimaginable fear of the unknown and a heightened apprehension within the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) family in Akwa Ibom State as Governor Umo Eno, elected in 2023 on the ticket of the umbrella party, seems to have perfected plans to defect to the broom party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) sweeping many states of the country into its fold, according to BusinessDAY reports.
It is not immediately clear what the interest is, for Eno, a former commissioner of lands and water resources in Akwa Ibom State executive council, a state which has always seen PDP as a religion in that it has massive followers in all the 31 local government areas and has won all the governorship elections since 1999 to have shown the likeness to jettison the party that brought him to the pinnacle of his achievements, a pastor who has never been a staunch member of the party, is baffling and dumbfounding to many.
Even though Akwa Ibom has always been seen as a state where the PDP is the ruling party, there have also been camps and opposition groups challenging the dominant groups and jostling for political party, but at the end of it all, it has always been a victory for PDP.
In recent years, the camps were split into two. And since the defection of Godswill Akpabio, a former governor of the state, from the PDP to the APC in 2018, the fault lines within the camps have widened, with two main camps fighting for control of the state’s resources.
Observers believe that while Akpabio, the Senate president, heads one camp, other top politicians in the state have found themselves in the opposing camp.
Fast forward to 2023, when Akpabio became the Senate president, things began to take a different shape and dimension, with Eno showing in his body language the urgent need to close ranks and ensure a unity of purpose and collaboration in the development of the state.
This new “strategic alignment” may have gained traction during the local government election conducted in the state in December 2023, in which PDP was expected to have swept all the councils, as was always the case.
But this was not to be, though the results were announced by the state electoral commission with PDP winning all councils, it was later adjusted so that APC won in Essien Udim, the Senate President’s local government area and one other council which is also the home local government area of another APC stalwart in the state.
When Governor Eno led a delegation of who is who in Akwa Ibom State to meet with President Bola Tinubu in Abuja, one notable picture released after the meeting that caught the attention of many and was on the cover of many dailies was that of Eno, Akpabio, Udom Emmanuel, immediate past governor and Tibunu having a separate conversation.
During the meeting proper, Eno is reported to have requested the assistance of the federal government in the development of the Ibom Deep Sea Port in Mbo Local Government Area of the state, among other pressing issues.
Eno has given much attention to the seaport project and has said many times, the state alone has no resources to develop a seaport, hence his appeal to the federal government for intervention. Many have suggested that his decision to move to the centre of gravity, as it were, might not be unconnected with his quest for the rapid realisation of the port project. This is only a matter of conjecture.
Principally, as the 2027 general elections draw near, Tinubu, Eno and Akpabio need to secure a return to their offices, While Tinubu needs a geographical spread in winning the presidential elections, Eno needs a second term to implement his programmes and projects under the Arise Agenda while Akpabio needs the APC to win in Akwa Ibom State to give him an edge over any likely rival from the South-South region of the country. This appears to be the likely scenario that is giving him the push to move to APC, and this may have been part of a pact he may have entered into with Akpabio.
Using the allegory of Ibom Air and Air Peace and his most recent meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima in Abuja, after which he exonerated Tinubu from the country’s economic hardship, Eno is believed to have concluded plans to jump ship, and many have already set June 6 as the date for his defection.
Moving to APC, his speeches and body language have confirmed this, but it has thrown his supporters into a state of fear and apprehension. What will be their fate, will they be allowed to join as equal partners, or will they queue like other party members?
One APC chieftain provided an insight, saying the newcomers should not expect immediate gratification or positions within the party and that decisions would be guided by the party’s constitution.
Dennis Udoma, an APC leader, believes that it is only during the party’s congress, coming up soon, that positions are filled, adding that new members have to wait until the party holds its congress.
“There is no vacant position for the new members, the party is governed by its constitution, it is only after the congress that party officials are elected into offices,’’ he said.
In many of the local government areas of the state, APC is busy holding stakeholders’ meetings and electing political leaders, while PDP members are anxiously waiting for the merger or acquisition that is taking place in the state.
For now, it is only after the defection of the governor that the new political structure in the state will be known, and what will be the fate of thousands of PDP faithful who many say would have to queue behind APC members before being given any recognition.
