When Governor Umo Eno left the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in June, he assured Akwa Ibom residents that his defection would not change his political philosophy.
Before a packed audience, including several APC governors inside the Government House banquet hall, Uyo, he declared: “Standing before you today, I make bold to state categorically I have, by today’s event, changed my political affiliations, but I would continue to uphold my values, moral fibre, and fundamental principles that I have nourished and cherished all my life.
|
|
“Political parties remain vehicles for election. I will continue to ensure that governance is done through the prism of bipartisanship.”
The governor branded the idea “Akwa Ibom United,” a slogan meant to assure the public that party lines would not matter under his leadership.
|
|
|
|---|
But months later, the governor dismissed two of his own appointees — Joseph Ikpak and Felix Ekuri — for attending the PDP national convention in Ibadan. Their offence? Identifying with a party that the governor himself belonged to until recently.
The decision marks a turning point in the young APC administration in Akwa Ibom. It raises questions about whether Governor Eno’s cross-party ideological positioning is collapsing under pressure from his new political bloc.
Airport incident, political pressure, and the turning tide
The sack did not occur in isolation.
Stay Ahead with Premium Times
Follow us on Google News and never miss breaking stories, investigations, and in-depth reporting.
Add as a preferred source on Google
It follows months of agitation from allies of Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who accused some of Mr Eno’s appointees of divided loyalty — beginning with the airport reception for former Governor Udom Emmanuel. They demanded that those aides be sanctioned.
One of Mr Akpabio’s allies, Ata Ikiddeh, posted on Facebook, “Those aides of Governor Eno, who ran into Mr Emmanuel’s honey trap at the airport, have already marked themselves — they cannot be trusted,” this newspaper reported.
Anietie Ekong, a media aide to Mr Akpabio, escalated the pressure: “This is me calling out the appointees of Governor Eno to state today, whom they shall serve: their present boss or the former boss,” he wrote on Facebook.
At the time, Mr Eno appeared unmoved. Speaking to an online newspaper, Politics and Policy, he said: “For me, those to watch out for are not those who pay respect to our leaders in the open… It is those who sneak surreptitiously to tell lies and plant evil seeds.”
He confirmed to the newspaper that he had read the controversial article from Mr Akpabio’s aide but that he would not fight his predecessor, whom he usually referred to as his “political father”.
Yet a few weeks later, the same aides he publicly defended have now been removed — signalling a shift influenced by the Akpabio-aligned APC structure.
A strategy unravels
Mr Eno’s defection was not only bold — it was calculated.
He believed moving to the ruling APC would grant the state “access to the centre” and accelerate realisation of the Ibom Deep Seaport, which experts say will create thousands of jobs.
But unlike other defectors who surrendered their former political base, Mr Eno attempted something unusual: he defected to the APC while trying to retain control of the PDP structures in Akwa Ibom.
He vowed to keep the PDP structure — “so that thieves don’t hijack and use it to fight me,” the governor had said in a leaked video that led to the eviction of Channels TV reporters from the Akwa Ibom Government House Press Corps. The governor’s statement suggests that he does not want the party to field a candidate to challenge him in the 2027 election.
That calculation now appears unrealistic. Shortly after his defection, the PDP National Working Committee dissolved the Akwa Ibom chapter, accusing it of being infiltrated by the APC interests loyal to the governor — a clear message that he cannot defect and still hold the keys to the house he left behind.
A cleric and former Young Progressives Party chairperson, Nyenime Andy, warned publicly: “You cannot control both the APC and the PDP simultaneously.
“You have to choose, either you are the party leader of the APC and relinquish the PDP, or be ready to face being dragged into the mud.
“You have to face it, you as a person did not have any political structure, you were riding on some other person’s structure. It’s time to build your own structure. I mean your own that will be loyal to you,” Mr Andy said to Mr Eno in a Facebook post.
He told the governor to advise the sacked PDP chairperson in Akwa Ibom, Aniekan Akpan, to “gladly” join the APC instead of wanting to stay back in the PDP.
The recent sacking of the governor’s two aides confirms that the internal dual-party balancing act is collapsing.
Aides, confusion, and divided loyalty
State government insiders say that many appointees and commissioners remain loyal to Mr Emmanuel and the PDP, rather than to Mr Eno or the APC.
Earlier, Mr Eno insisted he would not dissolve his cabinet, saying, “Don’t let people poison your mind. You can only leave this council if you’re not performing. Until I finish my first term, I am not going to dissolve the council again.”
But Mr Eno has altered the political calculus by sacking his political aides.
At the recent swearing-in of a new Head of Civil Service, he said: “No man can serve two masters… Those who are not ready and willing to work with us… they are very free to leave.”
He continued: “Every action carries a consequence… either you quietly leave, or I will be glad to receive your resignation rather than stay inside and rock the boat.”
The sack of the governor’s aides signals three things: the operational end of “Akwa Ibom United,” confusion and uncertainty within the administration, and the rising influence of Akpabio’s political bloc, which had long advocated for this sanction.
Political calculations gone wrong
For over two decades, the PDP governed Akwa Ibom to the point that its supporters jokingly referred to it as “a religion.” Its structures reach every polling unit. Mr Eno assumed his defection would trigger a seamless mass migration. It did not.
Instead, the PDP loyalists stayed back, while the entrenched APC stakeholders remained suspicious of defectors. His political base is thinning — not expanding. One of the APC leaders in Akwa Ibom told PREMIUM TIMES that the governor must view joining the party as an “alignment,” not an “acquisition.”
By attempting to retain control of the PDP while leading the APC, Mr Eno appeared to have overestimated his influence and underestimated party dynamics. His dual-party strategy is now collapsing from both ends. He does not have complete control of the political structure of either political party.
Betrayal or governance?
Two sharply contrasting explanations now define the public debate.
Prominent broadcast journalist Michael Bush argues that Governor Eno misled the public with his “Akwa Ibom United”.
“Apologise today for the deceit you call Akwa Ibom United and focus on the job for which we hired you,” Mr Bush wrote in a Facebook post a few days ago.
He warned that 2027 would become “a referendum on light or darkness… and whether a traitor can be betrayed.”
But defending the administration, Mr Eno’s aide on strategic communication, Ubon Marcus, said the sack of the governor’s aides is not betrayal but governance discipline.
In an article he posted on Facebook, Mr Marcus said, “A Governor’s team must reflect his political direction, values, and ideology,” adding that those loyal to an opposing party cannot remain in government.
He reinforced the point with a Biblical saying: “No man can serve two masters.”
2027 and the path ahead
As 2027 approaches, Governor Eno faces an uncertain political landscape, with neither the APC nor the PDP firmly behind him. Trusted fully by neither camp, he now stands at a crossroads: build a genuine cross-party coalition or fully align with the APC structures.
Until then, the contradiction between what he promised and what he now practices may remain the defining question of his political future.
Discover more from Premium Times Nigeria
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
More News
