2027: PDP will win governorship, other elections in Akwa Ibom

The acting National Chairperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Umar Damagum, has said that the PDP is hopeful of winning the governorship and other elections in Akwa Ibom State in 2027 despite Governor Umo Eno’s defection from the party to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

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Mr Damagum stated this on Tuesday in Abuja when a former member of the House of Representatives from Akwa Ibom, Onofiok Luke, and a former commissioner in the state, Ini Ememobong, visited him in his office.

The PDP National Youth Leader, Muhammed Suleiman, and the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, were present during the visit.

Mr Ememobong, a former PDP publicity secretary in Akwa Ibom, refused to join others to defect with Mr Eno to the APC in June. Instead, he resigned his appointment as the commissioner for special duty and Ibom Deep Seaport.

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Mr Luke, a former speaker of the Akwa Ibom House of Assembly, is from Nsit Ubium Local Government Area with Governor Eno. He also refused to defect from the PDP to the APC.

Messrs Luke and Ememobong have posted photos and comments on their separate Facebook pages about the meeting with Mr Damagum.

The PDP acting chairperson commended Mr Ememobong for being a “principled politician who is not moved by every wind of inconvenience”.

He said many “credible” PDP stalwarts, who did not defect with Governor Eno, are still very active in the party.

“With these people and the historic love that Akwa Ibom people have for the PDP, we are hopeful to win all the elections in the state,” the chairperson said of Messrs Luke, Ememobong, and other PDP leaders in Akwa Ibom.

The PDP has been plagued by an internal leadership crisis, which has forced many of its members, including federal and state lawmakers, to defect to the APC.

Governor Eno said he left the PDP because of the party’s crisis. He also said he wants to support President Bola Tinubu’s re-election bid and align Akwa Ibom with the centre to attract federal support for infrastructural development, especially for the Ibom Deep Seaport project.

Besides Mr Eno, Governor Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State defected from the PDP to the APC.

**From left, Onofiok Luke, Ini Ememobong, Umar Damagum, Debo Ologunagba, Muhammed Suleiman**

Gov Eno’s defection

Governor Eno formally joined the ruling APC in June, ending the PDP’s 26-year rule in oil-rich Akwa Ibom.

Before joining the party, Mr Eno told cabinet members unwilling to join him in the new party to resign their appointments.

“We want our commissioners and members of Exco, appointees, and those of you who are saying that you would not come, you are free absolutely not to join me, but you won’t be in my State Executive Council.

“Prepare to resign the day I announce that I am moving because you cannot; you are an appointee, and your loyalty is fully to me. You can’t be in my cabinet and play anti-party. It is what it is.

“I am even begging you to come, you normally don’t expect it. You have the right not to support me again, but the right you don’t have is to remain in my cabinet after I leave. I am making it clear,” Mr Eno had said.

And on 6 June, the day he finally dumped the PDP for the APC, Mr Ememobong resigned his appointment, citing the governor’s directives.

“Today, I have tendered my resignation to the Governor in compliance with his directive that his appointees who are unwilling to join him on the political journey to the APC should resign.

“While I cannot question or fault the Governor’s personal decision, I am unable to join in that sojourn. My decision is borne out of my belief in politics with principles and my long-standing opposition to that political platform, which is daily validated by numerous Nigerians across many sectors,” Mr Ememobong wrote in his resignation letter.

Both Mr Ememobong and Mr Eno served as commissioners in the immediate past administration of then-Governor Udom Emmanuel.

Mr Emmanuel later unveiled Mr Eno as his preferred candidate and helped him to win the governorship election in 2023.

Governor Eno first appointed Mr Ememobong as the commissioner for information, and later redeployed him to the Ministry of Special Duties and Ibom Deep Seaport, the position he served until his resignation.

Governor Eno’s predecessor, Mr Emmanuel, remains a member of the PDP.