Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has finally dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mr Eno announced this on Friday at an event in Government House, Uyo, attended by governors of Lagos, Ogun, Edo, Delta, Ebonyi, Imo, Ondo, and Cross River states.
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“Earlier this morning, I submitted my letter of resignation from the PDP to the ward chairperson. The same copy has been sent to the state and national chairpersons of the party.
“Having completed the rounds of my consultations as your servant that you elected to serve you, I have, therefore, decided to progressively move to the APC,” he said amidst applause.
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Mr Eno had weeks before confirmed he was leaving the PDP for the APC, warning cabinet members unwilling to join him in the APC to prepare their resignation letter.
He reechoed the warning today at Government House.
With his defection, the PDP has for the first time in 26 years become an opposition party in the oil-rich state.
Mr Eno has become the second PDP governor in South-south region, after Governor Sheriff Oborevwori, to join the APC in less than two months.
Contradictory pronouncements
Mr Eno had long prepared the people’s minds for today’s defection by endorsing the APC’s duo of President Bola Tinubu and Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, for reelection in 2027, despite being a PDP member then.
Mr Akpabio had also reciprocated the gesture by endorsing the governor for a second term.
At several fora, Governor Eno repeatedly told the people he was not doing party politics in Akwa Ibom and that political parties are vehicles for achieving political ambition, after which governance begins.
However, he repeatedly contradicted himself regarding working with everybody across party lines.
Two weeks ago, when he confirmed he would be leaving the PDP, he warned cabinet members unwilling to join him in the APC to prepare their resignation letter.
“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 announced 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 promised to retain control of the structure of the PDP in the state after his defection.
At today’s defection speech, Mr Eno said, despite joining the APC he would continue to govern the state through a bipartisanship.
“Standing before you today, I make bold to state categorically that I have, by today’s event, changed my political affiliations, but I would continue to uphold my values, moral fibre, foundational principles that I have nourished and cherished all through my life.
“Those values would remain unchanged, and I would always work with you regardless of party affiliations. Political parties remain vehicles for election. I will continue to ensure that governance is done through the prism of bipartisanship,” he said.
In the same speech, he contradicted himself, telling his cabinet member, whom he referred to as his first eleven, that joining him in the APC was non-negotiable.
“For our team members, I have said it before, particularly for my first eleven (Exco members), I am not hiding it. While we talk and persuade the politicians and those who contested election to see the need to join this movement, I demand from my first eleven complete loyalty.
“I will not negotiate that. You are an appointee at the pleasure of the governor, and I will not permit that you serve without joining my party. Let me make it clear so that you can hear it,” he threatened.
The oil-rich Akwa Ibom has been governed by the PDP for 26 years, since the return of democratic rule in 1999. In the state, winning the PDP nomination is likened to winning a generalelection, prompting its members to describe the party as a “religion” in the state.
This newspaper gathered that convincing some politicians, including serving cabinet members, to join him in the APC has been a herculean task, forcing Mr Eno to resort to threatening commissioners with resignation.
Citing this directive, the commissioner for Special Duties and Ibom Deep Seaport, Ini Ememobong, resigned his appointment about an hour after the governor officially announced his defection to the APC.
Sheathe your swords – Eno told APC members
Unlike the PDP in the state, which is considered one big and united family with political structures spread across the state, Mr Eno’s new party, the APC, particularly in the state, is considered to be riddled with mistrust and internal bickering among its leaders.
Acknowledging the uncharted political waters he has just entered, Mr Eno, in his speech, urged the APC members to sheathe their swords, warning that he was not joining them from a position of weakness.
“I want to make it emphatically clear that we are not joining the APC from a position of weakness but from a position of strength. We are bringing values to the APC in Akwa Ibom state,” he stated.
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“We want to build back a party that has once been torn apart, where people go their different directions.
“Therefore, I call on all of us, people of goodwill, political parties across Akwa Ibom State, particularly the APC family, to return from wherever you have been, whatever the issues have been.
“Let us sheath our swords as we begin to work together, build, and renew together. Let us put the past bitterness behind us. For if we all live in a country or a state of an eye for an eye, we would all become blind very soon.
“So, for the sake of President Bola Tinubu, let us extend the hands of brotherhood to ensure we return the president in 2027,” Mr Eno said.
