A prominent archbishop in Akwa Ibom State, Udeme Simon, was spotted at an APC meeting where participants declared their political support for President Bola Tinubu, Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom, and the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
Mr Akpabio hails from Akwa Ibom.
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Messrs Tinubu, Eno and Akpabio are all APC members seeking re-election in 2027.
The meeting was held on 10 February at the residence of a retired deputy inspector general of police, Udom Ekpoudom, in Etim Ekpo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom. It was for select APC chieftains in the area.
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PREMIUM TIMES learnt that Mr Ekpoudom convened the meeting as a strategic move to prevent Emmanuel Enoidem, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, who recently defected from the PDP to the APC, from assuming the position of the political leader of Etim Ekpo.
Mr Enoidem, a former national legal adviser of the PDP, is from Etim Ekpo. He contested and lost the 2023 Akwa Ibom North-West senatorial election as the PDP candidate against Mr Akpabio, who was the APC candidate.
Regarding the 10 February meeting at Etim Ekpo, a video clip posted on Facebook showed the archbishop, Mr Simon, being acknowledged among other dignitaries by the Commissioner for Youth Development in Akwa Ibom, Ekerette Ekanem.
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‘The governor shall come from the church’
Our reporter contacted Mr Simon on Friday about the APC meeting and asked him if he was a member of the ruling party, but he declined to respond.
However, this newspaper found the archbishop’s views on politics online.
Mr Simon, the founder of Great Faith Ministries, Uyo, advocated the church’s involvement in politics, though he did not say whether he is a member of any political party.
“If you read the Book of Jeremiah, it says the governor shall come from the church. That is politics.
“Jesus Christ of Nazareth is politics because when you read John 3:16, for God so loved the world, He sent ‘Jesus of the world’, but politics makes them say Jesus of Nazareth. That is politics. And so politics is not a sin, if you play it holy. But if you don’t play it holy, if you want to do like others are doing, that is when it’s not good for those who want to go to heaven,” Mr Simon declared in an interview with an online television, G247 TV, broadcast on 25 April 2021.
He said many politicians don’t care about heaven. “Thank God, there are still heaven-conscious politicians, like we have in Akwa Ibom here,” he added.
The archbishop, with over 46 years’ experience in ministry, said he gave his life to Jesus Christ in 1979 and began his ministry at Qua Iboe Church, Deeper Life Ministries, and later at Living Faith Church, (aka Winners Chapel), before establishing Great Faith Ministries.
He said God called him to “arise, shine, and put smiles on people’s faces through the preaching and the teaching of the word of God”.
He said he has travelled to 26 countries, including the US and the UK, to put smiles on people’s faces and has shaken hands with presidents.
“There are people that till the die, they will not have the opportunities to shake hands with presidents of nations,” the archbishop said. “So it’s a privilege.”
Mr Simon said in the interview that God can install and remove political leaders. “When the leadership does not please God, God can remove them. We saw a lot of that in the Bible,” he said.
‘There’s no government that doesn’t rig elections’
The archbishop’s views on politics contrast with those of a fiery pastor in Uyo, Abel Damina, who stated in 2022 that God does not get involved in politics.
Mr Damina, the pastor of Power City International, said that democracy “is a system of imperfection run by imperfect people and ends with imperfect people”.
“Somebody said they are rigging elections. There’s no government that doesn’t rig elections, including America. That is the way the system works. It is survival.
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“So if you are thinking of politics, start thinking of contending as a (a means of) survival. So they are stealing the ballot box; steal your own. That’s the way the system works. It means all of us are thieves – steal, I steal. The man that steal pass becomes governor,” he said.
Akwa Ibom is predominantly Christian, with the church having a strong influence on the state’s politics. For instance, there is an amorphous group of older, pro-establishment clerics in the state known as the fathers of faith, who influence the election and appointment of political leaders.
Governor Eno is a pastor who owns a medium-sized church, All Nations Christian Ministry International, in Eket, Akwa Ibom.
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