Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has reaffirmed his support for President Bola Tinubu and Senate President Godswill Akpabio’s reelection, in a move that may be described as anti-party.
At a Thursday Town Hall meeting for Ikot Ekpene/Essien Udim and Obot Akara Federal Constituency, Mr Eno said he wants Mr Akpabio to return to the National Assembly to continue as Senate President.
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Amidst rumours of his defection to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr Eno, a member of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said declaring support for the reelection bid of the two APC leaders does not stop him from being a PDP member.
The governor said he was entitled to his opinion.
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“I have said before that for me, I will support the Senate president to return to the Senate so that he can continue as the Senate president,” Mr Eno said at the event, in which Mr Akpabio was represented by his wife, Uloma.
Since the return of democracy in 1999, only a Benue Senator, David Mark, has served twice and consecutively as Senate president, and that was under the PDP platform. It is too early to predict if Mr Akpabio will achieve this feat if he is reelected.
Governor Eno said the only condition on which he can support another candidate from Mr Akpabio’s Akwa Ibom North-West District (Ikot Ekpene Senatorial District) is that the person assures him (Mr Eno) that he (the candidate) will emerge as Senate president if elected.
“Anybody who wants to go to the Senate in Ikot Ekpene should wait first, except you tell me you want to go and become Senate President, and you know it is not possible. This one that we have, let us support him,” he said.
Support for Tinubu
At the event, Mr Eno reiterated his political support for Mr Tinubu’s reelection but declined to disclose the reason.
“I don’t know how to speak from two sides of the mouth. The other day I said I am going to support President Tinubu and people said why do I say so.
“In the night, they go there and pledge support for the president, and in the afternoon, they do another thing,” he said without disclosing the identities of those he was referring to.
“Me, I am supporting President Tinubu for a second term. When the time comes, I will tell you the reason, and you will see with me why we should support him.
“If you want another support, wait when he finishes, we will support another person. That does not stop me from being a member of my party. I am entitled to my own opinion,” he said.
Akwa Ibom and PDP
The PDP has governed the oil-rich Akwa Ibom since the return of democracy in 1999, but this is the first time a sitting PDP governor would publicly choose another party’s members for election over his party’s candidates.
Mr Akpabio succeeded Victor Attah as governor in 2007. He governed for two terms and in 2015 handed over to Udom Emmanuel, a former executive director at Zenith Bank PLC.
In the same year (2015), Mr Akpabio was elected a senator under the PDP platform, where he served as a minority leader despite being a first-term senator.
However, Mr Akpabio, in 2018, defected to the APC about a year after being quizzed by the anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
A year later, in 2019, he failed to return to the Senate under the APC platform, losing to the PDP candidate, Christopher Ekpenyong, a former deputy governor of Akwa Ibom.
He was subsequently appointed the minister of Niger Delta Affairs by former President Muhammadu Buhari. In 2023, Mr Akpabio secured an overwhelming victory for a second term and later emerged as the Senate president.
In what may be seen as a political horse-trading, Mr Eno told the crowd at the Town Hall meeting on Thursday that Mr Akpabio has repeatedly promised to support him for a second term as governor.
“The Senate president has told me at many fora, and our mother (Mrs Akpabio) has also spoken that they will support me for a second term. So, if you take your own, I take my own, you fall for me, I fall for you. Na play, no be fight,” he said.
Why we left PDP – Akpabio’s wife
Speaking at the occasion, Mr Akpabio, represented by his wife, Uloma, commended Governor Eno for empowering his people, a gesture she said her husband began when he was governor.
“If this had continued from 2015 and 2016, a lot of our people would have been richer by now,” she said, downplaying the achievements of former Governor Emmanuel, who succeeded her husband in 2015 and governed the state till 2023, before handing over to Mr Eno.
“There is no point for blame game. The past remains in the past. Today is a new day, tomorrow will be a great today,” Mrs Akpabio said.
She picked up on a remark by one of the previous speakers and then spoke on how “something” drove her husband into opposition politics.
“One person said this local government is known for opposition politics. He knew why he said that. We have never been in opposition. It is something that drives somebody into opposition,” she added, but offered no details on what drove them to opposition in 2018, when her husband defected from the PDP to the APC.
“Something must drive you, and if that did not drive us, we would have been on the same platform with you,” she said, taking the crowd on a popular Christian chorus: “I can see everything turning around.”
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Mrs Akpabio told Governor Eno that her song said it all.
“I can see everything turning around for our president, turning around for the Senate president, and I can see everything turning around for you (Mr Eno),” she said.
“Somebody said in this state, there is a unity government, it goes from stage to stage. It goes from collaboration to unity. From unity to oneness. We have preached collaboration, we are now in unity, very soon we would preach oneness,” she said, offering no explanation on what she was referring to as “oneness” amidst speculations that Mr Eno may defect to the APC.
“At that point, the shackles will be broken. Shackles of ethnicity, hatred, betrayal and lines will be broken. You are the man that God had sent to join the Senate president to redeem this state, promote our people and bring our people out of poverty and deliver our people from backwardness,” Mrs Akpabio told the governor.
