A member of the Akwa Ibom State Executive Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Fabian Emmanuel, has said that the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) now dictates internal affairs of the PDP in the state, following Governor Umo Eno’s defection to the APC.
Mr Emmanuel, the assistant organising secretary 1 of the PDP in Akwa Ibom and a member of the Nyesom Wike faction of the party, made the allegation in a Facebook post shared on Sunday.
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He later deleted the post, apparently due to pressure.
In the post, Mr Emmanuel claimed that PDP aspirants in Akwa Ibom were prevented from obtaining nomination forms for the 2027 state assembly election due to directives allegedly favouring APC interests under the “Akwa Ibom United” political arrangement.
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PREMIUM TIMES reported that Governor Eno, after defecting to the APC, vowed not to relinquish the PDP structure in the state to prevent the party from mounting strong opposition against him during the 2027 elections.
Subsequently, Mr Eno integrated his newly coined phrase, “Akwa Ibom United,” into the state’s APC slogan to symbolise governance across party lines.
Mr Emmanuel’s claims confirm our previous report on the collapse of Mr Eno’s cross-party promise in Akwa Ibom, and suggest growing unease within the PDP over the balance of power in the state.
“They couldn’t announce to us, ‘Sorry, the directive is that only APC aspirants must control both the APC and the PDP forms for stewards,’” he wrote.
The PDP official alleged that despite assurances by party leaders that nomination forms were available, interested PDP aspirants were repeatedly denied access to them.
According to him, the state PDP chairman, Aniekan Akpan, informed members of the state executive committee during a meeting that forms were available and that exco members had “right of first refusal” if they wished to contest elective offices.
Mr Emmanuel said aspirants were subsequently directed from one party official to another without receiving the forms.
“From ‘come to the office the next day for the form,’ to ‘go to the secretary’s house for the form,’ to ‘call the chairman,’ and from the chairman, ‘call the secretary,’ until the week ran out,” he said.
He claimed he later received indications that “last-minute instructions” had been issued against his aspiration.
“The message was clear,” he wrote. “We got all the details, we got the names of actors, we got the last-minute instructions.”
Mr Emmanuel, who had sought to contest for the Ibesikpo Asutan State Constituency seat, described the situation as evidence that the APC now exerts control over PDP affairs in Akwa Ibom.
He repeatedly referred to what he called the “Akwa Ibom United System,” and added that “The System happened to us.”
The PDP official also questioned his party’s relevance within the “coalition” arrangement.
PDP keeps mum
When PREMIUM TIMES contacted Edwin Ebiese, the publicity secretary of the Akpan-led faction of the PDP, for clarifications, he said he was not privy to Mr Emmanuel’s claims and asked the newspaper to share the post with him for an informed comment.
PREMIUM TIMES subsequently shared screenshots of the deleted post with him.
When contacted again, Mr Ebiese confirmed he had read the post but said he would only respond after obtaining clarifications from Mr Emmanuel. He did not respond further as of the time of filing this report.
In its enquiry to the faction of the party, PREMIUM TIMES sought clarification on why Mr Emmanuel was allegedly denied nomination forms despite claiming he met the requirements and was willing to purchase them.
The newspaper also requested the party’s response to allegations that APC interests now influence PDP affairs in Akwa Ibom following Governor Eno’s defection.
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Renowned journalist accuses Eno of ‘deceit’
In November last year, a renowned journalist and politician in Akwa Ibom, Michael Bush, accused Mr Eno of deceiving the people with the “Akwa Ibom United” slogan, following the governor’s sacking of two of his political aides, on Monday, for attending the 2025 PDP national convention in Ibadan, Oyo State. The Supreme Court in April voided the convention which the Kabir Turaki-led faction organised.
“Apologise today for the euphemism or rather the deceit you call Akwa Ibom United and go on to run your APC system because even the blind can see what you are doing from the pulpit of governance,” Mr Bush, the CEO of Bush House Nigeria, a media outfit in Uyo, said to Mr Eno in a Facebook post.
Mr Bush has declared his interest to contest against Mr Eno’s re-election bid in 2027.
