Udom Emmanuel, Seyi Makinde and the crisis in Akwa Ibom PDP

The national working committee of the PDP dissolved the executives of the Akwa Ibom state chapter of the party last Tuesday in apparent bid to reinvigorate it two months after the defection of Umo Eno, the state governor.

The immediate response from some APC members seems to suggest that they were shocked, displeased and caught off-guard by the development. But why should APC members be so concerned by how PDP manages its affairs? When Gov. Umo Eno defected from the PDP to APC early June, he moved with all members of his cabinet; all the 31 LGA chair persons; all but two house of assembly members; all the 10 house of representatives members and the two senators.

But quite curiously, the state working committee of PDP, led by Hon. Aniekan Akpan, did not move with the governor to APC. Instead, Akpan went beyond the call of duty to maintain close working relationship state governor and the senate president, Godswill Akpabio. He routinely attended state functions in government house and stakeholders’ meetings in Akpabio’s residence – a strange development in a state previously notorious for deep political divisions. For Eno, such inter-party collaborations were part of his plans to promote harmony.

In a statement signed by national publicity secretary Debo Ologunagba on Tuesday, the PDP NWC noted that the dissolution is in line with the party’s constitution. A 31-member caretaker committee, headed by Igwat Umoren, was named to run the affairs of the Akwa Ibom state chapter of the party for a period not three months, or ‘’until such a time a new state executive committee will be elected in the state’’.

The dissolution of the Akpan-led EXCO has startled some APC members, with many sounding disconcerted. Chief Ofonime Honesty, a member of the party’s media team, said the dissolution ‘stands out as one of the most reckless and ill-advised political maneuvers in recent times…Aniekan Akpan and his team remain the only valid and recognized leadership of PDP in Akwa Ibom’’.

Both Honesty and Ata Ikiddeh, another supporter of the governor, believe that the dissolution was orchestrated by former governor Udom Emmanuel, in association with Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo state, and was instigated by the visit of FCT minister Nyesom Wike to the state the previous week to commission some of the governor’s projects. Other APC members are also worried that there are persons who moved into the party with the governor from the PDP, but are still loyal to the PDP.

The governor himself has spoken about the activities of such two-faced politicians, and as recently as last week, during a church service to mark the 38th anniversary of the creation of the state, Pastor Eno declared that such persons would soon be weeded out of his government and the APC. Among the 31 members of the PDP caretaker committee is Ndianabasi Udom who was a member of the Akwa Ibom state rural roads agency, a parastatal of the state government, until he was named into the PDP caretaker committee. He resigned from the agency as soon as he was named into the committee. “This is a clear indication that there may be many others in the government who are still attending PDP meetings or who are not wholeheartedly with the governor,’’ says Elder Aniefiok Isatt, an APC chieftain in Ibesikpo-Asutan LGA.

Eno appears quite unfazed by the whole drama within his former party. ‘’I am a member of APC; I am not worried about what the PDP does or does not do. My focus is to work for Akwa Ibom people, and support the President and Senate President,’’ he told me when I asked for his comments on the dissolution of the EXCO.

His confidence is based on four major factors. One, the PDP in the state has become too weak to offer a strong competition in the 2027 elections; two, Eno has the full backing of the president, senate president and APC NWC; three, the governor will go for the 2027 election with enormous war chest and sufficient financial resources and four, his current approval rating is well above 60% – enough to extinguish any political assault.

Says Dr. Ita Udosen, APC Zonal Secretary for the South-South Zone: ‘’I will advise APC members in Akwa Ibom not to lose sleep over what’s happening in the PDP. In the first instance, the dissolution of its EXCO was expected; but more importantly, our governor is well on ground in terms of the level of support he’s enjoying. Who in the PDP can challenge this governor? Who is the candidate?’’Udosen however advises Eno to filter out disloyal elements from his government and build a strong team that will go with him into the election.

Sacking the state EXCO of the party may appear as a soothing balm to PDP loyalists in the state, but it is not enough to energize it for the 2027 elections. The party is still too frail and bereft of the resources needed to stage a comeback. There is no one in that party with the resources, stamina and charisma required to provide the requisite leadership which can pull a crowd. The few remaining persons there were created by the government’s patronage system that they enjoyed since 1999. With the defection of Gov. Eno, they are withering away.

A keen look at the names of the caretaker committee shows that it is composed of persons who had served in one capacity or the other in the PDP or the Udom Emmanuel administration – confirming speculations that the former governor is steadily crowning himself as the new PDP leader in the state. But how far is he willing to go to supplant the incumbent whose election he facilitated in 2023 as his successor? Governorship elections costs a lot of money. Will the former governor, all things considered, shell out as much as N5 billion to fund a gubernatorial campaign of another candidate who will likely not score up to 15% of the total votes cast? Can Udom Emmanuel afford to renege on the pledge he made to President Tinubu on February 28, 2025, in the President’s office, to support the president’s reelection? Time will tell!