Umo Eno, disloyal officials and the looming PDP challenge

Since Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom state defected to APC on June 6, the issue of disloyalty of some of his political appointees have dogged his administration. Although they all claimed to have defected with the governor, some of the officials were still loyal to the PDP and its leader, former governor Udom Emmanuel. Many APC leaders, including south-south zonal secretary, Dr Ita Udosen; media adviser to the senate president, Anietie Ekong and IT adviser to the governor, Destiny Young, openly told the governor that some of his officials were APC members in the day and PDP at night. Speaking to this writer in September, Dr Udosen went on to advise the governor to recompose his cabinet and appoint a new set of advisers that will go into the 2027 elections with him.

Privately, the governor implicitly acknowledged that there were indeed disloyal people in his government, but publicly, he carefully avoided making any comments on the matter, focusing rather on implementing his blueprint known as the ARISE Agenda. Two months ago, he told me that the real saboteurs were those in government who go to some elders of the state in secret to run down the government. But the governor refused to make a public pronouncement on the matter. Rather, he went about his business with his usual calmness and stoicism. He asked the party to upgrade its membership register at unit levels and directed all members, including those who defected with him, to register as members.

But complaints of disloyalty continued to dominate political discussions, with APC executives at the ward and local government levels nagging about the lukewarm attitude of some of the governors’ appointees towards their new party, warning that they had neither identified with nor registered as new members. Yet, Gov. Eno avoided the issue, preferring instead to take steps to energise his new party and enhance a sense of unity and harmony. He assured some close associates that the so-called disloyal elements were few in number and of little political influence that would even wane off before 2027; and that with support from Senator Akpabio and President Tinubu, he would be reelected comfortably. Buoyed with confidence, Gov. Eno visited the APC secretariat in September and announced of plans to raise funds to build a new secretariat for the party; met with party executives and donated vehicles to them. Yet the issue of disloyalty did not go away. In early November, the governor again met with the executives of his party from the ward level to the Zonal Executives. He donated cars to some and announced, to the delight of all, that the EXCO would be in place till congresses next year, dispelling rumours of a possible dissolution.

Things, however, came to a head on Saturday when two of the governor’s officials, Joseph Jacob Ikpak, SSA to the Governor on Support Services and Felix Ekuri, SSA on Neighbourhood Watch, attended the convention of a faction of the PDP in Ibadan as part of the 143 delegates from AKwa Ibom State. Leading the delegates was former governor Udom Emmanuel. Other recognisable faces at the convention were Ini Ememobong, who resigned as commissioner for special duties in the Eno administration. He later emerged as the PDP National Publicity Secretary. There were also Emmanuel Enoidem, SAN, who was the secretary of Eno’s campaign organisation and Onofiok Luke, a former member of the house of representatives and Eno’s former political ally. Ememobong, Enoidem, and Luke did not defect with the governor.

The appearance of the two government officials and senior appointees at the PDP convention was very bad optics for the administration. It was a line in the sand, to say the least, and no leader would tolerate that. The two were promptly relieved of their positions on Monday. ‘’It was very embarrassing and it made the government look bad or weak. No leader, no matter how benevolent, would accept such level of disloyalty,” said Elder Aniefiok Isat, an APC chieftain and businessman from Ibesikpo-Asutan LGA. A couple of days after sacking the two, Eno convened a meeting of all his 783 political appointees – the largest in the history of the state – and other stakeholders to drive home his message. The meeting was held to strengthen party unity and reaffirm the commitment of the political structure to his leadership.

Those in attendance were members of the national assembly, members of the state house of assembly, commissioners, special advisers, senior special assistants, honorary special advisers, special assistants, personal assistants across all the 368 wards, and 31 LGAs. From the outset, discussions centred on loyalty, political alignment, and a renewed focus on coordinated grassroots engagement. Senior stakeholders, among them Assam Assam, SAN; Senator Ekong Sampson, and the Speaker of the House of Assembly Udeme Otong, who spoke, applauded the governor for expanding political opportunities that have empowered families and strengthened the State’s political base. Senator Sampson conveyed the Senate President’s message of full support and described Akwa Ibom as a united political front anchored on loyalty to shared leadership.

Governor Eno delivered a direct message to his appointees, stating that the meeting required sincerity and personal evaluation, particularly in the area of loyalty to the administration and the broader party structure. He stressed that his administration has ensured fair distribution of appointments and projects across the state and called on appointees to uphold unity and peaceful coexistence in their daily engagements. “Speak very proudly about this government, speak very proudly about our party, the APC, speak very proudly about our President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu,’’ thundered, adding that public service demands unwavering commitment to the team they represent.

To drive home his point, the governor announced the introduction of the Home Going Weekend, directing all political office holders and party members to return to their Local Government Areas on this Friday to engage with constituents in preparation for the Chapter Meeting on Saturday, November 22. In other words, all APC members in the state should converge in their Local Government Headquarters or any other designated place in the LGA this weekend for an important meeting meant to strengthen loyalty at the grassroots level. It is the first in what would become a regular occurrence in the state. Stakeholders across the political structure, including Commissioners, the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, Ward Personal Assistants, Honorary Special Advisers, and women leaders, pledged complete loyalty and reaffirmed their commitment to the Governor’s political direction. Secretary to the State Government, Prince Enobong Uwah, commended the Governor for his deliberate and people-focused style of leadership. He encouraged appointees to maintain unity, discipline, and loyalty as guiding principles.

Speaking on the issue to me Thursday afternoon, Gov. Eno said he will always respect the political affiliations and views of all Akwa Ibom people, but he will never tolerate any act of disloyalty to the government. ‘’Under my watch, no Akwa Ibom person would suffer any discrimination for his political opinions or membership of a political party. But Akwa Ibom is APC state and I am the leader of APC government in the state. You can only serve in this administration if you are a loyal member of the APC. In the remaining period I have to serve the state, my focus is to consolidate the strength of my party and deliver implement the ARISE Agenda for our people. As for those who want to hide and seek game, I can assure them that they will never hide for long. We shall fish them all out,’’ he said.

With the landslide victory of Gov. Charles Soludo in the November 8 governorship election in Anambra and the conclusion of the PDP convention in Ibadan, political discussions are shifting to how well Eno will perform in his reelection contest and the extent to which the PDP, his former party, will put up a fight. Soludo’s 72% win is a clear pointer to what happens when an incumbent is running against weak and fractious opposition parties, and according to some politicians in Akwa Ibom, Umo Eno’s victory in 2027 could even be higher. ‘’The PDP and ADC in Akwa Ibom are in far weaker position than the opposition parties in Anambra; so, it is fair to say that Gov. Eno will score up to 80% of the votes in 2027’’, says Ita Udosen, APC zonal secretary.

The election of Ini Ememobong the National Publicity Secretary of a faction of the PDP at the Ibadan convention, has created a bit of a surprise in the state. It would be the second time an Akwa Ibom son has held the position, the first being Senator Anietie Okon, who was the party’s first National Publicity Secretary in 1998. But many in Akwa Ibom have expressed some concerns about Ememobong’s emergence, with a few fearing that he may use the platform to demean and denigrate the APC government in his state. Ememobong was Gov. Umo Eno’s commissioner for Special Duties till June, when the governor defected, and he resigned from the cabinet to remain in PDP. Many now recall how Ememobong denigrated Senator Akpabio viciously after Akpabio defected from the PDP to the APC in 2018, just because Akpabio left the PDP.

‘’I am sure that Ini has not forgiven Gov. Umo Eno for abandoning the PDP and joining the APC; and knowing Ini’s character, he would want to use his new platform as PDP national publicity secretary to heap personal attacks at Gov. Umo Eno the way he treated Akpabio,’’ an APC chieftain in the state told me. But some do not agree with that line of thinking. Their thinking is that Ememobong has since matured both emotionally and politically. Umo Eno is not the first and won’t be the last governor to defect. It would therefore be the height of pettiness for Ememobong to take the governor’s political decision as his personal loss. “The last two occupants of the office of the national publicity secretary of the PDP were a Yoruba journalist and lawyer. They did not use the position to insult their state governors or settle personal scores. Ememobong should therefore separate his official duties from personal grievances,’’ advises Senator Ita Enang, a respected politician who is from the same community as the factional PDP spokesman.

The concept of loyalty has different colourations and connotations in the politics of the state. Many in PDP, including former Gov. Udom Emmanuel, who refused to defect with the governor, stayed away because they have personal and political grudges against Senator Akpabio, and they expected Gov. Eno to join them in the fight. But Eno has vowed that he would not inherit anybody’s enemies. Second, it is so shattering to see Udom Emmanuel turn around to dine with and embrace the same people he fought against when he was governor.

He spent most of his eight years in office fighting cult members in the state. Under his direction, the state house of assembly enacted a law against cultism, and with it, his administration drove cultism to a state of dormancy. But now, as the leader of PDP in the state, the former governor has turned around to assemble a group of these same cult members to constitute the state PDP caretaker committee. The former governor is essentially giving oxygen to the same people he fought against in the state. What is his agenda? To foment trouble? Finally, why would anybody expect Gov. Umo Eno to have remained in the PDP when the party has been strewn in crisis in the last two years?