In Akwa Ibom State, old political rivalry is now on song, ahead of the 2019 governorship election. In 2015, it was a fight to the finish between the incumbent governor, Emmanuel Udom, and Obong Nsima Ekere, who today, is the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission. The duo had wanted to become governor on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party and as was the practice, any serious contender required a big gun as godfather.
By late 2018, the tenure of Ekere would lapse, thus clearing the coast for him to take another shot at his dream ambition of becoming Akwa Ibom governor. Yet, Udom of the PDP, who is the sitting governor, is gearing up for a re-election
Udom, who was Secretary to the State Government under then Governor Godswill Akpabio, naturally had a strong shield in the state governor to whom he became a godson. But Ekere, leveraging on widespread affection and a deep pocket, was nonetheless a political orphan.
In December 2014, shortly before the PDP governorship primary election was conducted in Uyo, Ekere had clearly read the handwriting on the wall, to the effect that to hope to emerge as candidate of the PDP in the governorship race was like an attempt to find a virgin among nursing mothers.
He was not alone. Other contestants were similarly aggrieved, that Akpabio was bent on imposing Udom on them, thus culminating in a mass exodus of contestants from the party.
But before the departure, the aggrieved aspirants had taken their protest to Abuja, hoping to see then President Goodluck Jonathan in the hope that he would call Akpabio to order and ensure a level-playing field for the contest. In that band, they were tagged G-22, to denote the numerical strength of the aggrieved contestants. But the trip, re-collectors say, was a wild goose chase, as the influence of Akpabio was like an imprimatur in Aso Rock.
The 22 contestants at the period hibernated in Abuja for 40 days, ‘pressing all the necessary buttons’, in the forlorn hope of sighting President Jonathan to lodge their complaint. The band’s stay in Abuja, a political analyst had at the period mused, “was like 40 days in the wilderness.”
Upon their return from Abuja, the G-22 members scattered afield, joining different political parties to pursue their dreams, as prevailing circumstances would permit. While a former First Lady of the state, Mrs. Helen Esuene, went into the Labour Party, some governorship contestants defected to the All Progressives Congress, to work for Obong Umana Okon Umana, who had already picked the party’s governorship ticket.
But Ekere’s entry into the APC was a top-level thing. He came in through his long-standing friend, Rotimi Amaechi, who was Rivers State governor and a strong voice in the APC. Ekere’s arrival in the APC also vindicated an old saying that, “in politics, there is no permanent friend or enemy, only permanent interest.” He therefore made up with Umana, who had earlier been his major political foe in the state.
In the end, Udom, backed forcefully by Akpabio the sitting governor, won the election; but after victory, he also went through the turbulence of election petitions in the courts, and overcame.
One year after the APC won at the federal level, Amaechi, who is the current Minister of Transportation, became a ‘rewarder of all those who diligently filed behind him’ to ensure success for President Muhammadu Buhari, not forgetting too, many of his supporters in the South-South, even though Buhari flunked in that region.
He reportedly influenced the appointment of Ekere as Managing Director of the NDDC, to complete the two years remaining in the tenure for Akwa Ibom, following the ouster of Mr. Bassey Dan Abia, an appointee of former President Jonathan. And in the arithmetic of time, by late 2018, the tenure of Ekere would lapse, thus clearing the coast for him to take another shot at his dream ambition of becoming Akwa Ibom governor.
Yet, Udom of the PDP, who is the sitting governor, is gearing up for a re-election, thus opening up the old rivalry between the two gladiators. As time ticks, however, the diametrically opposed politicians are casting aside all forms of pretension or feigned friendship, as they have begun to show clear hostilities, even in official interactions.
As the man who oversees the affairs of the NDDC, Ekere cannot but take more than a cursory interest in the state of infrastructure in Akwa Ibom, as it is one of the oil-producing states covered under the commission. Same way, Governor Udom is constitutionally obliged to provide amenities for the people of his state. That, suitably, is a clashing point.
A recent security summit, organised in Uyo by the Office of the Inspector General of Police, provided a fertile ground for an Udom-Ekere clash. Ekere had watched in studied silence, as Udom pilloried his NDDC, condemning it for alleged non-performance in Akwa Ibom State, saying, “The NDDC has not commissioned any single road in Akwa Ibom State.”
Udom also appeared to have lent credence to an allegation that his administration deliberately frustrated efforts by Ekere to make a mark in his home state, when he said on the occasion, “The NDDC does not own any piece of land; the governors own all the lands. So the NDDC should always take permission from governors before embarking on any projects.” The drama, gradually, is unfolding.
