Our investigation reveals that Senator Effiong Bob, from
the same local government area as the SSG, may soon join the race for AKWA IBOM 2015. Bob
is believed to have been stopped from returning to the Senate for the
third time in 2011 because of the “activities of the SSG”. Another
possible candidate from Uyo Senatorial District, we learnt, is the
Commissioner of Finance, Bassey Albert Akpan.
Said to be a nominee of Umanah into Akpabio’s cabinet, Akpan has of
recent, been having a running battle with Umanah over the race. Akpan is
said to be well grounded among the youths through the patronage and
empowerment he has been doling out to them as Chairman of the State
Inter-ministerial Direct Labour Co-ordinating Committee.
Though he hasn’t yet declared his intention in the race, sources say
he may eventually do. If he doesn’t, the same sources say, he will ‘put
all his machinery-material and financial- on an Eket Candidate and
become the Deputy or SSG thereafter, if they succeed.’ Nobody from Ikot
Ekpene Senatorial District is in the race at the moment. Sources say the
project to install the SSG as Governor is getting desperate. Opposition
to the scheme is said to have divided the State Executive Council into
two camps.
Opposition EXCO members, are said to have been tactically grounded in
the performance of their duties. Sources say moves by the SSG to remove
some opposition Exco members through a cabinet reshuffle have been
consistently rebuffed by the Governor. Source further add that the
reshuffle has become a subject of town gossip and that when an Exco
meeting is called, people always expect the outcome to be its
dissolution. Many believe that if the Exco is dissolved, only loyalists
of the SSG will be returned.
The resignation, last year, of the former Deputy Governor, Nsima
Ekere, was seen by many as a warning to those who want to contest the
Governorship to be wary. Ekere is said to have built political
structures and openly declared intent to contest the elections. Marked
for impeachment, Ekere narrowly escaped by resigning and many believe,
he will still join the race later.
Those in the race from Eket Senatorial District are: Senator Helen
Esuene: the urbane former first lady of the defunct South Eastern State
(present Akwa Ibom and Cross River State) and former Minister in
Obasanjos’ administration is said to have consulted people over her
ambition. Many believe that gender and her upper class distinction may
stand in her way to clinching the ticket.
She is however, loved for her humility, straight forwardness and
business acumen. She is also said to be from Uyo by birth but married to
an Eket man, the late Brigadier General U.J. Esuene. Dr. Sam Udonsak:
The Port Harcourt based University of Ibadan graduate of Medicine is a
veteran governorship aspirant having contested in the 2003, 2007 and
2011 race.
Though a fine gentleman, many feel he is disconnected from the people
and too elitist for a position that needs political maneuvering and
negotiations with grassroot political leaders. Patrick Ekpotu: Though he
hasn’t declared his intent in the race and ‘may not’, according to
close sources, he is under extreme pressure to join the race. The
Engineer, first term Deputy Governor to Governor Akpabio, is well loved
as a principled, highly cerebral, focused and humane leader.
His undoing may be the fact that he is not a politician but what
people call a political activist, having come from student activism
background. The first non-indigenous Student Union President of the
Rivers State University of Science and Technology and a former
Commissioner, will, however change the tide of the race if he eventually
declares.
Okpolupm Ette: At 43, the youngest of the contestants from Eket
Senatorial District, the graduate of the Federal Polytechnic, Oko is the
longest serving member and leader of the State House of Assembly. From
the popular Etteh family of Ibeno, the base of Mobil Producing Nigeria,
Etteh whose elder siblings include Nigeria’s first Professor of Physics,
Prof. Akpanuluo Etteh; E. I. I.
Etteh of foremost Civil Engineering Consultancy, Etteh Aro and
Partners, believed to be the ex-husband of former House of
Representative Speaker Patricia Etteh and Esoetuk Etteh, former
Executive Director, Projects of the Niger Delta Development Commission,
NDDC, is believed to be the rallying point of the younger generation and
grassroot politicians in the race.
Many believe the former FedPoly, Oko National Association of Akwa
Ibom State Students (NAAKISS) President, is the only grassroot
contestant among the Eket possibles. Said to be very outspoken,
principled and straight forward, the grassroot mobilizer, once an
Akpabio ally is said to be a bit distanced from the Governor at the
moment because of his interest in the race and his perceived role in
stopping the impeachment of former Deputy Governor Nsima Ekere.
Asuquo Okpo: By far the most visible of the contestants from Oron,
Okpo is not well known within the State. Other than the fact that he is
from Oron, not much is known about the aspirant as a party man or public
figure. The anchoring of his aspiration on the ‘tripod’ theory of
zoning the Governorship to the Orons may work against rather than sway
sympathy for him. Nsima Ekere: Ekere, who resigned from office as Deputy
Governor last year to avert impeachment, is said to be oiling his ‘gun’
for the race.
A former close ally of the Governor as Chairman of the State
Investment Commission and Ibom Power Company before being appointed
Deputy Governor, the Estate Surveyor, went out of favour with the
Governor over what many believe was his declaration to contest the
Governorship race. Ekere, with a huge financial war chest, may be
another rallying point for Eket people if he finally joins the race.
Senator Udoma Udo Udoma: The two-time Senator and renown Lawyer is
said to be well-connected at the Presidency and may eventually join the
race. What may eventually work against him is his seeming disconnection
from the people. Many believe he is too elitist and ‘foreign’ for the
politics of a complex state like Akwa Ibom.
Son of the late renowned jurist and one of the founders of the state,
Justice Egbert Udo Udoma, Udoma is known to have printed materials for
the 2007 Election but bowed out in deference to the zoning policy of the
party at that time. Effiong Abia: Current Commissioner for Local
Government is said to be a close ally of the Governor and once declared
interest in the race.
Sources say the lawyer stopped campaigning for the office of Governor
to save his job. Cool, humble and simple, Abia’s undoing may be his
commitment to the alleged plan of the Governor to support Umanah and
then pick the Deputy Governorship if it sails through.
Prof. Richard King: said to be a close ally of President Jonathan.
King serves on a presidential committee on the NDDC. From Eket, King is
said to be using his closeness to the President as a campaign tool, a
tool many believe, may not work for him in a State like Akwa Ibom.
Senator Eme Okon Ekaette, Chief Assam Assam, SAN, Nigeria’s Ambassador
to Russia and Prof Ita Ewa Minister for Science and Technology are said
to have also declare interest in the race.
