Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno has stated categorically that he will continue to support the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio as much as he can, irrespective of party differences or whatever misgivings people may have about it. ‘’He is our son; and in spite of party differences, we shall continue to support him and encourage him to do more for Akwa Ibom State’’, the governor said, just as he urged others to close rank and rally around the Senate President and all our leaders. ‘’I know that there are other leaders who have a thing or two against the Senate President; I know that even within the same party, we do not see eye-to eye with others; but we cannot continue to live under the dictum of an eye for an eye; otherwise we will all go blind’’, he told me in a brief discussion in his office in Uyo. He continues: ‘’My personal philosophy is that I do not hate anybody based only on only what I have been told and I do not inherit anybody’s enemies’’, a reference to speculations that some vested interest are out to cause disaffection between him and the Senate President.

He emphasized that he is also very respectful of President Bola Tinubu and the Honourable Minister, Ekperikpe Ekpo, and that he will always collaborate with them for the benefit of Akwa Ibom State. ‘’Any detractor who feels that I should be fighting with our leaders should look elsewhere. As far as Akwa Ibom State is concerned, I will work with all leaders, irrespective of party affiliations for the benefit of the people’’, he said. The governor repeated his familiar refrain that he is the political son of Udom Emmanuel, who, in turn, is the political son of Akpabio. ‘’To that extent, I am the political grandchild of the Senate President, and in Ibibio tradition, a grandchild does not cry in the presence of the grandfather’’, the governor said, eyes darting from the documents before him to me and to the TV monitor tuned to Channels TV.

Occasionally, he would pause to answer phone calls, and I would use the opportunity to look around the office. This is my first time inside the governor’s office, since the complex was built some 14 years ago. I had visited the complex once when Akpabio was governor. He had just moved into the office and was in the habit of showing people around, boasting about the modernity of the facilities. This time, he had invited Akwa Ibom professionals in Lagos to tour the place and I was pleased to join the entourage.

On the rumours within the APC that Gov. Eno is considering defecting from the PDP to the party, he said the question does not even arise. ‘’That is not the issue’’, he said dismissively. ‘’We are focused on the job at hand and we are in full support of the Senate President, if not for any other thing, but for the fact that he’s a proud son of Akwa Ibom State’’. Rumours of the governor’s defection have been growing recently, heightened by the cordial relationship he had established with the Senate President. The speculations took a new dimension recently when a group filed a petition against former governor Udom Emmanuel at the EFCC, alleging corrupt practices. A leading member of APC in the State told me that the petition was orchestrated to harass and intimidate the former governor to submit and decamp to APC, and bring the current governor along. To buttress his point, he mentioned many PDP politicians whose cases with the EFCC had died after they had decamped to the APC.

‘’That is a wild conjecture’’, the governor said, and refused to be drawn into it. Instead, Umo Eno rose in stout defence of his predecessor. ‘’As a government, we do not see what wrong Governor Udom Emmanuel has done. He worked hard for the state and committed resources into projects that will stand the test of time. Look at the new airport terminal building and the MRO. If we are to start such projects anew today, the cost would be quite prohibitive. So, I do not really see the justification for the petition, apart from the fact that some people just want to humiliate our leaders’’. Gov. Eno regretted that it has become a tradition for some persons in the state to go after every former governor since 1999. ‘’Obong Attah faced the same persecution when he left office; the same thing happened to Chief Akpabio, and now it is the turn of Udom Emmanuel. Why are our people treating our former leaders in this manner? Why do they derive joy in humiliating our leaders? This does not happen elsewhere’’.

There have also been rumours that Udom Emmanuel is at odds with the governor because of the cordial relationship he has with the Senate President. ‘’Far from it’’, Pastor Eno said, chuckling. ‘’That can’t be correct. Gov. Udom is not like that. He has never raised it with me. Rather, it is my belief that it is in the best interest of the state for us to respect our leaders and treat them with the love and decorum that they deserve’’.

My visit to the governor lasted only 40 minutes, not enough time to touch on every item. But he touched on his plans to enhance the state’s tourism credentials; his investments in real estate development; the 10 town halls and three summits; his conduct in office; the death of his wife; the N80, 000 minimum wage; the verification of the workforce and strike threats from Labour. On tourism, he said that the government is building an international convention center at the Tropicana Complex and would also complete the 16-storey hotel at the complex and put it to use. He spoke of the new recreation center with a nine-hole golf course off Dominic Utuk Road (Brooks Street) which the government is building on a reclaimed portion of land that was once ravaged by erosion.

 ‘’If we did not intervene there, by now the Government House would have been washed away by erosion’’, he said. The government is also building aviation village; 18-storey residential complex in VI, Lagos and renovating a dilapidated building in Abuja into a four-star hotel, all in a bid to augment the state’s revenue profile. He noted that he had been saving money with which he would fund these projects and has never borrowed a penny since he came into office. The town halls will commence late February and the idea is to allow rural folks to make inputs into government’s programs and at the same time, provide opportunity for government to assess the needs of each community and empower rural-based businesses and entrepreneurs. ‘’I just have a soft spot for the rural folks’’, he said.

Umo Eno is peeved by the predilection of labour leaders in the state to resort to threats of strikes despite the fact that he had, on his own, offered N80,000 minimum wage and would backdate the commencement date to November. ‘’I was only waiting for the verification exercise to be completed; and now that it is completed, we shall pay the minimum wage. So, I do not understand the need for constant threats of strikes’’, he said. I told the governor that the threat of strike is labour’s way of getting something from government. Maybe they want money from you, I argued. The governor grimaced: ‘’Then that’s a totally wrong approach’’, he said.

The conversation veered off to the unfortunate death of his wife, and it became apparent that the governor is still hurting. He recalled how he abruptly left the 80th birthday party of Atuekong Don Etiebet at night last September and flew into London when he got words about the deteriorating health of his wife. ’’I did not even tell anybody why I had to leave the event so unexpectedly because I did not want to spoil a momentous celebration for our icon with the bad news’’.

Given the petition filed against his predecessor, it was inevitable that the issue of corruption would crop up in our conversation. I waited for the right time to plug it in, but it was the governor that raised it himself. He said that he’s conducting government’s business with utmost integrity, transparency and honesty, and that he’s ready at any moment to waive his immunity and submit himself for investigation, if need be.

Me: ‘’Are you saying that you have never taken anything that does not belong to you since you became governor?’’, I asked pointedly, looking him in the face.

Governor: ‘’For what?’’, he shot back. ‘’What do I need it for?’’.

Me: ‘’The reason a lot of politicians steal government money is because they want to keep something for their children and grandchildren’’

Governor: ‘’That’s a very useless way of leaving a legacy for your family. Do you know that since I have been on this job, I have received many children of former leaders from other parts of the country, who have come here to look for what they can get? Is it that what their fathers left for them are not enough? Or they didn’t even leave anything for them. As for me, I have had a conversation with my children about that…. I told them we must all leave above board and that a good name is better than gold?

It’s now 8pm; time to take my leave. As walked to my car, the governor’s motorcade sped off. So, I was the last visitor for the day, I thought to myself.