Israel Umoh
The political temperature in Akwa Ibom State and in the country has gone feverish as 2023- the general elections year in Nigeria- is fast approaching. Political contenders are sharpening their knives and fine tuning their intrigues and strategies to grab their desired positions.
Moreover, political canvassers are in constant touch with the grassroots to drum support for their ‘products.’ Spin doctors have lined up the streets and bush tracks to outdo opponents of their political gladiators. And the electorates are on the wings to throw in their weight for their preferred candidates.
As the political gamesmanship hots up, the supposed aspirants are not resting on their oars in an effort to clinch their envisaged positions. Aspirants of the Presidential, governorship and House of Assembly seats are on the prowl moving from cities to rural areas, from rich Dangote to poor Etim, from Sokoto to Uyo, from valleys to the mountains tops, from Mallams to the Pentecostal Prophets, from Muslims to Christians, from siblings to strangers, from Emirs to Obongs, among others.
From Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Minister of Niger Delta Ministry and Akwa Ibom Governor Udom Emmanuel are rumoured to be jostling for Aso Rock, either for Presidency or for Vice Presidency. The body language of the gladiators tells more.
Perhaps, with the prophecy of the Leader of INRI Evangelical Spiritual Church, Primate Elijah Ayodele, the two Akwa Ibom prominent sons have become emboldened to press for the coveted seat or the ‘spare tyre’ office.
In a statement on Monday, January 10, 2022, Ayodele predicted people who could become Nigeria’s President and Vice President in 2023.
He named the following governors: Aminu Tambuwal, Nyesom Wike, Samuel Ortom, Mohammed Bala, Udom Emmanuel, Seyi Makinde, and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi as good candidates for the presidency on the side of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
In the 90-paged prophecies signed by his media aide, Osho Oluwatosin, Primate Ayodele also mentioned Abubakar Malami, Boss Mustapha, Kayode Fayemi, Rotimi Amaechi, Prof Babagana Zulum, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Mai Mala Buni, Ibikunle Amosun, Godswill Akpabio and Rauf Aregbesola as presidential materials of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Some political pundits alleged that Akpabio is going underground from Aso Rock to Emirs’ palaces. Among the ministers, he is known to have enjoyed rosy relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari at beck and call. He is said to be having direct access to, and the ears of the President.
Again, the ex-Akwa Ibom governor known for political savvy and public oratory is said to be lobbying prominent Emirs and other power brokers capable of ushering him into the nation’s topmost job especially using Sarki Kazaure, his long-standing friend who he appointed as Chancellor of Akwa Ibom State University while he was Governor as focal point to broker the nation’s topmost job.
Aside, he is rumoured to have employed the services of top politicians from Northern extraction particularly one Tafida to do the job, while others are given contracts in NDDC to bolster support for his aspiration.
For Governor Emmanuel, he had visited some prominent Northerners- General Ibrahim B. Babangida, Nigeria’s former military ruler; General Abdulsalami Abubakar, another ruler and the Niger State governor whose father is a retired Colonel and contemporary of Babangida and Abubakar.
He once presented a paper to Arewa group in Kaduna on Security with Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, a PDP stalwart and others in attendance to bolster support for his ambition.
It was reported by different mainstream and social media that there was jubilation in Abuja on Friday, January 14 as Nigerians at home and in the Diaspora called on Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel to contest the 2023 presidential elections in order to replicate his industrialization policy and use his creative financial and economic ingenuity to salvage the Nigerian dwindling and almost collapsing economy.
This was part of reactions that trailed the Governor’s live interview when he appeared as a guest on Brekette Family Radio Live Talk Show in Abuja, hosted by the Ordinary President, Ahmed Isah on Brekete Family on Human Rights Radio 101.1 FM, Abuja, where the Governor spoke on his achievements in the last six years and on the State of the Nation.
On January 15, 2022, Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel’s posters flooded different parts of Kano State ahead of the 2023 presidential elections.
Already, a group of northern elders and youths have initiated an advocacy for presidential power shift to the Southern part of Nigeria with particular call on Governor Emmanuel to throw his hat into the ring and vie for the nation’s number one office.
The posters, according to report, in projecting Governor Udom Emmanuel’s presidential aspiration were sighted in the old Kano city, Fagge, Nasarawa Local Government Area of the state and same parts of the neighbouring Jigawa State.
The posters bearing the governor’s photo and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) logo, were tagged ‘Udom Is Coming For Better Nigeria’ were pasted along major roads and buildings in Kano.
Similarly, in July 2021, the posters of Minister for Niger Delta, Chief Godswill Akpabio, bearing Sallah greetings surfaced in many Northern states.
The posters were spotted mainly in Sokoto, Kaduna and Kano among a host of other Northern States since on Sallah’s eve.
Maybe, Governor Emmanuel wants a replication of prophetic unction when he visited Ghana. In February 2020, the remains of Gabriel Emmanuel Nkanang, a teacher and church elder, and the father of Governor Udom Emmanuel, were laid to rest in blaze of glory as the funeral turned out political Mecca owing a high-powered national significance.
The huge attendance of personalities at the funeral appeared to have confirmed the prophetic unction by Archbishop Nick Duncan Williams. On October 6, 2019, Governor Emmanuel attended his Action Chapel International ministry with headquarters in Accra, Ghana for a thanksgiving opportunity following his victory at the March 2019 Governorship election where his political party (PDP) triumphed. His slogan of “Only GOD” reverberated in the chambers of the church.
It was indeed a very significant moment that providence had bestowed on the governor as renowned and revered American Apostle, Chuck Pierce, who was on the third day of the Prophetic mission to Ghana, was at the event. Pierce is one of the two men who led the 50-state tour of prayers that changed the course of events in the USA, leading to the failure of former Vice President Al Gore to succeed former President Bill Clinton.
The presentation of a sword to Governor Emmanuel by Arch-Bishop Williams and the flood of prophetic utterances by Apostle Pierce, and his team seemed to have been re-echoed at the funeral rites of his father to prove that the Governor is yet to complete his assignment at the Hiltop Mansion, Uyo.
To test the political waters, Emmanuel is said to be clandestinely canvassing for return of the Presidency to the South in 2023.
In 2019, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, ceded its Presidential ticket to the North, but there is no consensus as to which of the zones will produce the party’s flag bearer in the 2023 presidential election.
Findings by Straightnews shows that Rivers State governor, Nyesom Wike, his Akwa Ibom State counterpart, Udom Emmanuel, and former Senate President, Anyim Pius Anyim, are some of the PDP chieftains bent on having the leadership of the party look in the direction of the South in 2023.
It would be recalled that the National Executive Committee, NEC at its 89th meeting in February 2020, constituted a 14-man committee to review reasons the party lost the 2019 Presidential election and was subsequently tasked to recommend to the party how to avert a recurrence in future elections.
Although the Bala Mohammed-Committee recommended to the leadership of the party that the presidential ticket be made open to all six geo-political zones, PDP governors from the South are rooting for the zone to produce a candidate that will slug it out with the All Progressives Congress in 2023.
Governor Wike had been reaching out to other PDP governors from the North on the need to reciprocate the support of the South as demonstrated in the race to the Port Harcourt Presidential convention in 2018.
The 2018 convention, which produced Atiku as the flag bearer had the Rivers State governor openly rooting for his Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal, who finished second behind Atiku.
Though ex-President Goodluck Jonathan of PDP is alleged to be persuaded by some Northern politicians to throw his hat into the 2023 presidential race to complete his botched four-year term, he is yet to make a statement on his stand based on the rumour.
Rumour mill has it that in the PDP front, the former Vice President Abubakar Atiku is eyeing Aso Rock in 2023 as Raymond Dokpesi is seen as his anchor man. Since Ayodele’s prophecy did not cover Jonathan and Atiku, their emergence for the country’s top job would be seen as a magical not miraculous one.
In 2007, ex-Akwa Ibom Governor Victor Attah launched his Presidential campaign under Renewal 2007. He moved from South to North, but he could not grab the position. Yet, the then President shoved him out and some kingmakers backed down on the ambition on the premise of his resource control agitation.
As the presidential seat is about to go vacant, the political space in the country is foggy. Are Akpabio and Udom political gadflies trying to test the waters or feel the pulse of the kingmakers or Nigerians of their purported ambition? Are they serious contenders or trying to use the opportunity to fly a kite? Do they have the political muscle, network, goodwill and capacity to clinch the plum position or the second position? More questions, no ready-made answers. Time will tell!
