A former aide to ex-Governor Godswill Akpabio has alleged that Unoma, Mr Akpabio’s wife, was prevented from getting inside the Government House Uyo to see Governor Udom Emmanuel in October 2020.
The palatial Government House, Uyo where Governor Emmanuel’s office and official residence (Governor’s Lodge) situates, was remodelled and rebuilt by Akpabio administration.
Mr Akpabio is Mr Emmanuel’s predecessor.
The aide, Ata Ikiddeh, who is a lawyer, said in an article he posted on Facebook on Monday that the former First Lady of the state was at the Government House to deliver a letter from President Muhammadu Buhari to Mr Emmanuel.
The letter, according to him, contained the president’s communication to the governor on his (Buhari) decisions on police reforms and other demands of the Nigerian youths during the EndSARS protests, for onward dissemination to residents in the state.
Similar letter was said to have been sent to other governors.
Mr Akpabio, then the minister of Niger Delta Affairs, was meant to personally present the letter to Governor Emmanuel but he delegated the responsibility to his wife because he had other engagements in Abuja, Mr Ikiddeh said.
Mr Ikiddeh, who is based in London, was a special assistant on project monitoring to Mr Akpabio when the latter was Akwa Ibom governor.
He currently works with Nigeria’s presidency as a consultant and coordinator of President Buhari Legacy Projects.
‘She broke down and wept bitterly’
“She (Unoma) introduced herself to the security guards at the gate. They all knew who she was and would have allowed her in but protocol had to be followed.
“Word was relayed to the occupants of the Governor’s lodge. Nobody knows what was relayed back to the gate but the former First Lady was denied permission. And this is not an exaggeration, she was kept outside the gate for a good six hours, she could not believe that the same Udom she had risked all – including her marriage – could treat her this way. She broke down in the car and wept bitterly,” Mr Ikiddeh said in the lengthy Facebook post which has been shared on the social media site by several of Mr Akpabio’s political supporters.
“She had never witnessed this level of ingratitude in her life, this was a hot knife searing the insides of her heart. She had never quarrelled with Governor Udom. The hurt was indescribable,” he added.
Mr Ikiddeh did not, however, state if the governor was pre-informed of Mrs Akpabio’s visit.
The spokesperson to Governor Emmanuel, Ekerete Udoh, did not respond to calls and a text message seeking comment from him.
Before the incident narrated by Mr Ikiddeh happened, it appears the relationship between the former governor and his successor had already gone so bad, which may have contributed to Mr Akpabio defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in August 2018.
It degenerated to a point where Mr Akpabio’s wife publicly breached protocol and attempted to push aside Governor Emmanuel’s wife, Martha, so she (Unoma) could receive the visiting Nigeria’s First Lady, Aisha Buhari, at the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo.
A clip of the embarrassing incident showed Mrs Buhari and her entourage retreating inside while the aircraft door is quickly pulled back as security and other officials from both sides shouted and pushed one another.
Akpabio humiliated allies to install Udom
Mr Emmanuel, a Price water house coopers-trained chartered accountant, had a flourishing career in the Nigerian banking sector where he eventually became an executive director with Zenith Bank before his appointed by then Governor Akpabio as the Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government (SSG) in 2013.
He (Emmanuel) was relatively unknown then in the politics of the state and was considered an outsider by many.
But Mr Akpabio suppressed all other political interests and went as far as humiliating his erstwhile SSG and political ally, Umana Umana, and others in order to help Mr Emmanuel succeed him as governor.
He ordered security operatives in July 2013 to seal off Mr Umana’s office inside the Government House in an attempt to truncate his (Umana) 2015 governorship ambition.
The incident and other political intrigues of that time happened after Mr Akpabio had presented Mr Umana at different times to the public as his preferred successor.
Mr Akpabio later said he was constrained not to support Mr Umana because of the rotation of the governorship position among the three senatorial districts in the state.
Messrs Umana and Akpabio’s political journey have been somewhat interconnected. Mr Umana, perhaps more than any other politician in Akwa Ibom then, helped Mr Akpabio to become governor in 2007 while both were serving as commissioners in Governor Victor Attah’s cabinet.
Mr Umana later defected from the PDP to the APC in 2014 and ran for the 2015 Akwa Ibom governorship election as the APC candidate after Mr Akpabio eventually presented Mr Emmanuel as his preferred successor.
Mr Akpabio forfeited his position as a Senate minority leader and left the PDP to join Mr Umana and others in the APC after he fell out with Governor Emmanuel.
President Buhari recently replaced Mr Akpabio with Mr Umana as minister of Niger Delta Affairs after Mr Akpabio resigned to contest the APC presidential primary (he eventually stepped down for Bola Tinubu who won the primary).
Mrs Akpabio’s role in Emmanuel’s election
Mr Ikiddeh’s article has confirmed an open secret in Akwa Ibom – that it was Mrs Akpabio who perhaps compelled the husband to change his mind on Mr Umana.
“Those of you that were in Uyo between 2014 to 2015 would recall that Governor Udom became the First Lady’s personal project,” Mr Ikiddeh said.
“It was the First Lady that convinced the former Governor and assured him – that he had nothing to fear with Udom being Governor of Akwa Ibom State,” he added.
Mr Ikiddeh wrote about the closeness and the “mother-son relationship” that had existed between Mrs Akpabio and Mr Emmanuel.
“Everyone knows the former First Lady is a tried, tested and devout practicing Catholic. She personally demanded a strong Christian to take over from her husband and when she was told Udom (Emmanuel) was a Deacon, born-again Christian, didn’t drink or do women, Udom became her numero uno.
Continuing, Mr Ikiddeh wrote: “On the day Udom made his public declaration to run for Governor in Uyo Township Stadium, it was the former First Lady that took him to the stadium, the Governor stayed back in the lodge, she stood by his side on the rostrum that day with thousands of women from the 31 local government areas.
“In fact in July 2013 the day Akpabio swore Udom in as SSG, he was going to wear a suit on that occasion. The Governor’s wife said to him nobody wears a suit for such important occasions – there and then a few hours to the event she went into her box and handed Udom her brand new red wrapper. A wrapper she had never worn.
‘‘The traditional attire you see in these photos (of Mr Emmanuel’s swearing-in as the SSG) were given to Udom by the First Lady. This was how much the First Lady valued Udom. She took the actual role of a loving mother.”
This is the first time a former official of Mr Akpabio’s administration would publicly reveal the relationship that existed between Mrs Akpabio’s wife and Governor Emmanuel.
It is not clear for now if Mr Akpabio, a former senator, had a pre-knowledge of Mr Ikiddeh’s article.
“It’s entirely Mr Ikiddeh’s opinion,” the spokesperson to Mr Akpabio, Jackson Udom, said on Saturday when PREMIUM TIMES contacted him.
The article is coming at a time when Mr Akpabio and his supporters are feeling frustrated over the hurdles to his 2023 senatorial ambition. They are, without any basis, blaming Governor Emmanuel for the court judgment that nullified the former senator’s nomination as the APC candidate.
Mr Ikiddeh, apart from being a former aide to Mr Akpabio, is said to have been a close friend for several years to the former governor.
When Mr Akpabio lost his bid to return to the Senate (Akwa Ibom North-West) for a second term in 2019, Mr Ikiddeh called from London to speak with the former senator about his defeat.
“He felt betrayed by the very people he has nurtured in the past eight years. But he was unbowed,” Mr Ikiddeh said then.
Akpabio’s unfulfilled wishes
Mr Ikiddeh said Mr Akpabio, during the 2015 campaign, said that all he needed from Mr Emmanuel when he (Emmanuel) became governor was “respect.”
”Akpabio spoke to Udom directly he told him that he had been very emotional and almost in tears that afternoon because it suddenly dawned on him how history was repeating itself. He turned to us and asked if we remember that Chief Clement Isong was an Onna son and that the main thrust of Isong’s vision was industrialisation.
He said it was not a coincidence that almost thirty five years later another Onna son was carrying the same torch with the same message. He went on to explain that Udom had come to revive and complete what Chief Isong had started. He recounted in great detail how Etinan Federal Constituency, with Ikot Ekpene and Uyo, were instrumental to Governor Isong’s victory in 1979 and also his eventual defeat in 1983.
According to Ikiddeh, ”The room went quiet everyone was attentive. Akpabio had never spoken to Udom this way, at least, not in our presence. It was as if he was pouring his heart out to the man he was eventually going to handover power to. It was a surreal moment. Not a pin drop.
‘‘The only noise in the room was the sound of the powerful air conditioning system. Suddenly Governor Akpabio fixed his gaze again on Udom and took a few steps towards him. This time he had something very important to say.
”That day Akpabio gave an extraordinary message and I will never forget it because as I began to study the problems between the pair, Akpabio’s words that day would reverberate in my head. Could it be he could see into the future? All those who were there on the day can bear me witness, that this is what Akpabio said. Permit me to paraphrase his words and and other words he spoke at these events.
“Udom Emmanuel I have been blessed beyond my wildest dreams, I am today the Governor of the richest State in Nigeria. In just eight years we have transformed Uyo into a talking point in Abuja’s corridors of power. I didn’t do it on my own, I achieved this with all the people you see seated here.
”I wish I could have done more but Nigeria today has no money – our barrels of oil are on the high seas – we are looking for buyers, the Federal treasury is empty. The 31 industries I had promised, in my 2nd term – we currently have no monies to build them? You have promised to industrialise the State and I trust your ability to deliver. I have adopted you as a son and as my brother. I have taken you from no where and put a silver spoon in your mouth.
”Then suddenly the Governor stopped speaking and he called out, “Where is my Hon Comm. Bassey Albert?”
“Sir I am here.” OBA stood up from where he had been sitting somewhere in the room.
“OBA come out and stand next to me I want you to bear witness to the statement I am about to make today“. Hon Comm, Bassey Albert stood next to the Governor. The Governor continued.
“I don’t need anything from you Udom, you see all the people sitting here with me, I am giving them all to you. I have told them to listen to you and to give you the same amount of respect and loyalty they accorded me.
‘‘But here is one thing I ask of you – when I become a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and I come into Akwa Ibom State from Abuja for a visit. I want you to know that I will enter my small car. Whether you send a car to pick me up or not wouldn’t matter to me. In some of those trips from Abuja I may get hungry and I might decide to come to the Governor’s lodge for a meal. I wouldn’t expect you to be there waiting for me – that will be very selfish of me. I wouldn’t expect you to personally receive me it wouldn’t be right, a Governor is a very busy person.
‘‘But if someone can drop my name at the gate and tell the guards that I am on my way. I want to come to the Governor’s lodge knowing Her Excellency will welcome me in your absence. Then I want to be able to tell her to prepare that my favourite White Soup with goat meat.”
At that point we all burst into laughter. The Governor continued.
“Then when I finish eating, I will tell Her Excellency to inform you that I dropped in and I had my meal in the lodge and that I am in town. Udom, that will make me very happy. All I ask for is respect. Udom nodded.
”But here is what I don’t want. When I arrive, I am told to fill out the visitors form at the gate before I can enter Government house and then when I call you to ask you what the problem is, your PA picks my call and tells me His Excellency is too busy to speak to me. And the guards will keep me waiting at the gate until I have to turn back and leave. What a day that will be”.
Akpabio wasn’t through, he looked directly at Udom again and said, “All I am trying to say is this, Udom I am not asking you for anything but just one thing – RESPECT!” And that was where Akpabio ended his speech. He said other things but this I remember so well.”
Emmanuel’s assurances
Udom Emmanuel assured the Governor that such a day will never come, that he had no words to describe what Akpabio had done for him.
“No man can do what you have done for me sir and for me to repay such a gesture with evil – is impossible! I stand here before you all to say I will always be grateful. The Governor has opened his heart and his house to me.
‘‘I will not and cannot betray his trust. No matter what happens. I cannot even imagine anything that will cause me to behave that way. The New Government House is his house – he built it. The Governor already knows my heart he needs no further assurances.
‘‘But there are those of you here who don’t know me very well. I want to assure you that you have nothing to fear. Everybody knows the Governor has a large heart and it is the reason of that large heart I can stand before you today. He is my teacher. I will never disappoint him,” Ikiddeh quoted Udom as assuring Akpabio.
(With inputs from Premium Times)
