The political godfather–godson bond in Akwa Ibom has shattered, with police operatives abruptly withdrawn from former Governor Udom Emmanuel’s homes amid his raging political war with Governor Umo Eno.
Armed officers guarding Emmanuel’s country home in Onna and his Uyo mansion vanished after an order signed by a police official at Government House, Uyo, instructed them to report back to headquarters. The same fate befell other ex-state officials who refused to defect to the APC after Eno’s dramatic defection in June.
The move has sparked talk of retaliation and power play as Emmanuel, now an opposition leader, fights to reclaim the PDP structure from his successor, who has vowed never to let it slip.
“As a matter of fact, contrary to some insinuations, I want to run both parties (APC and PDP)? Far from it. And what is wrong with being interested? We would not leave the PDP for thieves to hijack and use it against us,” Eno declared in a leaked video.
Tension went up further after the PDP’s national body dissolved the state executive council, replacing it with a caretaker committee to clip the governor’s wings.
Still, Eno is flexing his new political muscle, publicly declaring, “Akwa Ibom is an APC state. You must say this loud and clear… wear our badge of honour very proudly – that you are an APC member.”
With the 2027 elections looming, the Emmanuel–Eno showdown is no longer a simmering quarrel but a political war threatening to redraw Akwa Ibom’s map of power.
