Last Saturday, Akwa Ibom State Governor Emmanuel Udom wielded the big stick. He dissolved the State Executive Council (EXCO). Commissioners were ordered to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries in their ministries.
Emmanuel’s cabinet was populated mostly by fellows who served his godfather and predecessor, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
Emmanuel, a former banker and greenhorn in politics, became governor in 2015 using Akpabio’s structure. He had served him as Secretary to the State Government (SSG)? having been pulled from his job as an Executive Director in Zenith Bank Plc.
The statement announcing the casting away of Akpabio’s men was signed by the Secretary to the State Government, Etekamba Umoren. Like most of such statements, it gave no reason for the dissolution. It simply said: “His Excellency, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, Governor, Akwa Ibom State has approved the dissolution of the State Executive Council with immediate effect.
“The governor expresses his deep and profound appreciation for the contributions of the EXCO members to the development of the state, and wishes them success in their future endeavours.
“Permanent Secretaries in the respective ministries are to take over the running of the ministries pending the reconstitution of a new Executive Council.”
Before last weekend’s sack of these men not a few of them were unhappy. Off record, many of them complained that the governor did not empower them to do their job. They claimed he relied only on the few men in his government who were not nominated by the senator.?
Akpabio was the oracle of Akwa Ibom politics. He spoke and others must obey. When he settled for Emmanuel, there were 22 others in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who wanted the job. Two of them were his former deputies, who got the boot when their loyalty became suspect.
To Akpabio, neither of his former deputies, Patrick Ekpotu and Nsima Ekere, now Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) was good enough to replace him. The 20 others were no match too.
The MD/CEO, Oil & Gas Free Trade Zone Authority (OGFZA), Umana Okon Umana, who used to be his ally, read the handwriting on the wall. He defected to the opposition, where he tried his luck but was ‘crushed’ by Akpabio’s bulldozers.
Umana went to court but nothing came out of it. At the time the electoral dispute was on, an interesting drama played out in the state. Many were asking for the state’s debt profile. Emmanuel chose not to give this figure as contained in Akpabio’s handover note. The N64.5b figure he released last year was not directly linked to Akpabio.
Emmanuel, in a letter to the House of Assembly, he asked for restructuring of loan but did not include the details of the debts he wanted restructured into bonds.
The governor said the measure would facilitate fiscal stability and provide avenue to liquidate its huge debt stock to cover a period of 25 years.
The letter read: “In order for Akwa Ibom State to join other states, it becomes necessary for the state to partner with the Debt Management Office (DMO) of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Finance on this directive to utilise the benefits.
“The FGN Bond will help the state to substitute short-term higher-cost bank debts with long term lower-cost debt.”
There was drama at the assembly over the letter. The simple process of moving motion to accept the letter took time.
The member representing Nsit Atai, Hon. Mark Esset while standing up to move the motion, said: “Mr. Speaker, I am handicapped and my hands are shaking.”
The letter was handed over to the Finance and Appropriation Committee for further screening and investigation.
The hush-hush about the state’s debt profile did not start with the letter to the Assembly. The Transition Committee set up by the state government chaired by former Head of Service (HoS), Mr. Sunny Akpadiaha, did not also state the assets and liabilities bequeathed by the Akpabio administration.
When I first wrote about Akpabio and Emmanuel last year, I had raised some posers: “What is Emmanuel really afraid of? A fight with Akpabio? Or is he just postponing the fight? Or he does not want to be seen as opening Akpabio’s yansh in the public? Or is the oracle still in charge and capable of pulling the rug off Emmanuel’s feet? Whatever it is, it is the people and accountability that are being taken for granted.The people deserve to know. Nothing more, nothing less. Emmanuel’s will should not be allowed to prevail.”
My intervention at the time earned me names. I was accused of trying to cause a fight between the two gentlemen. I was practically called an Akpabio hater. This was at a time an aide of the ex-governor – off record- accused the governor of messing up and threatening that ?he would not get a second term.
Last month, there was a report that the then Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Finance, Akan Okon, leaked information on Akpabio to the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC). That came about a month after the Akwa Ibom government secured an interim injunction from an Uyo High Court barring the EFCC, the police, and other federal agencies from examining the account books of the state government. The injunction, which was later vacated by the court, was seen as a move to shield Akpabio from EFCC’s claws.
Okon, who is one of the Akpabio men sacked at the weekend, denied leaking sensitive information on Akpabio.
“Since I became the commissioner for finance I have never been invited to the EFCC, so at what forum would I have given information on Akpabio to the EFCC? Or does EFCC now take information by phone?” Okon said during an interview programme on a local radio station in Uyo.
The sack of Okon and his colleagues has made me wonder who will determine who gets what in the cabinet to be reconstituted. Grapevine information suggests the governor wants to call the shots.
My final take: The interest of the people of Akwa Ibom should be paramount in choosing the next members of the State Executive Council.
Certainly, the story is just evolving.
