The Akwa Ibom State Secretary to state government, Mr,Umana Okon Umana has been forced to resign from office, in what appears to be an end of an era. Some men of the Nigeria Police Force who were apparently bent on forestalling any break down of law and order following the wielding of the big stick, were seen on Monday morning guarding the office of the SSG, preventing any form of movement in or out of the office. This came as a confirmation of an earlier report that Governor Godswill Akpabio has asked anyone wishing to contest election against his wish to resign before August this year.
It was earlier reported that Umana who is from Uyo Senatorial District may be defiant to the norms of the Peoples Democratic Party that power should rotate among the different geographical blocks which would makes Eket Senatorial District the rightful choice to produce the next governor for the oil rich state.
Akpabio was said to have urge Umana to forego the idea of contesting, apparently after the wave of criticism that greeted his perceived candidature, and this led to the idea of putting forward his name for the near vacant role of Managing Director of NDDC, which is coming to Akwa Ibom for the first time,
However despite all the options and assurances to him, an obstinate Umana still went ahead to issue two statements in quick succession that he would still contest for the 2015 plum job in the state, adding that even if he became the NDDC MD, he will resign next year to come and grab the Akwa Ibom state Hiltop mansion keys from Akpabio.
This statement was said to have angered Akpabio who accosted him to caution him on his actions, but the two had an outburst that left the Akwa Ibom state number one citizen very angry. It was learnt that Akpabio thereafter warned that if he (Umana) insisted on contesting as governor in 2015, he should resign from his government before August, while Umana response was a threat that should he fail as a result of lack of support from Akpabio, he will rather sink the boat for the two to crashland.
Later at a town hall meeting last weekend with stakeholders of coastal communities in Eket last weekend, Akpabio shocked the man popularly known as the engine room of his government, when he announced that no one had his blessings ahead of the 2015 governorship race.
Akpabio maintained that his intention was to hold town hall meetings with stakeholders in all the 10 federal constituencies of the state, immediately after the September 23, anniversary celebration of the state’s creation.
It is believed that now that Umana has been chased from the state exco he will now be poised to forcefully wrestle power from Gov Akpabio in 2015.
This is apparently the latest fall out in the exco imbroglio which had seen the seat of govt divided over umana’s insistence on becoming the next governor of Akwa Ibom state
Umana’s ignoble journey to political golgotha began when he could not secure the support of majority of colleagues in the state exco. He started by sponsoring all forms of attacks on perceived contenders for the position of Governor.
Those in his bad books included Barr Effiong Abia, Mr Bassey Albert, and Mr Enobong Uwah.
Some of the steps he took was to sponsor his newspapers to falsely accuse Effiong Abia of going to Abuja to meet Chief Anthony Anenih; and some irregularities in the ministry of Local Government.
He later succeeded in pushing Abia to the lest active Ministry of Rural Development
Also, he activated a persistent war against Bassey Albert and Albert friends like Enobong Uwah and Eunice Thomas who he eventually removed from office.
He also sponsored a story that Bassey Albert’s brother Ime Albert was ready to slug it out against his brother for the governorship race; and went a step further to bring out Marcus Okuku from Bassey’s Local government to declare for the same governorship seat.
He was also said to have sponsored printing of governorship posters to show Bassey Albert as deperately seeking to be the next governor. But Albert has in some local newspapers reportedly distanced himself from the governorship posters.
This same strategy had earlier been used against Effiong Abia, as campaign posters and T shirts where manufactured but Abia was promptly alerted and he stopped the process.
[AkwaIbom Online]