Surrogate Governor: More work for Governor Udom Emmanuel, PDP in 2023
By Benjamin Jimmy
Recently, the political landscape of Akwa Ibom State appears to have resonated a lot of questions, banters and confrontations perhaps, following what looks like the foisting of the Commissioner for Lands and Water Resources, Pastor Umo Eno, on the people of the state by Gov. Udom Emmanuel.
Although this commando-like governance approach may not be strange to the people of the state, especially the die-hard political epistlers, what is troubling and perhaps very polarizing is that Gov. Udom intends to give the state a surrogate governor. This singular undemocratic, anti-people, rusty and 15 Century practice of ‘anointing’ a successor may not be like a journey to freedom, but will definitely give more work to the governor and his party – the PDP.
Looking at the way politics is played in this part of the divide, Pastor Eno is obviously a work to be done. It is like the case of the scriptures where the harvest is plenty, but the labourers are few. Gov. Udom and the PDP are really going to have a lot on their hands to do; to craft emergency popularity credentials for him to present for acceptance. This is so important because, winning in an election the world over requires huge popularity credentials, and therefore, this must be worked out if the governor and his party really want to have their way through in 2023.
Besides crafting popularity credentials for his ‘God-revealed servant’, Gov. Udom has to embark on another emergency assignment where he has to build a new mindset and think that Pastor Eno is a homegrown politician. Most Akwa Ibom people have really expressed their intolerance that never will they allow another politician, not homegrown to have a shot at the Hilltop Mansion.
Their reason, interestingly, is that ‘an imported’ person as a governor is usually not in the know of what the people really want as development. So, Akwa Ibomites have been vocal and very agitative of a homemade the person in 2023 as a governor.
Whether Pastor Eno is a homegrown or ‘Lagos imported’ is what Gov. Udom and perhaps the PDP will have to prove in the coming days.
Gov. Udom has yet another politically imposed herculean task of writing a history of political experience of his surrogate, Pastor Eno. It is not an undermining of politics nor its players that experience is required enormously. Politics and succession are defined by how well experienced the players are. This experience generally is usually acquired through involvement in politics for some considerable period of time, consistency in symphonising politics and impact on governance as a product of politics. All of these are work for the governor to do.
Still, Governor Udom Emmanuel has to give the Akwa Ibom people a document of Pastor Eno’s philanthropy over the years. There is no denying that one of the things the 21st Century politics and stomach infrastructure has done to us is that philanthropy of many years accounts for some good percentage of the chances an aspirant, for instance, has to win in an election. This may not be a yardstick for support and assessment, but somehow, it is believed that one’s philanthropic gestures, not sudden can, to some extent, give a gauge, rightly or wrongly, of one’s ability to be magnanimous in administering a state. This is work before the governor and his party.
Gov. Udom must convince the people that his ‘anointed’ has the needed ‘international e-mail and connection’ that will fast-track the industrialisation of the state. The governor was quoted to have said some time ago that he would hand over power in 2023 to someone whom he knows has an international e-mail. So, Gov. Udom will have to show the people the connection as to attract foreign investment that his surrogate parades, both in the corporate and business worlds. This is a task very mountainous before the governor.
There are many reasons why Gov. Udom will have to do more work to convince the Akwa Ibom people that his chosen successor is indeed all of the expectations of the electorate, in terms of capacity, connection, experience and knowledge of the peculiar needs of each of the areas in the state.
One of such reasons is that the governor’s ‘anointed’ is a surrogate. A surrogate is simply a substitute; a representation of a sort. For wanting to have a substitute as opposed to all democratic tenets and human thinking, Gov. Udom has to do more work than he may be required to do if a popular choice were to be anointed.
Another reason is that other aspirants were neither consulted before the anointing service at the governor’s chambers nor were they part of the service from which Pastor Eno came forth. This is one issue that will give the governor more work to do; to persuade the teaming aspirants to rally him support; to dissuade them not to turn against him, thereby weakening his chances of installing a successor as typical of Nigeria’s very uncivilized politics.
Why Gov. Udom will have to work harder than he should is that there is a serious wave of political civilization that is currently blowing across the country. Most Nigerians – the educated and the less educated – are very civilized now that they no longer sit on the fence and watch political rascality go on unchallenged. A lot of citizens have started speaking and demanding for accountability from those in power. This awakening, interestingly, is what the governor will have to deal with, or have the same fate former Gov. Victor Attah had when he couldn’t surrogate himself with his in-law.
The governor will have a huge reason to work more because there are persons who fought tooth and nail to ensure he succeeded in 2015 and 2019 as the governor of the state. Some of those political loyalists who fought against human and gravitational forces did so in the hope that Gov. Udom would find them a useful replacement. But now, the story lacks theatrical thrills. This is why the governor has to work more.
As days unfold and more protests believed to be propelled by marginalization, sponsorship, allegedly, and perceived betrayal dot a few of the local government areas, it is hoped that the governor will quickly become men at work; to restore the dwindling hope of some Akwa Ibom people in the PDP and the state.
