GOD, SONGS AND PLAY                                     

Umo Eno kicks off his gubernatorial campaign in a carnival-like ambience, writes B.J. Ikene

Not long ago, Governor Udom Emmanuel made a pact with his fellow citizens. They should hold him to account, he said, if his party’s guber pick fails to perform if he ascends the throne as the next governor of Akwa Ibom State.

The PDP governorship candidate, Umo Eno, gave what may be a foretaste of his stewardship when he kicked off his campaign Tuesday November 8th in Uyo.

The event had a carnival air. It was a spectacle of colours, white, blue, purple, grey, green, red, yellow and more. Groups of different stripes and voices of different parts of the state coalesced in a stunning kaleidoscope. It was part a church crusade, part a party campaign, part a cultural fest. It was God, songs and play, with rhetoric from the big names, including the sitting governor and the prospective one. It was a blend of hope for the next term and joy of the moment.

But its music was headlined by the throaty voice of Mercy Chinwo, stirring all to their feet and wiggle, including Governor Emmanuel and wife Martha. Party chieftain after party chieftain rose to speak at the podium, including the director general of the governorship campaign, the man with the poetic name, Ambassador Assam Assam.

The highlight was Eno himself, the reason for the event. He, a pastor, started off on a spiritual note. “Great is your faithfulness,” was the first tune, and he followed it by belting away “You are God all by yourself.”

He started by tapping into his own biography saying that he started small, and if he could rise to this height, no one should give up hope. He reminded the crowd that he “crawled my way up from helplessness to be the second largest employer of labour” in the state. It means he employed only less than the state itself, nesting about 2000 workers in the oil-rich state. “Where you are today,” he quipped, “is not the end of your life.”

He also paid tribute to Governor Emmanuel who had the courage to follow the current of his revelation to throw him up as governorship candidate. “We shall not take the grace of God for granted,” he said.

Clad in a green outfit festooned with PDP’s umbrella, he pledged he would run an issue-based campaign, without blackmail or propaganda. His speech was an immersion into his ARISE agenda, that meant agriculture, rural development, infrastructure, security and education. He applauded Emmanuel for making the state a reference point for governance in the federation and outside, and praised him for how he applied resources with prudence and imagination. He also pointed out one of the governor’s signature achievement, Ibom Air, now regarded as the nation’s best airline. He announced that it would soon become a foreign exchange earner as the governor has ordered 10 brand new Boeing aircraft that will make it an international carrier, breaking into the west coast of Africa and other places. Eno intends to extend it by creating a cargo part of the carrier’s business by installing a terminal.

He spoke of peace a number of times, invoking the fact that Gov. Emmanuel brought peace to a state that was a scare to most of its citizens. He recalled the spectre of death on the streets, even in churches. Death haunted the innocent and perceived enemies of state.

He also said he would continue with the infrastructure work of the governor and extend its reach to the far-flung parts of the state’s underbelly. He was also thrilled to say that the state had developed quite a few business ventures, a thing that showcases Udom’s background as a man of corporate Nigeria who was executive director of one of the marquee banks of the federation. Eno noted that Akwa Ibom is no longer the civil service state many called it before Emmanuel took charge. He referred to the coconut factory, flour mills among the 25 major industrial outfits he brought to the state. Reeling out comforting cacophonies, Eno says the election is about continuity, about character, about competence, about compassion and about integrity. He said, “it is about servant leadership, not about a ruler.”

He went back to his own personal story, about a business he started in 1977 after he prospered in the corporate world. He ran a hotel business that still employs next to the state government. He said no one should play down the virtue of running a hotel business. He referred to Governor Emmanuel’s frequent saying that “if one cannot run a kiosk, he cannot run a multinational.” He also quoted the bible, “see a man who is diligent in his business, he shall appear before kings and not before mean men.” He answered his critics. “Some people may say to run a hotel business is not the same as running a state,” he said. He posed a point. A man that can provide meals for 2000 people a day for 25 years must have a touch of genius.

He said the job of succeeding Emmanuel should not fall on “unsteady and shaky hands,” but on steady and safe hands.

Quoting Douglas McGregor, he pledged to run a state from the human side of enterprise. He said he would make Akwa Ibom the “perpetuity capital of Nigeria.”

He made the speech with affecting eloquence and empathy, generating roars of applause and breaking it off to acknowledge an adoring audience. The governor took over, dancing and swinging his staff. He scored Eno 100 percent for his oratory and content, echoing his presumptive successor’s point about peace and prosperity, and not returning the state to the former life of banditry and insecurity. He invoked a church song to emphasise the point. He warned against those he likened to Judas Iscariot, who will sell off the state because they seek after “our treasure.” He also conjured the scriptures while also saying he would abide by the words of the elder in Things Fall Apart, who warned Okonkwo: “That boy calls you father. Have no hands in his death.” He would be a great and fruitful paternal figure.

All is however set as the people of the state will decide who be their leader in March next year.

Ikene writes from Uyo