Umo Eno is a trending name in Akwa Ibom today. But that is because the governor, Udom Emmanuel, broke the pod for the 2023 guber race as the first governor to name his pick as successor. I call it an audacity. Governors tend to take the path of hypocrisy, playing a cloak and dagger game, while mobilising for their favorite sons.
Governor Emmanuel has no patience for such underground ploy. He called a stakeholders’ meeting and identified Eno, his commissioner for lands and water resources, as the man of the moment.
Some, who would have preferred to be anointed, have gone up in arms, predictably. A man has a right to say who he wants to succeed him. If you have a legacy, as he has aplenty, you cannot be indifferent to who you think can lift that legacy to a higher pedestal. It is hypocrisy not to express it.
His pick will go through the grill of the primary process and then the polls. Governor Emmanuel has not foreclosed others in a tumult of rage from running. So, it is a fair game. It is called democracy. Other governors who are rounding off their tenures can follow his lead.
