PDP governor endorses Tinubu for second term

Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has assured President Bola Tinubu that the people of the state “will stand by him to complete eight years,” in office.

Mr Eno gave the assurance in Uyo on Tuesday in his remarks at the flagging off of the Akwa Ibom – Cross River states section of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway.

“Let me end by assuring our people-loving president, who will complete eight years because we are going to stand by him. And this is the truth. He cannot start this work and abandon it. Somebody else may not finish it,” Mr Eno said in his remarks.

Continuing, he said “The Bible says, who is this mountain that is standing before Zerubabel? The hand that started this work. That hand shall complete it. Our prayers for Mr President is for good health to finish the work that he started and commission this work so that this work will not be abandoned like the East-West Road,” he said.

Governor Eno’s relationship with APC

Mr Eno is the fourth Akwa Ibom governor to be elected under the PDP platform since the return of democracy in 1999.

But this is the first time a PDP governor in the state, reputed for being a traditional PDP stronghold, would publicly endorse a serving president from another party.

The governor’s endorsement speech came amidst speculations that he is planning to defect to the APC. He is yet to publicly react to the speculations.

The leadership crisis in the PDP has continued to weaken Nigeria’s leading opposition party, causing many of its members to defect to the APC.

The PDP governors recently said the party said the party would not any coalition against the APC, apparently rejecting the plan by the former Nigerian Vice-President Atiku Abubakar and other politicians to form a new coalition ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

Atiku was the PDP presidential candidate in the 2023 election.

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Unlike his predecessors, Mr Eno has openly embraced APC leaders in the state, including the Senate President Godswill Akpabio and the Minister of State for Petroleum (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo.

In his speech at Tuesday’s ceremony, Mr Eno said Akwa Ibom “is one state where you find political parties whether APC or PDP always come together when it has to do with progress, projects and infrastructure.

“For us in Akwa Ibom, a party is just a platform to contest elections. Party will never change who you are, who you are willing to be.

“And so we do not allow parties to create problems amongst us. We work together, live together. We are from the same ancestral roots. Party is just where you choose to be,” he said.