Agency Report
There is palpable anger and resentment among Akwa Ibom PDP stakeholders, over discoveries at the ongoing certificate forgery case instituted by a governorship aspirant of the PDP, Mr. Akan Okon against the winner of May 25, 2022, PDP governorship primary, Pastor Umo Eno.
The anger is against the backdrop of shocking discoveries in the legal battle against the pastor-turned-politician who is the favorite of Governor Udom Emmanuel to succeed him.
When the case was mentioned before Justice Agatha A. Okeke of the Federal High Court, Uyo on July 18, 2022, our reporter gathered that Eno and PDP, who are the defendants, withdrew the ‘Confirmation of Result’ from WAEC he earlier tendered to the court in defense of the certificate forgery allegation and replaced it with a ‘Leaving Certificate and Testimonial’.
The action, we gathered has bred anxiety among close associates of Governor Udom who are bewildered that the man who they have staked all their “political cards” for does not have the required certificate to back up the credentials he submitted to the INEC and PDP.
A very close associate of the governor who is one of those marketing the controversial candidate confided to our source that “Eno’s carelessness and perilous lies have caused bitterness and tension in the PDP camp. Stakeholders never knew Umo Eno has those types of baggage and they are saddened by the embarrassment it is causing the PDP who should file their best in all elections. The anxiety is just too much.”
“Why would the Governor be beclouded by prophecies to forget the basic things like doing background checks on Eno, perhaps the governor was fooled by the Pastoral title of Eno that he neglected a fundamental factor like investigating his past as well as credentials which is a necessity for the office. Who will want to make a certificate forger a governor?”
Another top PDP chieftain we learned is broken by the series of findings in the case. He told a gathering of his core loyalists last Monday after the case was adjourned by Justice Okeke.
“I have not been myself since I returned from the court. The case against our man is very solid and can jeopardize our political career because we have invested too much into the Eno project to turn our back now. As it stands, we are on a journey to the wilderness of uncertainty. This is politics gone sour. We have in our hands a very bad case and the only solution is for the party to substitute Eno and quickly bring in Akan Okon so that we can rally around him to win the election. With my strong stands with Eno and attack on his opponent within the party, I would not want to be outside the corridors of power after 2023. Governor Udom should consider our political future.”
In a similar vein, there are discordant tunes in the media department of the Maintain Peace Movement and Umo Eno Campaign Organization over the none payment of monthly stipends to the media men working for the groups.
A top leader of the MPM media who is well known for his intense support for Umo Eno told our source that he is very terrified about the case which may likely not be in their favor judging from the evidence against Eno. His withdrawal of the “confirmation of result” from WAEC took our supporters by surprise who now see the severity of the trial and the possibility of his disqualification from the race.
He told our source that: “the seriousness of the case is now telling on our principal (Umo Eno) who is beginning to come to terms that he may not be flying the party ticket next year that is why he has withheld disbursing money for the project to channel all the resources to hire lawyers. This is July ending and Umo Eno has not paid our media boys stipends for June, hence our media advocacy and support for Eno is waning down as the boys no longer have funds to buy data again. It’s getting worse by the day.”
Information also gathered from an inside source at the Government House, Uyo insists that there is anger and frustration by party leaders who are pressurizing the governor to do the needful else the state may end up without a candidate.
“The pressure to substitute Eno is much that the governor is weighing his options and I think from his mood in the last one week, he may heed to the pressure and do the needful,” the source concluded.
