When Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State warned all his Aides to decamp with him to the All Progressives Congress, APC, or risk termination of their appointment, he was not mincing words.
Eno formally moved to the APC on June, 2025 thereby breaking the firm grip of the state by PDP for over 26 years. He pledged unalloyed loyalty to the centre and expressed his distaste for any form of anti-party activity.
All but the former commissioner for Special Duties and Ibom Deepsea Port, Ini Ememobong, joined him to his new found party, APC. Ememobong resigned his appointment with the state government expressing his inability to buy the ideology of the APC.
Some of his appointees who were former governor Udom Emmanuel’s loyalists (who is still a PDP member) have been boxed to a corner as they have been forced to cut ties with the PDP.
However, the sledgehammer fell on two Aides who were alleged to have bluffed the governor’s order and attended the National Convention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) at Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.
The duo – Mr. Joseph Ikpak, Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Support Services, and Felix Ekuri, Special Assistant (SA) on Neighbourhood Watch, were relieved of their appointments on Monday with immediate effect.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Prince Enobong Uwah, who disclosed this in a release, neither stated why they were removed nor wished them well in their future endeavours.
Some sources in government alleged that their removal was due to their continued loyalty to their former boss, Udom Emmanuel.
“The governor had warned severally of saboteurs still hobnobbing with opposition PDP since he defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) on June 6, 2025.
“So when the duo were sighted at the PDP Convention at Ibadan, we know that heads must roll because these people had been working with the immediate past governor Emmanuel before the current regime of governor Eno inherited them in 2023,” one of the sources recalled.
Meanwhile, the release which was posted on the state government’s Facebook page has generated a lot of reactions as so many lauded the governor’s decisive move while others questioned his acclaimed stance on unity.
