Youth groups to Emmanuel: You can’t impose governor on Akwa Ibom people

THE Coalition of Akwa Ibom Youth Groups has castigated Governor Udom Emmanuel over his choice of a successor, saying he has no right to singlehandedly nominate a governorship candidate for over six million people of the state.

Emmanuel recently unveiled Pastor Umo Eno, the state Commissioner of Lands, as his anointed successor for the 2023 governorship election in the state.

But the group insisted that only the political parties have the mandate to nominate flag bearers for any given election and not an individual.

Addressing a press conference on Monday, the Speaker of the South-South Youth Assembly,Victor Thompson, said the governor’s action of handpicking a successor before the party primary amounted to imposition and an appointment of a governor for the people.

He wondered why the governor would hide under the guise of ‘hearing from God’ to impose a governor on the Peoples Democratic Party.

He said, “It is no longer news that Akwa Ibom State Governor, Mr Udom Emmanuel, has, in his bid to exploit the element of his godliness of our people and their affinity to God, come up with a deceptive vision that God has revealed a successor to him and has singlehandedly anointed and purportedly appointed his successor in the person of Pastor Umo Eno.

“It is very surprising that the governor is the only person in the state of over 6 million that can hear from God. The governor on the other hand has done a great disservice to the sensibility of over six million Akwa Ibom persons by singlehandedly trying to impose liability on Akwa Ibom political space for yet-to-be-disclosed reasons.

“It is pertinent to mention that Pastor Umo Eno who has never been associated with nor interested in the political process in Akwa Ibom state, will suddenly become interested in the race and so appointed without consideration for others who have paid their dues, loyalty, resources, time etc to nurse the administration until now.”