2023: Gov. Emmanuel’s web of lies and sorcering in God’s name

By Effiong Effiong

It all started as a rumour that Governor Udom Emmanuel was waiting on God to reveal his successor to him. That rumour became manifest on Friday 20th September 2019, when the governor addressed members of Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio, a foremost socio-cultural organisation in the state, a day after the 2019 governorship election petitions tribunal validated his re-election. The Governor, quoted by Vanguard newspaper said, ‘…It is only God who knows who my successor will be. When He (God) presents him, we will support him to also succeed’.

At the 60th birthday anniversary thanksgiving of Dr. Akon Eyakenyi, the current senator representing Akwa Ibom South, held on March 1, 2020 at Destiny Chapel International, Uyo, Governor Emmanuel told Akwa Ibom people to give him time for God to reveal his successor to him. That event had esteemed attendees namely, Mr. Moses Ekpo, Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom state, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Bassey, Speaker Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and his colleagues, Dr. Ahmed Lawan, Nigeria’s senate president, other senators and political bigwigs from within and outside the state.

Barely 13 months from March 1, 2020, that is, about the third week of April 2021, Gov. Emmanuel, had discreetly unveiled Umo Eno as his “God revealed” successor to his kitchen cabinet and this scoop was reported in the media with exactitude. That report had also stated that a group will be formed with Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem leading. All of that have played out, yet the Governor kept telling Akwa Ibom people that he was waiting on God to reveal his successor.

The governor understanding the chemistry of Akwa Ibom people when God’s name is involved, can not be excused from the orchestrated plot that has thrown up Umo Eno, as his preferred successor. This plot came to limelight with things falling apart in Akwa Ibom Christian Assembly, ACA, where Archbishop Cletus Bassey and Pastor Umo Eno, held sway as Chairman and Secretary respectively. According to sources, before the rift which is not unconnected with the politics of 2023, the governor had drafted one Apostle Lawrence Achudume of Victory Life Bible Church, whose headquarters is located along Kilometre 9 Olabisi Olabanjo way, opposite Ogun State Television, Abeokuta, as the link-man between himself and ACA. It is also public knowledge that the center between ACA, the governor and his preferred successor ain’t longer holding water. Lest I forget, Apostle Achudume is also said to be a visiting Bishop to Pastor Eno’s church, All Nations Christian Ministry Int’l.

READ : 2023: What does Governor Emmanuel want? Part – 1

Findings also revealed that Apostle Achudume is the most frequent, private religious guest of the governor which leaves much to be desired. What brings him to Akwa Ibom? Does he have his church here? What has happened to his Church in Texas? When last did he enter the United States of America? Why did the governor make him his link-man with ACA? Could Achudume be the “foreign Bishop” Apostle Nyeneime Andy, founder of Holy Ghost Ambassadors Ministries referred to when he said, “No pastor from Lagos … has the right to choose or control what we do in Akwa Ibom state politically. He shouldn’t come and say he wants to choose the governor for Akwa Ibom state”?

Apostle Andy went further : “To be honest, there is division in the church caused by a foreigner. Before now there was nothing like fathers of faith. That started just few years back. I can tell you five different groups have emerged because of this man. The present situation is that people are running spiritual things based on personal interest. The interest of the state must be paramount. The spiritual leaders are comfortable to serve in the role of house boys to the foreign pastor. Some pastors feel privileged to be introduced to certain people, and it is because of some peanuts they come to present to them.”

Achudume being an appointed visiting Bishop to Umo Eno’s church establishes a relationship. The Governor drafting him as a link-man between him and ACA which Eno served as secretary, establishes further relationship. Apostle Andy’s outburst that a pastor from Lagos was coming to choose a governor for Akwa Ibom people gives verve to the intricacies surrounding the choice of Umo Eno.

The whole essence of the “waiting on God” was a decoy to hoodwink Akwa Ibom people to run along while the plot unfolded. From very informed and inside sources, the governor is said to have received a message from an acclaimed man of God from a country in South America whose description fitted Umo Eno. This goes to show that God did not reveal Eno to Governor Emmanuel, rather Eno is a product of a carefully orchestrated web of lies and sorcering masterminded by the governor in God’s name. Could it be that Apostle Andy saw this coming when he raised the alarm, “The present situation is that people are running spiritual things based on personal interest… the spiritual leaders are comfortable to serve in the role of house boys to the foreign pastor.”

The unfolding events have revealed clearly that the governor was not actually waiting on God. Otherwise, at what point did the good Lord reveal to him that his successor will be someone with an international e-mail? Secondly, during one of his media chats, he said to journalists, he hopes they will support him when his successor finally emerges. He emphasized “…though he is not popular, but God will qualify him”. How did he know that the successor God was going to reveal to him will not be popular? Again, at the commissioning of Spectrum Television in Uyo on Monday, January 31, a day after unveiling Umo Eno, the Governor said Eno is coming “with an economic blueprint that will guarantee employment, development and economic prosperity of the state”; a statement the governor made before he (Eno) consulted him. How did he know that Eno had a blueprint? Was the blueprint part of the prophetic document revealed to the governor? And, how did Eno get to have a blueprint for the state when he did not “think” of vying for the office as he demonstrated during the last exco retreat when the governor threw the question of who was interested in what?

RELATED STORY: Why I chose Umo Eno as my preferred successor – Governor Emmanuel

In Vanguard online report of January 24, 2022 with the headline, “2023: Why I denied nursing any guber ambition at Lagos retreat“, Pastor Eno said why he did not lift his hands up is because “the governor’s step brother, Mr. Gabriel Nkanang, had hinted him that such a question will come up during the retreat and warned him not to lift up his hand when asked, because those who signify interest for any elective position in 2023 will be asked to resign from the cabinet”. He continued, ‘I belong to the inner cartel of the Governor. Those who lifted their hands are not members of the inner caucus and I know about four Commissioners who are contesting elections in 2023 who did not raise their hands. When the time is right, in about eight days from now, the Governor will adopt me as his successor having heard from God. I am not the one who wants this election. They are the ones who are saying God has told them, I am the anointed one’.” Even though Eno himself and the government issued rebuttals to the effect of the Vanguard report, one fact is clear, “eight days after”, Eno was unveiled, giving credence to the report. From all the unfolding events, one thing is clear, Eno did not want to be governor. Gov. Emmanuel and his step brother, Gabriel Nkanang, are forcing him on Akwa Ibom people. Gov. Emmanuel has contradicted himself on what he told Mboho Mkparawa Ibibio when he said, “I will not seek a third term through a surrogate…”

There are strong, crawling opinions within top PDP circles that Gov. Emmanuel in all of these machinations could be up to something personal and selfish. The reason for this is not farfetched. He has told Akwa Ibom people at different fora that he will go back to his “second address”, which is the financial sector. And, that when he is done as governor, politics will no longer be attractive. Gleaning from the grapevine, Gov. Emmanuel is eyeing the top job of the country’s apex bank and we know that he can’t get that job unless he finds his way into the party at the center. To save his “integrity”, rather than move to the ruling party, he has opted for a conspiracy against his party, by going for an unpopular person as his choice successor to pave the way for the ruling party at the center to win the state. Part of his ploy is to create angst across the broad spectrum of stakeholders of the party by deliberately failing to invite key stalwarts of the party to the unveiling of Eno. What explanations will the governor offer for not inviting a former state chairman of the party, Prince Uwem Ita Etuk, who stepped on toes to insist that the governorship in 2015 should be zoned to Eket senatorial district as a mark of justice and equity, with Udom Emmanuel as the ultimate beneficiary? What excuse will the governor give for not according courtesy to Senator Anietie Okon, a founding father and pioneer national publicity secretary of the PDP by not inviting him? For whatever it is worth, Senator Bassey Albert Akpan, is a two term senator and leader of Akwa Ibom state caucus in the national assembly; what would Gov. Emmanuel say was his reason for not inviting him?

Jehovah whom we know would not use a revelation to create division between a husband and wife. Instances abound in the scriptures. When Angel Gabriel was sent to Mary to inform her about the birth of Jesus Christ (Luke 1: 26-38), the Angel also spoke to Joseph about it (Matthew 1:20-21). Again, when God sent Angel Gabriel to Elizabeth concerning the birth of John the Baptist, he also spoke to her husband Zechariah (Luke chapter 1:5 -19). The point here is, God could not have revealed Eno to the governor and would not speak to the wife as well. Trending photos of the moody state of the governor’s wife when Eno consulted him reveals clearly that the first lady is not on the same page with the husband on this facade.

There are Bible accounts where God used events, signs, and people to speak to kings. The reaction of people is also another way that God speaks to a king; that is why the ancient Romans and indeed proponents of democracy still hold the dictum Vox populi, Vox dei (the voice of the people, is the voice of God), sacred till date. The Governor had on Wednesday, 2nd February, gone to the Akwa Ibom state secretariat of the PDP to celebrate the new year with the party. At that event, God sent a message through the people to him. Barr. Emmanuel Enoidem, the National Coordinator of Maintain Peace Movement and the immediate past national legal adviser of the PDP had mounted the podium to address party faithful. Shockingly, as soon as he mentioned Umo Eno, the reaction was a swift, brazen, thunderous boo and rejection. That was a message from God through the people to the governor. It must be stated here that Enoidem took a bullet for the governor by that singular mentioning. If he did not mention Eno and got booed, the Governor would probably have tasted the resolve of an already insulted people who have lived with this web of concoction for too long. If actually the choice of Eno came from God as the Governor claims, the event of that day has clearly proven that he did not hear from God. At that event, God spoke to him through the reaction of members of his party. Intelligence gathered reveal that if the Governor had presented Eno at that event, he would have been shocked by the flurry of sachets of water that would have rented the air.