GUBER 2023: UDOM

DOLES  N1.3BN TO SOME ASSEMBLY ASPIRANTS TO BRIBE DELEGATES

* N 50m each to his preferred House of Assembly aspirants to bribe delegates.

* Begs Councillors With N100,000 To Support His  Preferred Aspirant.

* Plans phoney contracts

While teachers’ unpaid salaries are pilling up and feeble retirees are dropping dead or lamenting over years of owed pensions and gratuities, Governor Udom Emmanuel has reportedly doled a whooping N1.3billion to his preferred House of Assembly aspirants,  towards bribing delegates to support Mr Umo Eno, his favoured governorship wannabe.

Akwa Ibom State, according to recent reports, has been languishing  in a series of poorly managed welfare quagmire, including unsettled severance entitlements to former councillors, who were teargased a few days for daring to peacefully demand their pay.

However, as the governorship primary inches closer, Mr Emmanuel appears so desperate that he has reportedly thrown the state’s coffers wide open, doling out billions to potential delegates and some stakeholders.

A Government House source confided in our reporter that after a meeting with some members of his kitchen cabinet on Monday, May 16, 2022, the governor decided to bribe arm some Hiuse of Assembly aspirants with N50million each, to enable them buy delegates’ supports.

The above move, according to watchers of Akwa Ibom politics,  falls in line with Mr Emmanuel’s reported boast that he was ready to empty even the Central Bank, if possible, to cover up his mistake of choosing an unpopular aspirant.

A few days ago, the governor, in another desperate effort to entice the councillors, organised a retreat where he reportedly begged them with N100,000 each not to disgrace him at the primary, by rejecting his preferred choice.

The said retreat attracted criticisms from some political stakeholders, who questioned the timing, as such programs are often packaged at the beginning of tenures and not towards the end.

Many argued that the gathering, a few days after their former colleagues were beaten and teargased by the police on the order of the governor, was just meant to lure the councillors for support and dump them soon after.

Mr Emmanuel has been roundly carpeted for poor human connection, generally, as well as despicable inter-governmental relations in his state, a situation which, sources said, has made it difficult for many delegates to trust him and his choice of aspirant.

A few weeks ago, Mr Emmanuel met with the chapter chairmen of the PDP for the first time, since their inauguration about three years, equally begging them not to disgrace him.

It was gathered that during the said inauguration, the governor had promised to meet with the party henchmen at the chapters regularly, give them monthly stipends, release bulk contracts as well as buses to each chapter.

However, the only contract that was purportedly released in 2015/2016 chapter chairman 

soon after Mr Emmanuel’s election, was never funded and some are yet to be executed, according to sources. 

“Many of them (chapter chairmen) received work orders but were never as much as taken to the job sites. Their hopes and dreams died prematurely when they realized they may have been scammed”, a source close to government house said.

Similarly, in 2018/2019, soon after Mr Emmanuel won second term, he programmed another set of contract for the 329 ward chairmen, and some reportedly borrowed some money to do the jobs, hoping to be settled at the end, but were disappointed at payment time, the source recalled.

When Mr Emmanuel met with the chapter chairmen a few weeks ago, he reportedly apologised for his seeming insincerity and indiscretion, promising to fulfill his promise of giving a bus to each chapter, after the forthcoming governorship primary. 

Within the Maintain Peace Movement ((MPM), the government-sponsored structure for Mr Umo Eno, there have been reported wranglings over high-handedness, lack of transparency and misuse/ diversion  of funds running into billions of naira.

While the governor is said to have been displeased with Mr Emmanuel Enoidem, the National President of MPM, sources say he has still been dishing out money recklessly towards bribing their way into the hearts of the delegates. 

Our reporter also learnt of a fresh plot to lure more statutory delegates with promises of contracts but our source warned that “it’s all going to be phoney contracts as the governor has no intention of paying for such jobs, especially as his tenure is ending next year”, he added.

While opining that delegates are free to collect any monetary inducement and still vote from  their heart, our source cautioned them to be more vigilant, to avoid being sold another dummy or what he described as a “ Greek gift”.

“Nobody should allow himself or herself to be taken for a ride. They should learn from previous experiences. The delegates should start asking why it is mostly in election years that this government remembers them with contracts, retreats and other niceties”, he added.