By ETIM ETIM
With the governorship election scheduled to formally commence on Wednesday nationwide, Gov. Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State has unveiled his campaign structure and the strategy for winning reelection. In a detailed PowerPoint presentation to over 600 critical APC stakeholders and leaders in the state Saturday evening, Eno said that of the 1,379, 322 registered voters in the state, his party will work towards scoring over 800,000 votes each in the presidential and governorship election. To achieve this, he announced the formation of a small, but decentralized campaign organization known as the Umo Eno Campaign Council of which he is the chairman.
The organization is made up of two major components: the main structure and field operations. The main structure will formulate policies; set agenda; formulate the message and messaging as well as design strategies. It is headed by the Grand Patron, followed by the patron and then the Chairman. Below them are two vice chairmen, a director general and two deputy directors general, one in charge of operations and the other responsible for managing the hundreds of support groups that are ready to stump for the governor. Below the two DGs are 10 Assistant Directors General and many Directors. Apart from the governor who is the chairman of the Council, no other position has been filled. But there are indications that Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who was not in the meeting because he was visiting with the President in London, will be the Grand Patron.
The field structure which will handle the campaign’s ground game is made up of Local Government campaign coordinators who will be the LGA chairmen. They will work closely with Ward Campaign Coordinators who would be appointed by the governor. Ward Coordinators will, in turn, appoint Community Campaign Coordinators and Polling Unit Coordinators. Gov. Eno spoke with facts and figures, noting that there are 4,334 polling units; 329 wards and 1,379,322 registered voters in the state. ‘’Our campaign this time would take place at the Ward, Community and Unit levels. The Ward Coordinator will be a major politician with proven political and mobilization skills in the Ward who is capable of managing men and resources to achieve our electoral objective’’, the governor said, adding: ‘’I will be the Ward Coordinator in my ward’’. He received a sustained applause.
And to prove his deep knowledge of his ward, the governor announced that there are 3,545 registered voters in his ward, of which 1, 786 are men and the rest women. ‘’I therefore expect every Ward Coordinator to have such statistics in his or finger tips and to know every registered voter in his ward personally because the ward is where everything will happen’’.
Never before has a governorship candidate in the state used Power Point slides to drill down his campaign strategy in such a granular manner. It reflects his background in business where marketing strategies; business plans and performance reviews are typically explained in detail to the last kobo by a unit manager to his directors during budget sessions.
Gov. Eno said that he is not just interested in winning the election, but more so in achieving massive voters’ turnout and getting huge numbers for himself and President Tinubu, a point emphasized repeatedly by many other stakeholders who spoke after the governor.
To further prepare for the campaign, Gov. Eno is planning to meet all ward chairmen; Chapter Chairmen; Party EXCO; Ward Personal Assistants; all of the governor’s appointees; students; leaders of the non-indigene community in the next few weeks. On the health of the party, he announced that APC in Akwa Ibom has never been stronger and more united. ‘’There are no more factions and camps in the party; so this idea of ‘’aborigine APC members’’ – a term used loosely to describe those who were in the party before the governor joined last year – should be discarded. ‘’We are now one strong, cohesive and indivisible party out to win the election convincingly’’, he enthused.
The governor’s detailed presentation clearly indicated how well prepared he is for the election. Chief Assam Assam, SAN, who was the Eno’s campaign DG in 2023, noted that Akwa Ibom APC is poised to make a significant contribution to the overall performance of the ruling party in January and February. ‘’We want to prove a point’’, he concluded.
APC’s optimism is derived from its dominance of the political terrain in the state, a flip of what happened in 2023. In that election, Eno, running on PDP had 354,348 votes; followed by Senator Bassey Albert of YPP who polled 136, 262 votes. APC which has no candidate due to protracted crisis and litigation garnered 129, 602 votes.
Both PDP and YPP have since merged with APC to form a massive political platform in the state. The 2027 race will therefore be largely an uneven contest between Gov Eno of APC; Senator John James Akpanudoedehe (ADC); former House of Reps member Michael Enyong (PDP) and broadcaster and columnist Michael Bush (Labour). The commonest permutation is that Eno will take over 80% of the total votes cast.
ETIM ETIM is a veteran journalist and PR professional with over 35 years of cognate experience.
He is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Policy & Politics (www.policyandpolitics.com.ng), an online newspaper dedicated to insightful analysis of Nigerian news and world’s report. He is also a columnist with BusinessDay and The Cable and is a regular contributor to other newspapers.
Contact: +234802 3159969 (WhatsApp Only)
