WHY PASTOR UMO ENO DOES NOT DESERVE A SECOND TERM!

By Ata Ikiddeh

OPINION: I recently came across an opposition post circulating on Facebook: “Akwa Ibom people must ask questions. Governor Umo Eno must go in 2027. Enough with gambling. Akwa Ibom people deserve better!”

Governor Umo Eno inherited approximately ₦111 billion in unpaid gratuities owed to retired public servants. Since assuming office, his administration has paid ₦100 billion towards these arrears. By December this year, he intends to clear the remaining balance of approximately ₦11 billion. His administration has reportedly reached 83 per cent of the 28,898 retirees affected.

Only seven states in Nigeria reportedly have no outstanding gratuity arrears. By December 2026, Akwa Ibom could become the eighth state to achieve that distinction. The states are projected to be:

1. Abia
2. Akwa Ibom
3. Borno
4. Ebonyi
5. Jigawa
6. Kano
7. Kebbi
8. Nasarawa

And yet we have a motley crowd clapping on social media “Akwa Ibom people must ask questions. Governor Umo Eno must go in 2027. Enough with gambling. Akwa Ibom people deserve better!”

But think about this for a second, which governor does what Pastor Umo Eno has just done and expects to win a second term? It defies conventional political wisdom. How does a governor commit ₦100 billion to settling inherited liabilities when that money could have been invested in tangible projects that everyone could see? It is almost as though he has taken valuable resources that could have built visible monuments and buried them beneath his feet. Wasted on pensioners!? By conventional political calculations, a man who makes such a decision does not deserve a second term. It represents a monumental sacrifice of political opportunity.

Now, let us consider the magnitude of the sum involved. We are talking about ₦100 billion, approximately US$75 million at the current exchange rate. What could Pastor Umo Eno have done with $75 million? I did the calculations. He could have financed any of the following projects but he chose to pay retirees; please look at the number of beneficiaries.

1. Youth empowerment: ₦10 million each for 11,100 young people.
2. Poor struggling families: ₦1 million each for 111,000 families.
3. University graduates: ₦1.11 million each for 100,000 graduates.
4. Seven million Akwa Ibomites: Approximately ₦15,857 per person.
5. The 31 local government areas: Approximately ₦3.58 billion per LGA.
6. Five storey buildings: 111 buildings at ₦1 billion each, potentially accommodating modern shopping malls, youth centres, local government secretariats, a new state secretariat, and offices in his proposed new Uyo downtown city.
7. Transit buses: 1,110 buses at ₦100 million each, equivalent to approximately 35 buses per 31 local government areas.
8. Markets and entrepreneurship hubs: 111 facilities at ₦1 billion each, or 222 at ₦500 million each, with the ambition of establishing 35 global entrepreneurship hubs across the 31 local government areas.
9. Schools: 111 schools at ₦1 billion each, or 222 at ₦500 million each, including the proposed establishment of 35 new schools across the 31 local government areas.
10. Cars: Approximately 11,000 ‘Tokunbo’ imported vehicles for 11,000 ARISE youths.

These figures illustrate the scale of the opportunity before us. The point is not that every project could be delivered at precisely these costs, but that ₦100 billion represents enormous financial and developmental possibilities. Yet Governor Umo Eno chose to direct this money towards retired public servants. And you have an opposition saying “Akwa Ibom people must ask questions. Governor Umo Eno must go in 2027. Enough with gambling. Akwa Ibom people deserve better!”

Let me put this into perspective by considering reported expenditure currently by President Trump on projects in Washington, D.C., involving amounts comparable to US$75 million. These include approximately $14 million for the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and $13 million for a White House helipad project. Together, those two projects account for approximately only 36 per cent of $75 million.

That is an enormous sum, yet Governor Umo Eno chose to direct a comparable amount towards retired public servants whose entitlements had remained unpaid. His administration has also increased the monthly pensions of retired public servants in Akwa Ibom State by ₦27,000, effective September 2025, according to reports on the policy, bringing monthly pension receipts to about ₦50,000 in many cases. And when you think of it the governor has not borrowed 1 kobo! Yet the opposition is crowing “Akwa Ibom people must ask questions. Governor Umo Eno must go in 2027. Enough with gambling. Akwa Ibom people deserve better!”

What Pastor Umo Eno has achieved goes beyond compassion. It reflects a belief in justice.
We live in a society where justice is too often denied, where people are abandoned and forgotten. Men and women devote the best years of their lives to serving the nation, sacrificing time they could have spent with their families or used to establish businesses of their own. They give those years to Nigeria. Then, after twenty, thirty, or more years of service, these Nigerians are abandoned. They are forgotten. They are treated like trash, like discarded objects whose usefulness has expired. They cry out for justice and demand what rightfully belongs to them, but their pleas fall on the deaf ears of political leaders. All they ask for are their gratuities, their lawful entitlements, yet government chooses to ignore them. Meanwhile, resources are committed to forty one storey towers, monumental projects, and temples, while the human beings government exists to serve are neglected.
Is the greatest temple not the human body? Is the greatest responsibility of government not to protect human dignity? This is what distinguishes Pastor Umo Eno.

I still remember the day I was invited by the University of Uyo to collect my father’s gratuity. My father was Professor Ime Ikiddeh. Do you know what more than thirty years of his service to the Federal Government was worth on the document I was asked to collect Three kobo.
You heard me right. Three kobo for a professor!

My brothers and I challenged the figure and fought until we received what was due to my late father. But what would have happened if we had been uneducated people living in a village, unaware of my father’s rights? What if we had lacked the connections and support of the Vice Chancellor in pursuing the matter? What would have happened if we had been ordinary citizens without the means to challenge the injustice? That was how my father’s decades of service might have been rewarded. That is the fate of thousands of retirees in Akwa Ibom state. Yet a clueless opposition barks “Akwa Ibom people must ask questions. Governor Umo Eno must go in 2027. Enough with gambling. Akwa Ibom people deserve better!”

This is why Governor Umo Eno’s action has convinced me that he does not merely deserve a second term. In my view, he deserves a third, a fourth, and as many terms as the people believe he deserves to serve. Unfortunately, our presidential system does not permit multiple terms beyond the constitutional limit. This is one reason I have come to admire the parliamentary system in Britain, where I live, under which a Prime Minister can remain in office for as long as he or she commands the confidence of Parliament and the support necessary to govern. Margaret Thatcher served for eleven years, while Tony Blair served for ten. That is the kind of extended opportunity I believe Pastor Umo Eno deserves for this singular act of public service.

Think of what he could have done with more than ₦100 billion if his overriding objective had been his re election. He could have invested that money in projects carefully calculated to attract more votes, built even more visible infrastructure, and strengthened his political position. He could have used it to pursue an overwhelming electoral advantage. But instead of directing the money towards his own political interests, he turned his attention to the plight of retired public servants.

But there is a catch. Some politicians may feel that the Governor has thrown the money away because it will not translate into votes in 2027. They do not understand the calculus. Look at the numbers. There are 28,898 retirees in Akwa Ibom State. An average nuclear family in the state consists of four children, and each child would have an average of four children of their own, some of whom may be of voting age. Taking these figures as an illustration, the wider family networks of the retirees could represent an enormous constituency. My calculation suggests a potential voting strength of approximately 1.8 million across these family networks. Even if that estimate proves too ambitious, half of that figure would still represent 900,000 potential votes. These 900,00 votes of gratitude, generated by settling long standing entitlements will have a substantial political impact in 2027!

In 2023, Pastor Umo Eno received 356,346 votes. In 2027, the families of retirees could constitute a formidable constituency of gratitude and support. The payment of these arrears could therefore have a significant influence on the election.

For Pastor Umo Eno, 2027 is not merely about winning. It is about setting a record! I believe in the multiparty system. However, a multiparty system that degenerates into lies, falsehood, and an empty opposition that offers no credible alternative does little to advance the interests of the people. Where a leader is already delivering the dividends of democracy for which the electorate voted, political competition should be grounded in substance rather than the manufacture of division not singing “Akwa Ibom people must ask questions. Governor Umo Eno must go in 2027. Enough with gambling. Akwa Ibom people deserve better!”

Let me thank the Governor for this singular act of compassion and justice. He has committed enormous resources to honouring men and women whose years of service deserved far better than neglect. He need not wait for his reward in heaven, because I believe the people of Akwa Ibom will deliver that reward in 2027 through a record breaking landslide victory, so overwhelming that there would be no need for election tribunals or the Supreme Court to determine the outcome.

Hopefully, between 2027 and 2031, the Constitution will be amended to permit good leaders like Governor Umo Eno to contest for third, fourth, and fifth terms for as long as the people want them in power. Apologies for disappointing you. I am a democrat. Yet I believe we must confront the instability and waste that our present democratic arrangements can produce in our unique African societies. We need a system that combines the strengths of presidential and parliamentary government, a hybrid model designed to serve Nigeria’s peculiar circumstances and political realities. Not people screaming lies “Akwa Ibom people must ask questions. Governor Umo Eno must go in 2027. Enough with gambling. Akwa Ibom people deserve better!”