Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom State, on Friday disclosed that it took him seven months to convince people of the state on why he should dump the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, for the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Eno disclosed that he was convinced that President Bola Tinubu is doing well, hence the decision to join the APC.
In June 2025, Eno had defected from the PDP to the APC and was welcomed by the ruling party’s chieftain.
However, in an interview with Arise Television, the governor said he defected because the constitution of Nigeria permits his actions.
According to Eno: “Everyone has their conviction and what they live for. Personally, I am convinced beyond any doubt that this president is doing well, and I have several instances, and politics itself is dynamic.
“I appreciate that we have always been a PDP state, I appreciate that a lot and I appreciate the platform upon which the PDP provided that I became governor. But also, the constitution also permits that we move. So movement, when you have to support what you believe in, shouldn’t be a problem.
“What I did in my case was I had to explain to the Akwa Ibom people, it took me close to six, seven months explaining to several groups why I believe we must move. Why I believe we must support this president who is doing a good job, and it’s my opinion.
“And everyone has their opinion, what I don’t agree is people to attack, you can’t superimpose your opinion on me. It’s a right I have constitutionally.
“Now, as governor, this president met this economy in shambles. Today, the Naira is stable, it went up and down, it’s getting stable. We begin to see the reforms he’s doing. Tax reforms, electricity reforms, our states just had an electricity summit where the states can now play in the electricity market and take responsibility for providing electricity to a citizenry.
“We have an IPC, the Bompah company produces, we have 191 megawatts and we produce that and put in the national grid. And the national grid gives it back to you the way they like. So he stopped all that and said first subsidy will stop from day one. How many presidents will have that boldness?
“We’ve had even military presidents who tried to move first subsidy, but they couldn’t. He said from day one, he moved it. Very unpopular thing to do. Now put the money to states to be able to provide the services.”
