MAY DEACON UDOM EMMANUEL’S PRAYER NOT BE ANSWERED – “I Want a Successor Who Will Treat Me the Way I Treated Akpabio” – Governor Udom
⸻
Opinion: Before dismissing this as fake news, note that the reporter, Ndifreke P. Akpan, was a Government House correspondent in Akwa Ibom State at the time. This report was published in 2018 and is genuine. It was from this story that many believe former President Olusegun Obasanjo, while in church, turned to Governor Udom Emmanuel and declared, “May your successor do to you what you did to your predecessor.”
The story that follows carries an important moral lesson for everyone. It warns us to be cautious when we make declarations before God and reminds us of His mercy. Despite the severe humiliation and persecution that Governor Godswill Akpabio reportedly suffered under Governor Udom Emmanuel, divine retribution has not come upon Udom. This is largely because, when it mattered most, Udom obeyed God by choosing Pastor Umo Eno as his successor—despite fierce opposition.
Pastor Umo Eno remains Governor Udom Emmanuel’s greatest political legacy. However, he must take care not to test or strain that legacy. The recent hostility from the Onna Front and the former governor’s discreet support for every PDP manoeuvre are dangerously escalating political tensions. Everyone knows that the former governor remains the de facto political leader of the PDP in Akwa Ibom State. May he not bring upon himself the fulfilment of Obasanjo’s words: “May your successor do to you what you did to your predecessor.”
The renowned novelist Frederick Forsyth once described the destructive passions of conflict as “the dogs of war.” When war breaks out, as in the biblical story of King David and his son Absalom, the rules of compassion and restraint vanish. David loved Absalom and ordered that his life be spared, yet in the heat of war, his generals disobeyed and killed him. Politics, too, can be that cruel. There are those who have long waited for the opportunity to exact vengeance upon the former governor—on his family, reputation, relationships, and wealth. Is he ready for that?
Many Akwa Ibomites simply want him to openly and publicly support Governor Umo Eno’s bid for a second term, while leaving the presidential election as a free and fair contest between parties.
This article is presented in two parts:
1. Governor Udom Emmanuel’s own statement, as reported by Ndifreke P. Akpan in 2018.
2. An untold account of how Governor Udom treated his predecessor, Senator Godswill Akpabio.
⸻
I Want a Successor Who Will Treat Me the Way I Treated Akpabio
By: Ndifreke P. Akpan (Government House)
October 28, 2018
Governor Udom Emmanuel expressed his desire for God to bless him with the kind of successor he had been to his predecessor.
Speaking during a church service at Qua Iboe Church, Uyo, where he worshipped alongside former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the governor declared:
“I stand in the pulpit as a Christian to say that when my time comes, may God give me the kind of successor I have been to my predecessor.”
Addressing speculation that he had been unduly harsh toward Senator Godswill Akpabio, Governor Emmanuel affirmed that when he eventually leaves office, he would gladly receive from his successor the same treatment he had given his predecessor.
In his remarks, former President Obasanjo commended Governor Emmanuel’s performance and urged Akwa Ibom citizens to support his re-election.
“The prayer he just prayed touched me. You must be sure of yourself, a man of God, and a true believer to say, ‘God, give me a successor who will treat me as I have treated my predecessor.’”
Source: Nairaland, 2018
⸻
How Governor Udom Treated His Predecessor: An Untold Story
Opinion: I hold no grudge against Governor Udom Emmanuel. I had kept this story to myself and never intended to share it. However, the recent hostilities from the Onna Front against the current administration have disrupted the peace, and it is necessary to remind the former governor of his past actions—and of God’s mercy.
The Story
In 2018, former Governor Godswill Akpabio flew into Uyo quietly on a private visit. Given the political climate at the time, he avoided informing anyone, as hostility toward him was widespread. He had been branded an “agent of the APC Fulani empire,” accused of plotting to cede Akwa Ibom land to herdsmen. Upon arriving in Uyo, Akpabio proceeded to the Le Méridien Hotel, where a room had always been reserved for him. However, at the reception, he was met with confusion and fear among the staff. When he requested his room, he was told it was no longer available. When he asked for another, he was informed the hotel was fully booked—even though new guests were being checked in before his eyes.
After nearly two hours of waiting, the hotel manager discreetly told him the truth: there were “orders from above” instructing that no room be given to him. It was already past 1:00 a.m. Distressed, Akpabio asked the manager if he was expected to sleep in his car, given that there was nowhere in Uyo he felt safe now that the government knew he was in town. The manager, at great personal risk, offered him his own room for the night on the condition that Akpabio would check out early before his stay was discovered—an act of kindness that could have cost the manager his job. The former governor accepted but later regretted it. The room was untidy, the bed sheets were dirty, and when he opened the wardrobe, personal items and women’s clothing tumbled out. Unable to endure the humiliation, he decided to risk the night journey to Calabar around 2:00 a.m., where he eventually found lodging at 3:00 a.m. Anything could have happened to him he could have been a victim of armed robbers and bandits that night.
He later confided that it was one of the lowest moments of his life—a former governor reduced to begging for a place to sleep in a state he once governed. From that day, Akpabio never attempted to stay at Le Méridien again. On subsequent visits, he lodged in a smaller hotel owned by a former aide. When he commended the young man on the facility, the aide replied, “Your Excellency, you were too busy building roads and bridges. We told you to invest in something like this, but you wouldn’t listen.”
Eventually, Akpabio renovated a small three-bedroom house he had owned since his time as a commissioner under Governor Obong Attah. That modest home became his residence during visits to Uyo throughout Udom’s administration.
This is how Governor Udom Emmanuel treated his predecessor. May his own prayer never be answered—for no one deserves such humiliation.
By Barr. Ata Ikiddeh