Much Ado About Two Commissioners From One LGA

Much Ado About Two Commissioners From One LGA

Governor Umo Eno’s nomination of two commissioners from one local government area is apparently based on competence and capacity and it is something that has been done by all his three predecessors since 1999

By Inemesit Ina

Speaking during the thanksgiving service by the Akwa Ibom State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) at The Apostolic Church in his village, Ikot Ekpene Udo, on Sunday, January 19, 2025, Governor Umo Eno gave insight into his coming State Executive Council. And he asked politicians and clerics to allow him choose his cabinet members without interference. Eno said much more but the kernel of his speech concerning the cabinet was that competence would be placed above all considerations in his choices.

Rejecting agitations by some politicians for what amounted to zoning of the commissionership position within their respective Local Government Areas (LGAs), the Governor pointed out that he could even appoint two siblings into his cabinet.

One of his predecessors, Obong Victor Attah, actually did. Another, Chief Godswill Akpabio, appointed two commissioners from one village and they were said to be cousins. The third, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, stopped at the level of same clan.

Since the State House of Assembly unveiled Eno’s would-be cabinet list on Tuesday, last week, critics have focused essentially on two issues – nomination of two persons from one LGA, Eket, and inclusion of three former House of Representatives’ Members in the list. They seem uninterested in the competence and capacity of the said nominees.

Why Eket Got Two

It is easy to pin the nomination of the duo from Eket, Mr. Frank Archibong and Elder Paul Bassey, on competence and capacity.

In Frank’s case, he has evidently demonstrated maturity, dynamism, dexterity, tact, pragmatism and humility in the management of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs since becoming commissioner in August 2020. It is an unenviable task managing 31 Chairmen, who are chief executives in their respective LGAs, and 31 Paramount Rulers, most of who are elderly men accomplished in various sectors – business, transportation, academia, teaching, civil service, accounting, banking, politics, military, engineering, football and more.

For a young man of 49 years to work and earn the respect of the revered monarchs, including the Okuibom Ibibio, and three sets of Chairmen, it is difficult to fault his reappointment.

The much older second nominee, Paul Bassey, is one of the biggest names in sports’ journalism and administration in Nigeria, if not Africa. He has been so for over four decades. Little wonder, the football-loving Udom appointed him his Senior Special Assistant on Sports. For Eno who is unmistakably keen on sports’ development in the state, he could not have made a better choice. Paul, who is likely to man the sports’ ministry, parades outstanding and relevant credentials.

He hails from Atabong in Eket Urban zone while Frank is from Ikot Ibiok in Eket Central zone.

But when all is said and done, Eno is not the first Governor to appoint more than one commissioner from one LGA. All his predecessors, since 1999, did.

Statistics

Statistics show that Attah picked two (some say three) commissioners from the same clan in ONNA LGA to serve simultaneously. He also named two siblings from Etinan LGA into his cabinet. Akpabio appointed two cabinet members, each from Eket and Ikot Ekpene, to serve at the same time. Udom did same for Uyo.

The Attah Years

Attah set the precedent during his second term (2003-2007).

Check this out:

1. Barr. Ime Ekpoattai – Commissioner for Rural Development (2003-2006) and Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs (2006-2007)
2. Elder Nkpoette Efanga – Commissioner for Special Duties (2005-2007)

Both men came from the same clan, Awa, in a LGA (ONNA) of three clans then. If you add the late Prof. Ekaette Etuk, who also hailed from Awa by birth, being the eldest daughter of the first civilian Governor of the old Cross River State, the late Chief Clement Isong, the number sums up to three. She represented her husband’s LGA, Nsit Ibom. But in Nigeria’s constitution, a married woman is free to claim both her paternal and marital LGAs.

The three commissioners hailed, respectively, from Ikot Mbong, Ikot Akpan Ishiet and Ikot Udo Essang, all Awa villages. Ikot Mbong and Ikot Udo Essang are neighbouring villages while Ikot Akpan Ishiet is not far from the two.

Ekpoattai was the politician among the trio. The lawyer, economics’ teacher and former bank manager had aspired unsuccessfully for the ticket of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to represent ONNA State Constituency in the House of Assembly in December 2002. He joined the cabinet presumably on the recommendation of the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Obong Ufot Ekaette (now deceased). At that time, Attah had reached a truce with Ekaette who led the Abuja Front faction of PDP in the state against the Home Front faction between 2001 and 2007. To consolidate the truce, the Governor offered the SGF a cabinet slot which he accepted. Hostilities between both factions, however, resumed in 2006.

Ekpoattai’s wife, Ime, later became the Chairman of ONNA Local Government (2008-2011), State PDP Treasurer (2012-2014) and Member representing Eket/Esit Eket/Ibeno/ONNA Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives (2015-2019). She is now a Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor.

Efanga, a former Director of Fire Service and later Permanent Secretary, had long gained the reputation of a workaholic and go-getter in the civil service who was often deployed by successive governments in the state to do taxing tasks outside his field. For instance, while still heading the fire service, he was put in charge of fertilizer distribution in the state, which used to be a huge and arduous responsibility, by the first civilian Governor of Akwa Ibom State, the late Obong Akpan Isemin. It did not matter that his elder brother, the late Elder Okon Efanga, was the Commissioner of Works in the same government.

Ekaette Etuk, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Uyo, had worked closely with Attah’s late wife, Alison, as a nutrionist in her pet project, Child Development Trust (CDT), in the first term (1999-2003). CDT focused primarily on tackling child malnutrition. Her appointment as Commissioner for Women Affairs at the beginning of the second term in 2003, in a way, was a formalisation of her work. She remained till the end of the term in 2007.

Four years earlier, Attah had appointed two siblings (both now dead) into his cabinet to serve concurrently. They were:

1. Elder Eseme Benjamin Essien – Head of Service
2. Obong Eme Etienne Essien – Commissioner for Women Affairs

Eme was a fearless woman rights’ advocate (she insisted on being addressed as Obong, rather than Obonganwan), former State Director of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and wife of the doyen of pharmacy in Nigeria and former Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Etienne Enobong Essien, from Ikot Udoabia. She served till the end of the first term.

Her younger brother, Eseme, from Ikot Abiyak, made it to the second term, serving till 2005. Attah actually inherited Eseme from the last military government in which he combined the positions of Secretary to the State Government and Head of Service. Before then, Eseme had distinguished himself in both the federal and state public services.

In addition to the two siblings, their brother-in-law, the late Major General Edet Akpan (retd.), a former Director of NYSC in Nigeria, was the Governor’s closest political associate and Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Yola, then.

The Akpabio Years

After taking over as Governor, Akpabio followed Attah’s precedent in giving a LGA more than one slot of cabinet member.

Again, ONNA was lucky. The two cabinet members from the LGA in Akpabio’s first term (2007-2011) were:

1. Mr. Enobong Umoetuk – Commissioner for Youth and Sports (2007-2009) and Special Duties (2009-2011)
2. Apostle (now Archbishop) Samuel Akpan – Special Adviser to the Governor on Political and Legislative Affairs (2007-2008)

Umoetuk came in as the slot given Ufot Ekaette and his wife, Eme, then a Senator, by an appreciative Akpabio. The former SGF had played a decisive role in protecting Akpabio’s nomination as the PDP Gubernatorial Candidate from being upturned by Attah in January 2007.

Apostle, as everyone called him then, was appointed in his own right. He was the all-too-powerful President of the Akwa Ibom Peoples’ Front (AKPF), Akpabio’s personal political structure. For the first nine months after the Governor’s inauguration on May 29, 2007, the AKPF leader’s house at Ewet Housing Estate in Uyo was the second centre of action outside Government House. So strong was Apostle that he was widely believed to have influenced the appointment of not a few other members of the cabinet by Akpabio.

Apostle hailed from Abak Ishiet, still in Awa.

Umoetuk came from Okat in Nung Ndem, the smallest of ONNA’s original three clans. ONNA is really an acronym for Oniong, Nung Ndem and Awa.

In 2016, Udom split Awa into two clans – Awa Afaha and Asuna/Nung Oku, bringing the number of ONNA’s clans to four.

Oniong is the biggest clan.

During his second term (2011-2015), Akpabio favoured Ikot Ekpene and Eket with two slots each in his cabinet.

The beneficiaries were:

1. Mr. Don Etim – Commissioner for Works (2007-2015)
2. Engr. Etido Inyang, Special Adviser to the Governor on Technical Matters (2011-2015)
3. Pastor Ita Udo – Commissioner for Youth and Sports (2012-2013) and Culture and Tourism (2013-2014)
4. Dr. (now Prof.) Emem Bassey – Commissioner for Health (2013-2015)

Don, who superintended Akpabio’s numerous road projects, served in the cabinet throughout the two terms. Etido, who monitored the projects, started as a Special Assistant on Technical Matters in the first term before his promotion to cabinet rank in the second term. He was credited with the coinage of the slogan, Uncommon Transformation, a euphemism for Akpabio’s aggressive development of the state.

Don and Etido came from the neighbouring villages of Uruk Uso and Ikot Ekpene, both in Ikot Ekpene Urban, the bigger of Ikot Ekpene LGA’s two clans.

Like Etido, Ita was elevated from Special Assistant (for Education) to cabinet rank as commissioner during Akpabio’s second term. That was in 2012.

A year later, he was joined by Emem as the second commissioner from his village, Effoi, in Eket LGA. Effoi is in Eket Central, the largest of the LGA’s three zones.

When it became known that the duo hailed from the same LGA, it was generally taken for granted that with Emem’s coming, Ita was gone. In fact, Ita’s exit was expected on the day Emem and the few other appointees were inaugurated. It was not to be. What happened on the D-day was dramatic. Shortly before the inauguration, Akpabio’s attention was reportedly drawn by one of his key lieutenants to the fact that Emem and Ita were from the same village. The Governor was even told that they were cousins.

From the report, Akpabio was quick to dismiss the sentiment with the terse reply: “But Ita is staying.”

Ita stayed till he resigned to contest the gubernatorial primary of the PDP in December 2014. He ended up a member of the Forum of Governorship Aspirants (named G22 by this writer), a group opposed to the nomination of Udom as the party’s standard bearer. Ita was Akpabio’s long-standing supporter and former Secretary-General of Afigh Iwaad Ekid, the umbrella organisation of the youths of Eket/Esit Eket/Ibeno/ONNA Federal Constituency.

Emem, who was a popular television guest presenter on health before his appointment, stayed till the end of Akpabio’s second term in 2015. He is now the Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.

The Udom Years

Udom followed the examples of Attah and Akpabio in appointing two commissioners from the same LGA in his second term.

They were:

1. Sir Charles Udoh – Commissioner for Information (2016-2020), Environment and Mineral Resources (2020-2023) and Culture and Tourism (2023-2025)
2. Dr. John James Etim – Commissioner for Power and Petroleum Development (2021-2023) and Trade and Investment (2023-2025)

When John James or JJ, as some call him, was appointed in January 2021, it was widely assumed that he was taking over the Uyo slot from Charles since both of them came from the same clan and LGA.

Not so fast. The two Uyo men remained till the end of Udom’s Administration on May 29, 2023. They transited to the Eno Administration, serving till the dissolution of the cabinet on January 10, 2025.

On Thursday, last week, Charles, from Obio Offot, was appointed the Acting Managing Director of the Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort.

It is uncertain if John would be equally fortunate. A former President of the Akwa Ibom State Association of Nigeria (AKISAN), USA, he joined Udom’s cabinet as the diaspora slot. He made history then as the first cabinet member picked from outside the Independent National Electoral Commission-created Offot I ward (popularly called Ward 6), a ward that had monopolised the cabinet slot of Uyo from 1999. Successive cabinet members from the ward were Prince Perry Ntuk (1999-2002), Dr. (now Prof.) Chris Ekong (2002-2008), Mr. Samuel Efanga (2008-2010), Prince Enobong Uwah (2011-2016) and Charles. John is from Anua Offot in Offot II ward (Ward 7).

Offot is by far Uyo’s biggest clan, followed by three smaller ones, Oku, Etoi and Ikono Ibom.

The new commissioner, Dr. Anietie Udofia, is a bigger history maker. An indigene of Ikot Enyenge in Ikono Ibom, he is the first non-Offot cabinet member from Uyo in more than a quarter of a century.

On the whole, from the above statistical analysis, it is manifest that Eno is not the first Governor to appoint two commissioners from one LGA.

Much Ado About Two Commissioners From One LGA

Governor Umo Eno’s nomination of two commissioners from one local government area is apparently based on competence and capacity and it is something that has been done by all his three predecessors since 1999

By Inemesit Ina

Speaking during the thanksgiving service by the Akwa Ibom State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) at The Apostolic Church in his village, Ikot Ekpene Udo, on Sunday, January 19, 2025, Governor Umo Eno gave insight into his coming State Executive Council. And he asked politicians and clerics to allow him choose his cabinet members without interference. Eno said much more but the kernel of his speech concerning the cabinet was that competence would be placed above all considerations in his choices.

Rejecting agitations by some politicians for what amounted to zoning of the commissionership position within their respective Local Government Areas (LGAs), the Governor pointed out that he could even appoint two siblings into his cabinet.

One of his predecessors, Obong Victor Attah, actually did. Another, Chief Godswill Akpabio, appointed two commissioners from one village and they were said to be cousins. The third, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, stopped at the level of same clan.

Since the State House of Assembly unveiled Eno’s would-be cabinet list on Tuesday, last week, critics have focused essentially on two issues – nomination of two persons from one LGA, Eket, and inclusion of three former House of Representatives’ Members in the list. They seem uninterested in the competence and capacity of the said nominees.

Why Eket Got Two

It is easy to pin the nomination of the duo from Eket, Mr. Frank Archibong and Elder Paul Bassey, on competence and capacity.

In Frank’s case, he has evidently demonstrated maturity, dynamism, dexterity, tact, pragmatism and humility in the management of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs since becoming commissioner in August 2020. It is an unenviable task managing 31 Chairmen, who are chief executives in their respective LGAs, and 31 Paramount Rulers, most of who are elderly men accomplished in various sectors – business, transportation, academia, teaching, civil service, accounting, banking, politics, military, engineering, football and more.

For a young man of 49 years to work and earn the respect of the revered monarchs, including the Okuibom Ibibio, and three sets of Chairmen, it is difficult to fault his reappointment.

The much older second nominee, Paul Bassey, is one of the biggest names in sports’ journalism and administration in Nigeria, if not Africa. He has been so for over four decades. Little wonder, the football-loving Udom appointed him his Senior Special Assistant on Sports. For Eno who is unmistakably keen on sports’ development in the state, he could not have made a better choice. Paul, who is likely to man the sports’ ministry, parades outstanding and relevant credentials.

He hails from Atabong in Eket Urban zone while Frank is from Ikot Ibiok in Eket Central zone.

But when all is said and done, Eno is not the first Governor to appoint more than one commissioner from one LGA. All his predecessors, since 1999, did.

Statistics

Statistics show that Attah picked two (some say three) commissioners from the same clan in ONNA LGA to serve simultaneously. He also named two siblings from Etinan LGA into his cabinet. Akpabio appointed two cabinet members, each from Eket and Ikot Ekpene, to serve at the same time. Udom did same for Uyo.

The Attah Years

Attah set the precedent during his second term (2003-2007).

Check this out:

1. Barr. Ime Ekpoattai – Commissioner for Rural Development (2003-2006) and Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs (2006-2007)
2. Elder Nkpoette Efanga – Commissioner for Special Duties (2005-2007)

Both men came from the same clan, Awa, in a LGA (ONNA) of three clans then. If you add the late Prof. Ekaette Etuk, who also hailed from Awa by birth, being the eldest daughter of the first civilian Governor of the old Cross River State, the late Chief Clement Isong, the number sums up to three. She represented her husband’s LGA, Nsit Ibom. But in Nigeria’s constitution, a married woman is free to claim both her paternal and marital LGAs.

The three commissioners hailed, respectively, from Ikot Mbong, Ikot Akpan Ishiet and Ikot Udo Essang, all Awa villages. Ikot Mbong and Ikot Udo Essang are neighbouring villages while Ikot Akpan Ishiet is not far from the two.

Ekpoattai was the politician among the trio. The lawyer, economics’ teacher and former bank manager had aspired unsuccessfully for the ticket of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to represent ONNA State Constituency in the House of Assembly in December 2002. He joined the cabinet presumably on the recommendation of the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Obong Ufot Ekaette (now deceased). At that time, Attah had reached a truce with Ekaette who led the Abuja Front faction of PDP in the state against the Home Front faction between 2001 and 2007. To consolidate the truce, the Governor offered the SGF a cabinet slot which he accepted. Hostilities between both factions, however, resumed in 2006.

Ekpoattai’s wife, Ime, later became the Chairman of ONNA Local Government (2008-2011), State PDP Treasurer (2012-2014) and Member representing Eket/Esit Eket/Ibeno/ONNA Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives (2015-2019). She is now a Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor.

Efanga, a former Director of Fire Service and later Permanent Secretary, had long gained the reputation of a workaholic and go-getter in the civil service who was often deployed by successive governments in the state to do taxing tasks outside his field. For instance, while still heading the fire service, he was put in charge of fertilizer distribution in the state, which used to be a huge and arduous responsibility, by the first civilian Governor of Akwa Ibom State, the late Obong Akpan Isemin. It did not matter that his elder brother, the late Elder Okon Efanga, was the Commissioner of Works in the same government.

Ekaette Etuk, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Uyo, had worked closely with Attah’s late wife, Alison, as a nutrionist in her pet project, Child Development Trust (CDT), in the first term (1999-2003). CDT focused primarily on tackling child malnutrition. Her appointment as Commissioner for Women Affairs at the beginning of the second term in 2003, in a way, was a formalisation of her work. She remained till the end of the term in 2007.

Four years earlier, Attah had appointed two siblings (both now dead) into his cabinet to serve concurrently. They were:

1. Elder Eseme Benjamin Essien – Head of Service
2. Obong Eme Etienne Essien – Commissioner for Women Affairs

Eme was a fearless woman rights’ advocate (she insisted on being addressed as Obong, rather than Obonganwan), former State Director of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and wife of the doyen of pharmacy in Nigeria and former Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Etienne Enobong Essien, from Ikot Udoabia. She served till the end of the first term.

Her younger brother, Eseme, from Ikot Abiyak, made it to the second term, serving till 2005. Attah actually inherited Eseme from the last military government in which he combined the positions of Secretary to the State Government and Head of Service. Before then, Eseme had distinguished himself in both the federal and state public services.

In addition to the two siblings, their brother-in-law, the late Major General Edet Akpan (retd.), a former Director of NYSC in Nigeria, was the Governor’s closest political associate and Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Yola, then.

The Akpabio Years

After taking over as Governor, Akpabio followed Attah’s precedent in giving a LGA more than one slot of cabinet member.

Again, ONNA was lucky. The two cabinet members from the LGA in Akpabio’s first term (2007-2011) were:

1. Mr. Enobong Umoetuk – Commissioner for Youth and Sports (2007-2009) and Special Duties (2009-2011)
2. Apostle (now Archbishop) Samuel Akpan – Special Adviser to the Governor on Political and Legislative Affairs (2007-2008)

Umoetuk came in as the slot given Ufot Ekaette and his wife, Eme, then a Senator, by an appreciative Akpabio. The former SGF had played a decisive role in protecting Akpabio’s nomination as the PDP Gubernatorial Candidate from being upturned by Attah in January 2007.

Apostle, as everyone called him then, was appointed in his own right. He was the all-too-powerful President of the Akwa Ibom Peoples’ Front (AKPF), Akpabio’s personal political structure. For the first nine months after the Governor’s inauguration on May 29, 2007, the AKPF leader’s house at Ewet Housing Estate in Uyo was the second centre of action outside Government House. So strong was Apostle that he was widely believed to have influenced the appointment of not a few other members of the cabinet by Akpabio.

Apostle hailed from Abak Ishiet, still in Awa.

Umoetuk came from Okat in Nung Ndem, the smallest of ONNA’s original three clans. ONNA is really an acronym for Oniong, Nung Ndem and Awa.

In 2016, Udom split Awa into two clans – Awa Afaha and Asuna/Nung Oku, bringing the number of ONNA’s clans to four.

Oniong is the biggest clan.

During his second term (2011-2015), Akpabio favoured Ikot Ekpene and Eket with two slots each in his cabinet.

The beneficiaries were:

1. Mr. Don Etim – Commissioner for Works (2007-2015)
2. Engr. Etido Inyang, Special Adviser to the Governor on Technical Matters (2011-2015)
3. Pastor Ita Udo – Commissioner for Youth and Sports (2012-2013) and Culture and Tourism (2013-2014)
4. Dr. (now Prof.) Emem Bassey – Commissioner for Health (2013-2015)

Don, who superintended Akpabio’s numerous road projects, served in the cabinet throughout the two terms. Etido, who monitored the projects, started as a Special Assistant on Technical Matters in the first term before his promotion to cabinet rank in the second term. He was credited with the coinage of the slogan, Uncommon Transformation, a euphemism for Akpabio’s aggressive development of the state.

Don and Etido came from the neighbouring villages of Uruk Uso and Ikot Ekpene, both in Ikot Ekpene Urban, the bigger of Ikot Ekpene LGA’s two clans.

Like Etido, Ita was elevated from Special Assistant (for Education) to cabinet rank as commissioner during Akpabio’s second term. That was in 2012.

A year later, he was joined by Emem as the second commissioner from his village, Effoi, in Eket LGA. Effoi is in Eket Central, the largest of the LGA’s three zones.

When it became known that the duo hailed from the same LGA, it was generally taken for granted that with Emem’s coming, Ita was gone. In fact, Ita’s exit was expected on the day Emem and the few other appointees were inaugurated. It was not to be. What happened on the D-day was dramatic. Shortly before the inauguration, Akpabio’s attention was reportedly drawn by one of his key lieutenants to the fact that Emem and Ita were from the same village. The Governor was even told that they were cousins.

From the report, Akpabio was quick to dismiss the sentiment with the terse reply: “But Ita is staying.”

Ita stayed till he resigned to contest the gubernatorial primary of the PDP in December 2014. He ended up a member of the Forum of Governorship Aspirants (named G22 by this writer), a group opposed to the nomination of Udom as the party’s standard bearer. Ita was Akpabio’s long-standing supporter and former Secretary-General of Afigh Iwaad Ekid, the umbrella organisation of the youths of Eket/Esit Eket/Ibeno/ONNA Federal Constituency.

Emem, who was a popular television guest presenter on health before his appointment, stayed till the end of Akpabio’s second term in 2015. He is now the Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.

The Udom Years

Udom followed the examples of Attah and Akpabio in appointing two commissioners from the same LGA in his second term.

They were:

1. Sir Charles Udoh – Commissioner for Information (2016-2020), Environment and Mineral Resources (2020-2023) and Culture and Tourism (2023-2025)
2. Dr. John James Etim – Commissioner for Power and Petroleum Development (2021-2023) and Trade and Investment (2023-2025)

When John James or JJ, as some call him, was appointed in January 2021, it was widely assumed that he was taking over the Uyo slot from Charles since both of them came from the same clan and LGA.

Not so fast. The two Uyo men remained till the end of Udom’s Administration on May 29, 2023. They transited to the Eno Administration, serving till the dissolution of the cabinet on January 10, 2025.

On Thursday, last week, Charles, from Obio Offot, was appointed the Acting Managing Director of the Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort.

It is uncertain if John would be equally fortunate. A former President of the Akwa Ibom State Association of Nigeria (AKISAN), USA, he joined Udom’s cabinet as the diaspora slot. He made history then as the first cabinet member picked from outside the Independent National Electoral Commission-created Offot I ward (popularly called Ward 6), a ward that had monopolised the cabinet slot of Uyo from 1999. Successive cabinet members from the ward were Prince Perry Ntuk (1999-2002), Dr. (now Prof.) Chris Ekong (2002-2008), Mr. Samuel Efanga (2008-2010), Prince Enobong Uwah (2011-2016) and Charles. John is from Anua Offot in Offot II ward (Ward 7).

Offot is by far Uyo’s biggest clan, followed by three smaller ones, Oku, Etoi and Ikono Ibom.

The new commissioner, Dr. Anietie Udofia, is a bigger history maker. An indigene of Ikot Enyenge in Ikono Ibom, he is the first non-Offot cabinet member from Uyo in more than a quarter of a century.

On the whole, from the above statistical analysis, it is manifest that Eno is not the first Governor to appoint two commissioners from one LGA.

Governor Umo Eno’s nomination of two commissioners from one local government area is apparently based on competence and capacity and it is something that has been done by all his three predecessors since 1999

By Inemesit Ina

Speaking during the thanksgiving service by the Akwa Ibom State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) at The Apostolic Church in his village, Ikot Ekpene Udo, on Sunday, January 19, 2025, Governor Umo Eno gave insight into his coming State Executive Council. And he asked politicians and clerics to allow him choose his cabinet members without interference. Eno said much more but the kernel of his speech concerning the cabinet was that competence would be placed above all considerations in his choices.

Rejecting agitations by some politicians for what amounted to zoning of the commissionership position within their respective Local Government Areas (LGAs), the Governor pointed out that he could even appoint two siblings into his cabinet.

One of his predecessors, Obong Victor Attah, actually did. Another, Chief Godswill Akpabio, appointed two commissioners from one village and they were said to be cousins. The third, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, stopped at the level of same clan.

Since the State House of Assembly unveiled Eno’s would-be cabinet list on Tuesday, last week, critics have focused essentially on two issues – nomination of two persons from one LGA, Eket, and inclusion of three former House of Representatives’ Members in the list. They seem uninterested in the competence and capacity of the said nominees.

Why Eket Got Two

It is easy to pin the nomination of the duo from Eket, Mr. Frank Archibong and Elder Paul Bassey, on competence and capacity.

In Frank’s case, he has evidently demonstrated maturity, dynamism, dexterity, tact, pragmatism and humility in the management of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs since becoming commissioner in August 2020. It is an unenviable task managing 31 Chairmen, who are chief executives in their respective LGAs, and 31 Paramount Rulers, most of who are elderly men accomplished in various sectors – business, transportation, academia, teaching, civil service, accounting, banking, politics, military, engineering, football and more.

For a young man of 49 years to work and earn the respect of the revered monarchs, including the Okuibom Ibibio, and three sets of Chairmen, it is difficult to fault his reappointment.

The much older second nominee, Paul Bassey, is one of the biggest names in sports’ journalism and administration in Nigeria, if not Africa. He has been so for over four decades. Little wonder, the football-loving Udom appointed him his Senior Special Assistant on Sports. For Eno who is unmistakably keen on sports’ development in the state, he could not have made a better choice. Paul, who is likely to man the sports’ ministry, parades outstanding and relevant credentials.

He hails from Atabong in Eket Urban zone while Frank is from Ikot Ibiok in Eket Central zone.

But when all is said and done, Eno is not the first Governor to appoint more than one commissioner from one LGA. All his predecessors, since 1999, did.

Statistics

Statistics show that Attah picked two (some say three) commissioners from the same clan in ONNA LGA to serve simultaneously. He also named two siblings from Etinan LGA into his cabinet. Akpabio appointed two cabinet members, each from Eket and Ikot Ekpene, to serve at the same time. Udom did same for Uyo.

The Attah Years

Attah set the precedent during his second term (2003-2007).

Check this out:

1. Barr. Ime Ekpoattai – Commissioner for Rural Development (2003-2006) and Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs (2006-2007)
2. Elder Nkpoette Efanga – Commissioner for Special Duties (2005-2007)

Both men came from the same clan, Awa, in a LGA (ONNA) of three clans then. If you add the late Prof. Ekaette Etuk, who also hailed from Awa by birth, being the eldest daughter of the first civilian Governor of the old Cross River State, the late Chief Clement Isong, the number sums up to three. She represented her husband’s LGA, Nsit Ibom. But in Nigeria’s constitution, a married woman is free to claim both her paternal and marital LGAs.

The three commissioners hailed, respectively, from Ikot Mbong, Ikot Akpan Ishiet and Ikot Udo Essang, all Awa villages. Ikot Mbong and Ikot Udo Essang are neighbouring villages while Ikot Akpan Ishiet is not far from the two.

Ekpoattai was the politician among the trio. The lawyer, economics’ teacher and former bank manager had aspired unsuccessfully for the ticket of the ruling Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) to represent ONNA State Constituency in the House of Assembly in December 2002. He joined the cabinet presumably on the recommendation of the then Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Obong Ufot Ekaette (now deceased). At that time, Attah had reached a truce with Ekaette who led the Abuja Front faction of PDP in the state against the Home Front faction between 2001 and 2007. To consolidate the truce, the Governor offered the SGF a cabinet slot which he accepted. Hostilities between both factions, however, resumed in 2006.

Ekpoattai’s wife, Ime, later became the Chairman of ONNA Local Government (2008-2011), State PDP Treasurer (2012-2014) and Member representing Eket/Esit Eket/Ibeno/ONNA Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives (2015-2019). She is now a Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor.

Efanga, a former Director of Fire Service and later Permanent Secretary, had long gained the reputation of a workaholic and go-getter in the civil service who was often deployed by successive governments in the state to do taxing tasks outside his field. For instance, while still heading the fire service, he was put in charge of fertilizer distribution in the state, which used to be a huge and arduous responsibility, by the first civilian Governor of Akwa Ibom State, the late Obong Akpan Isemin. It did not matter that his elder brother, the late Elder Okon Efanga, was the Commissioner of Works in the same government.

Ekaette Etuk, a professor of biochemistry at the University of Uyo, had worked closely with Attah’s late wife, Alison, as a nutrionist in her pet project, Child Development Trust (CDT), in the first term (1999-2003). CDT focused primarily on tackling child malnutrition. Her appointment as Commissioner for Women Affairs at the beginning of the second term in 2003, in a way, was a formalisation of her work. She remained till the end of the term in 2007.

Four years earlier, Attah had appointed two siblings (both now dead) into his cabinet to serve concurrently. They were:

1. Elder Eseme Benjamin Essien – Head of Service
2. Obong Eme Etienne Essien – Commissioner for Women Affairs

Eme was a fearless woman rights’ advocate (she insisted on being addressed as Obong, rather than Obonganwan), former State Director of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and wife of the doyen of pharmacy in Nigeria and former Secretary to the State Government, Prof. Etienne Enobong Essien, from Ikot Udoabia. She served till the end of the first term.

Her younger brother, Eseme, from Ikot Abiyak, made it to the second term, serving till 2005. Attah actually inherited Eseme from the last military government in which he combined the positions of Secretary to the State Government and Head of Service. Before then, Eseme had distinguished himself in both the federal and state public services.

In addition to the two siblings, their brother-in-law, the late Major General Edet Akpan (retd.), a former Director of NYSC in Nigeria, was the Governor’s closest political associate and Pro-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Yola, then.

The Akpabio Years

After taking over as Governor, Akpabio followed Attah’s precedent in giving a LGA more than one slot of cabinet member.

Again, ONNA was lucky. The two cabinet members from the LGA in Akpabio’s first term (2007-2011) were:

1. Mr. Enobong Umoetuk – Commissioner for Youth and Sports (2007-2009) and Special Duties (2009-2011)
2. Apostle (now Archbishop) Samuel Akpan – Special Adviser to the Governor on Political and Legislative Affairs (2007-2008)

Umoetuk came in as the slot given Ufot Ekaette and his wife, Eme, then a Senator, by an appreciative Akpabio. The former SGF had played a decisive role in protecting Akpabio’s nomination as the PDP Gubernatorial Candidate from being upturned by Attah in January 2007.

Apostle, as everyone called him then, was appointed in his own right. He was the all-too-powerful President of the Akwa Ibom Peoples’ Front (AKPF), Akpabio’s personal political structure. For the first nine months after the Governor’s inauguration on May 29, 2007, the AKPF leader’s house at Ewet Housing Estate in Uyo was the second centre of action outside Government House. So strong was Apostle that he was widely believed to have influenced the appointment of not a few other members of the cabinet by Akpabio.

Apostle hailed from Abak Ishiet, still in Awa.

Umoetuk came from Okat in Nung Ndem, the smallest of ONNA’s original three clans. ONNA is really an acronym for Oniong, Nung Ndem and Awa.

In 2016, Udom split Awa into two clans – Awa Afaha and Asuna/Nung Oku, bringing the number of ONNA’s clans to four.

Oniong is the biggest clan.

During his second term (2011-2015), Akpabio favoured Ikot Ekpene and Eket with two slots each in his cabinet.

The beneficiaries were:

1. Mr. Don Etim – Commissioner for Works (2007-2015)
2. Engr. Etido Inyang, Special Adviser to the Governor on Technical Matters (2011-2015)
3. Pastor Ita Udo – Commissioner for Youth and Sports (2012-2013) and Culture and Tourism (2013-2014)
4. Dr. (now Prof.) Emem Bassey – Commissioner for Health (2013-2015)

Don, who superintended Akpabio’s numerous road projects, served in the cabinet throughout the two terms. Etido, who monitored the projects, started as a Special Assistant on Technical Matters in the first term before his promotion to cabinet rank in the second term. He was credited with the coinage of the slogan, Uncommon Transformation, a euphemism for Akpabio’s aggressive development of the state.

Don and Etido came from the neighbouring villages of Uruk Uso and Ikot Ekpene, both in Ikot Ekpene Urban, the bigger of Ikot Ekpene LGA’s two clans.

Like Etido, Ita was elevated from Special Assistant (for Education) to cabinet rank as commissioner during Akpabio’s second term. That was in 2012.

A year later, he was joined by Emem as the second commissioner from his village, Effoi, in Eket LGA. Effoi is in Eket Central, the largest of the LGA’s three zones.

When it became known that the duo hailed from the same LGA, it was generally taken for granted that with Emem’s coming, Ita was gone. In fact, Ita’s exit was expected on the day Emem and the few other appointees were inaugurated. It was not to be. What happened on the D-day was dramatic. Shortly before the inauguration, Akpabio’s attention was reportedly drawn by one of his key lieutenants to the fact that Emem and Ita were from the same village. The Governor was even told that they were cousins.

From the report, Akpabio was quick to dismiss the sentiment with the terse reply: “But Ita is staying.”

Ita stayed till he resigned to contest the gubernatorial primary of the PDP in December 2014. He ended up a member of the Forum of Governorship Aspirants (named G22 by this writer), a group opposed to the nomination of Udom as the party’s standard bearer. Ita was Akpabio’s long-standing supporter and former Secretary-General of Afigh Iwaad Ekid, the umbrella organisation of the youths of Eket/Esit Eket/Ibeno/ONNA Federal Constituency.

Emem, who was a popular television guest presenter on health before his appointment, stayed till the end of Akpabio’s second term in 2015. He is now the Chief Medical Director of the University of Uyo Teaching Hospital.

The Udom Years

Udom followed the examples of Attah and Akpabio in appointing two commissioners from the same LGA in his second term.

They were:

1. Sir Charles Udoh – Commissioner for Information (2016-2020), Environment and Mineral Resources (2020-2023) and Culture and Tourism (2023-2025)
2. Dr. John James Etim – Commissioner for Power and Petroleum Development (2021-2023) and Trade and Investment (2023-2025)

When John James or JJ, as some call him, was appointed in January 2021, it was widely assumed that he was taking over the Uyo slot from Charles since both of them came from the same clan and LGA.

Not so fast. The two Uyo men remained till the end of Udom’s Administration on May 29, 2023. They transited to the Eno Administration, serving till the dissolution of the cabinet on January 10, 2025.

On Thursday, last week, Charles, from Obio Offot, was appointed the Acting Managing Director of the Ibom Hotels and Golf Resort.

It is uncertain if John would be equally fortunate. A former President of the Akwa Ibom State Association of Nigeria (AKISAN), USA, he joined Udom’s cabinet as the diaspora slot. He made history then as the first cabinet member picked from outside the Independent National Electoral Commission-created Offot I ward (popularly called Ward 6), a ward that had monopolised the cabinet slot of Uyo from 1999. Successive cabinet members from the ward were Prince Perry Ntuk (1999-2002), Dr. (now Prof.) Chris Ekong (2002-2008), Mr. Samuel Efanga (2008-2010), Prince Enobong Uwah (2011-2016) and Charles. John is from Anua Offot in Offot II ward (Ward 7).

Offot is by far Uyo’s biggest clan, followed by three smaller ones, Oku, Etoi and Ikono Ibom.

The new commissioner, Dr. Anietie Udofia, is a bigger history maker. An indigene of Ikot Enyenge in Ikono Ibom, he is the first non-Offot cabinet member from Uyo in more than a quarter of a century.

On the whole, from the above statistical analysis, it is manifest that Eno is not the first Governor to appoint two commissioners from one LGA.