Barring last-minute change of date, Akwa Ibom State governor, Pastor Umo Eno, is expected to dissolve his 25-member State Executive Council (SEC) today, January 10, 2025, LEADERSHIP learnt in Uyo, the state capital, yesterday.
Coming 19 months after being sworn – in as the fourth civilian governor of the state since the return of democracy in 1999, the governor, it was learnt, would see off the entire older cabinet, some of who had served since the era of former governor Godswill Akpabio.
However, few hands including special advisers he named after his inauguration in May last year, according to government sources, would be retained.
“There will be a valedictory SEC on Friday, as the governor has concluded plans to dissolve his cabinet to bring in new faces, especially those who played major roles in helping him to overcome stiff opposition to his victory,” a senior aide to the governor told our correspondent.
Recall that the governor, at the last interface with the media community in the state, disclosed that he would have eased off the cabinet he wholeheartedly inherited from his immediate predecessor, the boss and godfather, Mr. Udom Emmanuel, but for insufficient funds for them as a parting gift.
According to him, it would have amounted to ingratitude for the foot soldiers who helped him to scale the election hurdles to be dismissed empty- handed, despite their sacrifices.
However, a senior government official, who would not want his name in print, confided to our correspondent that “the governor has been too generous and magnanimous to pay each of the cabinet members N100 million, as compensation for loyalty, dedication and commitment to effective implementation of government policies and programmes.”
Meanwhile, it was further gathered that political stakeholders across the three senatorial districts of Uyo, Ikot Ekpene and Eket, and other key political leaders, elders and friends of government, have intensified lobbying for their candidates to be considered to fill the void in the next cabinet.
But feelers indicated that the governor is disposed to constituting the new Exco with main members of his Campaign Organisation, who traversed the 31 local government areas to sell his administration’s campaign manifestos to the electorate.
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