By Ephraim Evah

Politics in Akwa Ibom State has assumed a new dimension since a  new entrant into the governorship race took every one by storm. That new entrant, against all odds and permutations, is Obong Nsima Ekere.

Senator Godswill Akpabio with President BuharI

Since he launched into the political landscape, Nsima Ekere’s profile has continued to be on an upswing, with very unprecedented landmark achievements on all fronts, and his present ambition to become the next governor of Akwa Ibom, on the platform of  the All Progressives Congress, APC.

His profile has become so intimidating and  impressive that it will take the uninitiated in the polity to know exactly where he is coming from. Little wonder, the entire political circuit in the state has been rooting for this man of cool mien and silent achievements, much to the amazements and endorsement of all stakeholders in the state.

Even on the opposition side, jittery and apprehension have become their fear of the known, given his antecedents in the public and private spaces. Today, the fear of Nsima Ekere as the next governor has rapidly beginning of wisdom for every other contestant, including the incumbent, who despite all the shenanigans and grandstanding he has been pulling here and there to ruffle Ekere.

But, does Ekere entertain any fear about all these? No, as all arithmetic, math and permutations are pointing in one positive direction for the undisputable man of the moment in the entire South-South region of the country.

Many of the big wigs of the party have come to a consensus about his candidacy and eventual election as the next occupant of the Government House,  Uyo. In 1989, enterprising and very forward-looking Nsima Ekere set up Gassons Nigeria Limited, an indigenous anti-corrosion, environmental, fabrication/maintenance engineering company.

Before joining politics, Ekere was the Principal Partner at Ekere and Associates, a firm of estate valuers and real estate development consultants with offices in Port Harcourt, Lagos, Abuja and Uyo, which he started in 1993.

He had sat on the board of the Voice of Nigeria (VON) and also served in various entities like Universal Energy Resources Limited, Anchor Insurance before emerging deputy governor of Akwa Ibom State.

Nsima Ekere’s active and very impressive political career began in December 1997, when he contested and won election into the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly during the Abacha Transition, on the platform of the then fledgling Grassroots’ Democratic Movement, GDM.

He wasn’t however inaugurated before Abacha died in June 1998 and that transition was truncated. He then joined the PDP at the start of the General Abdulsalami  transition regime in 1998, and played a very active part in the politics of the state till he emerged the deputy governor on May 29, 2011. He was the leader of the G22, a group of 22 PDP governorship aspirants that protested the manner of conduct of the December 2014 PDP primaries.

He subsequently defected to the APC after some internal wrangling that bared its face in his gubernatorial ambition, a decision he took with an unusual calm and philosophical stead, even in the face of outright condemnation by his assumed cronies in the PDP fold of the state.

Until he threw his hat in the ring, Ekere was also  the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Without any ambiguity,  Ekere is believed to be the APC’s preferred Akwa Ibom governorship candidate for the 2019  elections. The momentum has grown since the much-talked-about defection to the APC of the former governor of the state and former Minority Leader of the 8th Senate, Elder Obong Godswill Akpabio.

• Evah is an Uyo public commentator