By Clifford Ndujihe

Obong Umana Okon Umana and Mr. Udom Emmanuel have many things in common. They are from Akwa Ibom State, fair in complexion and the leading governorship candidates in the 2015 election in the state. Both are well-read, former secretary to the state government (SSG) under Governor Godswill Akpabio’s Administration and are eminently qualified to govern the state, if elected.

Udom(left) and Umana(right

Both could be hurt by issues arising from the primaries that produced them, if poorly handled. Umana defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC) a few days to the party’s primaries and ‘dislodged’ Senator John James Akpanudoedehe, who was favoured to pick the ticket.

Akpanudoedehe was the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate in 2011. He and his supporters are reportedly unhappy with the manner the APC primaries were conducted.

In like manner, 22 Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship aspirants protested the emergence of Emmanuel as the PDP standard bearer. They have petitioned the party’s hierarchy to overturn the exercise and are already in court over the matter.

Arguably, that is where the similarities between Umana and Udom stopped. The next are huge differences that are expected to shape the outcome of the February 2015 governorship contest, which apart from the aspiration of Bishop Samuel Akpan, who is the candidate of the Accord Party, is panning out as a two horse race between the two SSGs.

While Umana is from the Uyo Zone that has produced governors in the past and is flying the flag of the opposition APC, a party he joined about three weeks ago, Mr. Emmanuel is from the Eket Zone that is yet to produce governor and is the standard bearer of the ruling PDP that has been ruling the state since 1999.

Obong Umana is in his 50s having been born on August 20, 1959, Mr Udom Emmanuel turned 48 last July 11. Though both served as SSG, Umana left the post last year after a face-off with Governor Akpabio while Udom resigned to pursue his governorship ambition about two months ago.

Their chances

Umana and Udom have good chances of winning but only one of them will triumph at the end of the day.  And this will be decided by a combination of factors.

Udom Emmanuel

Regarded by his followers as a prudent, patriotic and pan Akwa Ibom technocrat, Udom’s chances are boosted by his close relations with the state government especially Governor Akpabio, who along with the state PDP endorsed him for the position.

He is from the Eket zone, which is yet to produce the governor of the state, a fact that informed the zoning of the slot in 2015 to the area by the Akwa Ibom PDP, state government and recently the National hierarchy of the PDP.

Udom also has the academic and practical experience, in the estimation of his backers to continue with and take the Governor Akapbio’s uncommon transformation agenda in the state to the next level. He was the Pioneer Manager of the Lagos Central Branch of Zenith Bank.

He was also in charge of the Telecommunications Sector, Income Optimization and Financial & Strategic Planning Group of Zenith Bank PLC. He had over 17 years financial services experience and shortly before his appointment as SSG served as an Executive Director of Zenith Bank PLC.

Udom holds a Bachelors degree in Accounting from the University of Lagos (1988). He bagged Master’s Degree with specialty on Corporate Governance from the Leeds Metropolitan University, United Kingdom.

His responsibilities while with the Zenith Bank included Non-Executive Director, Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) from 2008 and Director, Nigerian Interbank Settlement Systems (NIBBS) from 2009, Non-Executive Director, Zenith Bank, United Kingdom; Zenith Bank – Gambia; Zenith Bank – Sierra Leone; Zenith Insurance; Zenith Pensions and Custodian; Zenith Securities; Zenith Trustees and Zenith Registrars.

An alumnus of, France, Columbia Business School, USA, the Wharton Business School, USA and the London Business School, he is also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, Fellow of the Institute of Financial Management.

It is also worthy to note that with over 23 years cognate experience in financial services garnered from price water house coopers , Diamond Bank and Zenith Bank, he is authorized by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to carry out financial services in the United Kingdom. This is a great factor.

Drawback

Udom’s chances may be hurt by the grievances arising from the PDP primaries where 22 other governorship aspirants are alleging foul-play and doctoring of delegates’ list. They petitioned the PDP national leadership and went to court to obtain an order stopping the submission of Udom’s name as Akwa Ibom PDP governorship candidate.

However, Udom has got the order vacated.   Besides, some youth groups in the state have threatened mass defection from the ruling PDP if Udom’s nomination as the PDP candidate in the 2015 governorship race, is upturned.

Last Tuesday, about 100,000 youths met in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital and called on the PDP leadership not to tamper with the mandate freely given to Udom Emmanuel in a contest widely acknowledged and adjudged as credible, free and fair.

Speaking through their leader Mr. Moses Armstrong, the youths threatened to defect and campaign for opposition political parties in the state if the mandate given to Mr. Emmanuel by over 90 per cent of the delegates is annulled.

Meanwhile, there is a disagreement among the group of aggrieved 22 governorship aspirants (G22) because of mutual suspicion concerning a strange agenda of few vocal members of the group.The Presidency reportedly stepped in to assuage the discontent created by the outcome of the PDP primaries which the 22 aspirants rejected.

Following the presidency peace move, 17 members of the aggrieved group were said to have agreed to sheathe their sword and work with Udom Emmanuel rather than defect to the opposition APC.

This is coming as Women group, the NkaUfonIban threatened to protest half-naked if Udom is denied the ticket.The leader of the group, Obongawan Arit Inyang disclosed this while addressing the group in an emergency meeting which took place in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State recently. The women group is said to have about 310,000 members which cut across the state.

It is to be seen if these coalition of forces and factors will see Udom through.Umana Okon UmanaUmana boasts of a rich academic and work experience. He left secondary school with a distinction and graduating as the best student of St. Patrick’s College, Calabar (1976).

He won the University of Calabar Foundation Scholarship in 1980, graduating with a prestigious Second Class Upper in B.sc. in Economics. Among other qualifications, he had MBA in Finance from the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State; Senior Executive Programme at London Business School (2009); Columbia Senior Executive Programme at Columbia Business School, Columbia University Graduate School of Business, New York (2002); Modernising Government at RIPA International, London (Nov. 2001) as well as Budgeting for Efficient Economic Management at National Centre for Economic Management & Administration (June, 1992).His rich career experience began as an Industrial Attache at Champion Breweries (July to October, 1978); Research Assistant at the University of Calabar (1979) Lecturer, School of Basic Studies, Akamkpa in Cross River State (1981 to 1987); and Principal Budget Officer, Akwa Ibom State (1989), State Director of Budget and Permanent Secretary in charge of Budget Office (2000).

Umana served various administrative panels of enquiry including: member, Administrative Panel of Enquiry into management of Akwa Ibom State Property & Investment Ltd; Chairman, Inter-Ministerial Committee on Direct Labour Jobs; Chairman, Inter-Ministerial Committee on Micro-Credit; Chairman, Steering Committee of Akwa Ibom State & World Bank Community-Based Urban Development Project); and Chairman, State Programme Coordinating Committee (SPCC) of United Nations Development Programme. Politically, he was variously, Administrative Secretary of Social Democratic Party (SDP) for Ikono Local Government Area in 1990; Supervisory Electoral Officer for Etinan Local Government Area during the 1996 Local Government zero-party elections; Akwa Ibom State Honourable Commissioner, Ministry of Finance, during the second term of Governor Victor Attah (2003-2007); and Secretary to State Government (2007-2013).

Umana fell out with Akpabio over allegations that the governor does not want him to become governor, a reason the APC candidate rejected the offer of managing director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), which Akpabio got for him.Opposed to what he deemed as Akpabio’s ploy to impose Udom as his successor, Umana has been in the league of some Akwa Ibom leaders, who are against power shift to Eket.

He started the opposition in PDP but when the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) endorsed power shift to Eket he defected to the APC and won the party’s ticket.He believes that the best candidate, irrespective of his senatorial zone should be elected as governor of the state 2015. On this score, he believes he is the best and this belief will be tested in the February elections.