Nearly six months after defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno’s portraits and campaign billboards still adorn the headquarters of his former party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in Uyo.
Naijaonpoint reports that Governor Eno officially joined the APC on June 6, 2025, after resigning from the PDP in mid-October. However, Leadership reports that his presence remains visibly felt at the PDP’s expansive state secretariat.
Checks revealed that armed police operatives have remained stationed at the PDP secretariat to forestall further clashes between rival factions of the party.
A party chieftain, who spoke to Leadership, explained that the police were deployed after a faction led by Osagiefo Igwatt Umoren attempted to forcefully take over the secretariat from the duly elected chairman, Elder Aniekan Akpan.
“The policemen have been here since the factional PDP Exco led by Osagiefo Umoren attempted a civilian coup to force the elected chairman and officials out of office,” the source said.
The secretariat, once a symbol of PDP dominance in Akwa Ibom, has now become a centre of internal power tussles since Governor Eno’s defection.
The internal wrangling reportedly intensified after the former chairman, Elder Akpan, and other PDP executives received the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, who visited the state at the invitation of Governor Eno to commission the Ika–Azumini Road project.
Following that event, the PDP National Working Committee (NWC) dissolved the Akwa Ibom State Executive Council and installed Osagiefo Umoren as the new chairman.
However, the decision was immediately rejected by the party’s National Secretary, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, who insisted that the NWC had not held any formal sitting to approve such dissolution.
Akpan said, “Furthermore, we have it on good authority that the NWC did not convene any formal sitting to take such a decision.
“The National Secretary of the PDP, Senator Samuel Anyanwu, has issued a press release discountenancing such publications and affirming that no formal meeting was held to sanction the dissolution of our State Exco.”
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