Barely three months into his tenure as the Secretary to the Akwa Ibom State Government, Mr. Emmanuel Gabriel Udom has been hit by the stark reality of the game of politics.
The ex-Zenith Bank top shot and long-time business associate of Governor Godswill Akpabio, is being groomed to succeed his boss in 2015.
But this same boss showed Udom that his odyssey might not be an easy one, after all.
A few days back, the SSG had invited the 31 Local Government Chairmen of Akwa Ibom State over for a meeting in order to sell his agenda to them as leaders of the grassroots. And to ensure confidentiality and a relaxed atmosphere free from the prying eyes of political opponents, the Radisson Blu Hotel in Lagos was chosen as the venue for the august meeting.
Thus, by air and land, all the LG Chairmen filed into the agreed venue of the meeting to await the arrival of the convener. However, their wait was to become a prolonged endeavour as seconds turned into minutes and minutes into hours, and the convener of the meeting was nowhere to be found.
In the midst of the confusion, the SSG called the Chairmen and told them he couldn’t continue with the meeting.
The Local Chairmen were said to be very angry and disappointed at the shoddy treatment meted out to them by the SSG. Some complained loudly that in these days of air crashes here and there that the SSG had no business bringing them all the way to Lagos if he wasn’t sure of his plan.
A source who craves anonymity told us that it was the same Governor Godswill Akpabio who had earlier authorized the Lagos meeting that gave an order for the meeting to be cancelled. A confused Udom didn’t know how best to break the news considering the preparations and logistical challenges that had gone into preparing for the meeting.
Politicians are an unpredictable lot indeed. Welcome to the sphere of politics.
