2019 election: The political miscalculation of Udom Emmanuel

Akwa Ibom PDP delivered the state at the national election. Atiku claimed to have won in Akwa Ibom, but the victory has turned out to be hollow.

Because now the state government has another battle to fight - the battle for its very own survival. And this battle is turning out to be far, far tougher than the Udom Emmanuel led Government expected.

The tag-team of Nsima Ekere and Godswill Akpabio were able to deliver Akwa Ibom to Buhari, achieving 175,000 votes in spite of widespread rigging by the State Government. Most observers believe that the APC won in the state - but collusion between the INEC REC and the State Government resulted in a different result being announced after the election. In spite of that, the APC was able to pull down the 953,000 votes PDP got in Akwa Ibom back in 2015 to just 395,000 votes - a fatal blow to the presidential ambitions of Atiku.

The state government however severely miscalculated - they believed that Akwa Ibom could deliver more than a million votes to Atiku. They believed strongly, that PDP would win on the national level, thereby paving the way for an easy return to Government on the state level.

Their calculation was wrong. While APC got what they were looking for in the state, PDP threw an excessive amount of effort into the battle. They spent most of their money on the first election, believing they would need less on the second. They also brought in all the tricks of the game, all of which are now known to all parties contesting.

APC held back in the first election, letting the natural anger of the people against the slow-moving PDP, as well as the popularity of the candidates bring them votes. So while the PDP is spent and exhausted, the APC is just getting started - and this time with national force behind its back.

Already, sources inform that PDP stakeholders have started reaching out to the APC team, hoping for a soft-landing.

The political naivety of the fresh technocrat turned politician Udom Emmanuel, has shown itself to be no match for the politically experienced Akpabio and Ekere.

Considering the large amounts Udom spent, let us hope that the Banker turned Governor will not have a lot of explaining to do about what the source of this money is, as soon as his Governorship immunity expires.

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