By | DANIEL ETOKIDEM
Barely 48 hours after the National Assembly passed the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026 and less than 24 hours after President Tinubu assented to the Bill, the battle to return Pastor Umo Eno to the Hilltop Mansion as Governor of Akwa Ibom State has shifted to the 31 LGAs, as the Arise With Renewed Hope Initiative leads the way in grassroots mobilization, voter education and advocacy ahead of the 2027 Governorship election, propelling political stakeholders to return to the drawing board and restrategise on how best to mobilize voters in the rural communities, villages and Wards ahead of the polls, writes Daniel Etokidem.
The stage is set. The die is cast. The countdown clock has begun. With the presidential assent to the Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2026, the legal and constitutional framework to regulate the conduct of next year’s general election has been acquired.
With the 1st and 2nd reading of the Electoral Act Bill, Public Hearing, 3rd reading, Passage and Assent over, all eyes are now on INEC as stakeholders await the electoral body to come up with a new timetable to guide political actors and parties on the way forward.
In Akwa Ibom State, the Arise With Renewed Hope Initiative, the primary campaign vehicle to midwife the reelection bid of President Bola Tinubu, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and Governor Umo Eno has kicked off its tour of the 31 LGAs, a mobilization strategy that has triggered a healthy competition among the local governments on who will overtake who and deliver the highest number of votes for the Governor in 2027.
The stakes are high. The bar has been raised. In 2023, the 31 LGAs could only muster 354,348 votes for Governor Umo Eno, but analysts believe anything less than a million votes in 2027 will be a betrayal and disservice.
How the 31 LGA’s Voted for Pastor Umo Eno in 2023
1st: Uyo- 25,149
2nd: Eket- 20,658
3rd: Nsit Ubium- 19,359
4th: Oruk Anam- 16,381
5th: Onna- 15,910
6th: Etinan- 15,439
7th: Ibesikpo Asutan- 15,334
8th: Ikot Ekpene- 14,495
9th: Mkpat Enin- 14,240
10th: Essien Udim- 13,754
11th: Ikot Abasi- 13,559
12th: Abak- 12,840
13th: Uruan- 12,740
14th: Nsit Ibom- 11,560
15th: Ukanafun- 11,348
16th: Ikono- 11,343
17th: Itu- 10,950
18th: Obot Akara- 10,884
19th: Ini- 10,058
20th: Nsit Atai- 9,938
21st: Esit Eket- 9,549
22nd: Etim Ekpo- 7,383
23rd: Okobo- 7,260
24th: Ibiono Ibom- 7,066
25th: Mbo- 6,635
26th: Oron- 6,295
27th: Ibeno- 5,626
28th: Eastern Obolo- 5,180
29th: Urue Offong/Oruko- 5,088
30th: Ika- 4,361
31st: Udung Uko- 3,959
Total: 354,348
How the ARISE Agenda has fueled increased Citizens’ Participation in Governance in the rural communities of Akwa Ibom State
Since coming into office in 2023, Governor Umo Eno has made expanding the frontiers of development in the rural communities of the state a conscious, systematic and intentional directive principle of state policy under his ARISE Agenda.
He started with the novel yet disruptive concept of appointing Personal Assistants, PA’s in all the Wards of the State. Then came the concept of One-Project-Per-Local Government Area, nominated by the stakeholders of each local government themselves. The Octobet 2024 Local Government election also saw the local communities and stakeholders influencing and nominating who they want as Chairmen, Councilors and Supervisors.
Pastor Umo Eno’s rural development idea mirrors Tocqueville’s philosophy that democracy works best when it proceeds from the bottom up rather than from the top down.
To Governor Umo Eno, stable and sustainable democracy cannot come into being without the existence of wise, honest and effective statesmen at the grassroots who understand the art of politics and are able to convert the underlying inclination of their people into durable political institutions.
His premise is anchored on the ideology that only in societies where leaders are unifiers rather than partisans, mobilisers rather than alienators and men and women of high moral principles and values rather than latter day Michaevelli, will the prospects of sustainable democracy at the grassroots be high and thriving.
So far development at the local government level has accelerated since 2023 at a pace and tempo that is uniquely unprecedented in the history of the state all in a conerted effort to halt and reverse the past trend where local government institutions rather than being in the hands of the local people and their grassroots and community-based organizations and rather than being adapted to their political, social, cultural and economic environment, drawing strength from grassroots institutions in the locality and thus becoming the symbiosis of the traditional and modern systems were under the control of party strongmen.
This has resulted in an increased awareness and political consciousness of the local people with the prospects of better or increased voter advocacy and participation.
Conclusion
As the International Executive Committee of the Arise with Renewed Hope Initiative commences the inauguration of Local Government Chapter Executives from Thursday, February 19, 2026 to Sunday, March 22, 2026, it is hoped that the exercise will lead to better grassroots mobilization, incresed voter sensitization and participation and a reduction in voter apathy leading to massive victory for Governor Umo Eno and the APC in 2027.
Having pulled 354,348 votes in 2023, analysts predict these numbers are bound to triple come 2027 as anything below a million vote for the Governor may question the efficacy of the professed loyalty and solidarity of all stakeholders.
(C) Daniel Etokidem, a Political Communication Expert and Special Assistant to the Akwa Ibom State Governor on Media, writes from Uyo.
