ARISE agenda: If I want to be a governor- Series 001

By Solomon Essiet

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive.” — Dalai Lama

I grew up learning the meaning of compassion from my Sunday School days, especially through the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25–37.

We were taught how a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by robbers, beaten, and left half dead by the roadside. The Bible says a priest and a Levite, men who were expected to show mercy, passed by on the other side without helping him.

Then came a Samaritan, a man from a group despised by the injured man’s own people. Yet he was the one who had compassion.

He stopped, treated the man’s wounds with oil and wine, took him to an inn, and paid for his care. According to our Lord Jesus Christ, that is the true meaning of being a neighbour.

In the course of my life, I have seen many acts of kindness and compassion. I truly thought I had seen it all until I came to know Pastor Umo Bassey Eno, PhD, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, who is, without doubt, a man of uncommon compassion.

This is not about compassion in words alone, but compassion shown through action. Governor Umo Eno is compassionate both in speech and in deed.

Sadly, many Akwa Ibom people almost threw away the baby with the bathwater when he first sought to become governor. He was hardly given a chance to prove himself. We heard all kinds of stories from different people and sources, painting him as a wicked man. Some even claimed he was stingy and that he deducted tithes from his employees.

Little did many know that much of this was part of a campaign of calumny designed to ensure that he never stood a chance of contesting the governorship election, let alone winning it.

But thank God for Mr. Udom Gabriel Emmanuel, the immediate past Governor of Akwa Ibom State and his political father, who stood firmly by him against all odds, declaring him his Option A, B, and C.

That was how God disappointed the devices of the crafty, so that their hands could not carry out their enterprise, as written in Job 5:12. In due time, with the Golden Boy mantra conceived by his late wife, Pastor Mrs. Patience Umo Eno, and with the support of good people around him, everything turned around for good.

Today, Pastor Umo Eno is not just the Governor of Akwa Ibom State. He is also an award-winning and high-performing governor whose leadership continues to attract recognition across the country. Truly, this is the Lord’s doing.

Since being sworn into office on May 29, 2023, as Governor of Akwa Ibom State, he has led the state with compassion and genuine love for the people. Many of those who once accused him later turned around to seek his forgiveness, admitting that they had misled the public.

And indeed, God turned the captivity of Zion again, as we read in Psalm 126:1–2. The compassionate nature of Governor Eno is not only visible to those who can see, but it is also deeply felt by those who cannot. The examples are many. This is not an article written to flatter anyone. It is written to highlight a style of leadership that is firmly rooted in compassion.

One of the clearest proofs that Governor Eno was sent at such a time as this to show compassion to the people of Akwa Ibom is the housing scheme he announced across the 369 political wards in the state.

He gave it a fitting name: Arise Compassionate Homes. These are homes built for the poorest of the poor in our communities. It is perhaps the only government programme the rich do not contest, because nobody prays to be in the condition that qualifies one for such support.

Yet that is exactly what has made the initiative one of the most impactful and successful projects undertaken by any governor in Akwa Ibom State, and indeed in Nigeria.

To date, 355 Arise Compassionate Homes have been completed and handed over to vulnerable persons in communities across the state. And it is not just about handing over a house. Each beneficiary also receives ₦500,000 to start a business that can sustain them. In many cases, political stakeholders in the various wards even contribute additional cash support in response to the governor’s generosity.

This is one of the things that sets Governor Eno apart. It is also no surprise that he was named Governor of the Year in 2024 and 2025 by Leadership Newspaper, Telegraph Newspaper, and Arise TV. Such recognition did not come by accident.

Now, according to the governor himself, the number is set to rise further. About 500 units of Arise Compassionate Homes are expected to be constructed and delivered before the end of his first term in office.

That means he is already going beyond the original target of 369, a plan many once dismissed as impossible when he first announced it. Yet today, he is not only fulfilling that promise, but moving well beyond it. How else should we judge a governor who has already surpassed one of his major campaign promises within just three years in office?

Through this same compassionate approach to governance, Governor Eno has built Model Schools across all 31 local government areas of the state, along with Model Healthcare Centres in all the local government areas.

He is also building youth-friendly centres across the 31 local government areas, with 14 currently under construction. In a remarkable departure from the usual style of governance, he appointed personal assistants across all the political wards in the state, further deepening grassroots inclusion.

More recently, the governor approved the construction of mini water projects across the 369 wards of Akwa Ibom State. This is yet another testimony to his inclusive leadership style, one rooted in love, compassion, empathy, and practical service.

He has also paid ₦82 billion toward the backlog of gratuities he inherited in the state. That too is compassion in action, quietly but effectively demonstrated by a governor who also happens to be a pastor, raised for leadership in a time like this.

During the Akwa Ibom Unity Concert of 2025, Governor Eno again showed the kind of compassion that words struggle to capture. After an emotional performance by Chris Vic, a blind singer, the governor spontaneously donated a ₦100 million music studio, a house, and a monthly salary of over ₦1 million to him, without any prior meeting or formal arrangement. It was a moment that spoke volumes. It remains one of the most touching public acts of compassion by any governor in Nigeria today.

If I want to be a governor, just like Governor Umo Eno, I will lead with compassion. I will lead with empathy. I will lead with love. Let love and compassion lead.

Arise, and let that same God reign.

Essiet, ACIA, Special Assistant on New Media to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State