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Power, how transient thou art! So has it become with Mr. Umana Okon Umana, the once powerful Secretary to the Government (SSG) of Akwa Ibom State, South-West Nigeria. Barely five days after he formally declared his ambition to contest the 2015 governorship position in the state, the man widely expected to succeed Governor Godswill Akpabio was today forced to resign after falling out with the man he helped install in 2007.

“Umana Umana is no longer part of the government. There was a rumbling between him an Governor Akpabio last week and he felt that Akpabio has betrayed him and stabbed him in the back. The quarrel culminated in his sudden resignation,” a source in Uyo, the Akwa IbomState capital, told News Express.

The source disclosed that Akpabio for unknown reasons developed cold feet about Umana succeeding him and decided to send him on political exile by nominating him as the next Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). Umana, however, rejected the nomination and dared Akpabio by declaring his governorship ambition last Wednesday. It is not yet clear if he would still pursue his ambition on the platform of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

A former polytechnic teacher, Umana joined government as principal, Budget Department, Governor's Office, Uyo, in 1989. He became director of budget, 1998; and permanent secretary, Budget Office, 2000-2003. He was appointed commissioner for finance, 2003-2007; Secretary to the State Government of Akwa Ibom in 2007, and was reappointed by Akpabio in 2011.

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