Akwa Ibom Labour candidate names campaign spokesperson for 2027 race
Labour Party governorship candidate Michael Bush has appointed estate surveyor Udofa Assam as spokesperson for his 2027 Akwa Ibom campaign. Assam’s elder brother is associated with Governor Umo Eno, creating a political family connection that the new spokesperson says will not produce a conflict.
The Labour Party’s governorship candidate in Akwa Ibom, Michael Bush, has appointed estate surveyor and valuer Udofa Assam as spokesperson for his 2027 campaign. Bush announced the appointment during a Facebook Live broadcast on Sunday. Assam is from Eket Local Government Area of the state.
His elder brother, Assam Assam, is a former Nigerian ambassador to Russia and an associate of Governor Umo Eno. He served as director-general of Eno’s 2023 governorship campaign and remains known at state functions as the Director-General of Government Business. The appointment therefore places Bush’s campaign spokesperson in a family with a direct connection to the incumbent governor’s previous campaign.
Assam, however, rejected the suggestion that this presented a conflict of interest. He told PREMIUM TIMES that his brother was serving the state while he would serve it on a different political platform. He cited political relationships between members of the Akpabio family as an example of relatives belonging to different parties.
Assam described the appointment as a challenge requiring fresh ideas. He said Akwa Ibom needed to move forward and criticised what he called the recycling of people without new ideas. Bush previously supported Eno’s 2023 governorship campaign while both were associated with the PDP.
Their relationship later deteriorated after Eno defected to the APC in 2025. Bush subsequently left the PDP, joined Labour and won its governorship primary in May.
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