Udom Gabriel Emmanuel was born on July 11, 1966, into the family of Ette Teacher Gabriel Emmanuel Nkenang, a native of Awa Iman in Onna Local Government, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He rose from being a Sunday school leader at United Evangelical Church to become a bank director. Emmanuel and his family are strong members of United Evangelical Church, Nigeria. Emmanuel served as an audit manager of Price Waterhouse Coopers. He is an associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria. He served as chief financial officer of Zenith Bank Plc. Emmanuel also served as group head of Income Optimization, Financial Control & Strategic Planning Department at Zenith Bank. He served as general manager of Zenith Bank Plc. He joined Zenith in 1996 from Diamond Bank Limited and was the pioneer manager of its Lagos Central Branch. He was in charge of the Telecommunications Sector, Income Optimization and Financial & Strategic Planning Group of Zenith Bank Plc. He has over seventeen years financial services experience. He served as an executive director of Zenith Bank Plc. He is a Chartered Accountant and he trained with Price Water house Coopers. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management. He has attended the Advanced Management Programme at INSEAD, France. Udom holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Lagos in 1988.
Education
Emmanuel holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Lagos in 1988. He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management. He has attended the Advanced Management Program at INSEAD, France. He attended School of Arts and Science, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State and obtained Advanced Certificate of Basic Studies and Higher School Certificate Udom attended Secondary Commercial School, Ikot Akpan Ishiet, Onna LGA of Akwa Ibom State.
Family and personal life
Emmanuel is married to Martha Udom Emmanuel. Udom Emmanuel's father, Ette Teacher Gabriel Emmanuel Nkenang, was a native of Awa Iman in Onna Local Government, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Mr. G. E. Nkanang was an educator, a Head Master and teacher. The Udom's are Christians. Udom Emmanuel is a serving Deacon and they are altogether very active in the faith. He is a Christian of the United Evangelical Church faith.
Appointments and politics
In July 2013, Emmanuel was appointed secretary to the State Government of Akwa Ibom State. In 2014, Emmanuel contested for the governorship of Akwa Ibom State in a primary election and defeated 22 other aspirants to emerge the candidate of the Akwa Ibom State People's Democratic Party. In 2015, Emmanuel was elected Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. He contested under the platform of the People's Democratic Party, he won with 999,071 votes to defeat APC's candidate Umana Okon Umana who scored 89,865 votes of the All Progressive Congress and was declared elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission. In the March 9, 2019 Akwa Ibom state gubernatorial election, Emmanuel was re-elected as Governor of Akwa Ibom State defeating 44 other candidates in the election. He polled 519,712 votes as against that of his closest rival Nsima Ekere of the All Progressive Congress party who had 171,978 votes.
