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 holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Lagos in 1988. Gabriel contested for the office of governor in the April 2015 elections on the platform of the Peoples Democractic Party and was reelected as the Governor of Akwa Ibom on 29 May, 2019