The Lumine News

Category: Opinion

  • C’River PDP Crisis: Eko Atu Calls On Ayade To Unite The Party

    C’River PDP Crisis: Eko Atu Calls On Ayade To Unite The Party

    Excepts From Eko Atu’s Facebook Wall

    Let calm prevail.

    I have watched with interest the unfolding events in the politics of Cross River State in the last couple of months.

    First was the intense fighting within the APC as to who the real chairman of the party in the state was. This dragged on well into the last general elections leading to the two factions holding separate congresses and submitting different names of candidates for the elections.

    The matter dragged on and unfortunately one of the claimant to the position of chairman, Dr. Matthew Achigbe died in a ghastly motor accident. May his soul rest in peace.

    The courts I learnt recently delivered judgement in favour of John Ochalla who belonged to the Achigbe faction as the authentic state chairman with a fine imposed against the Etim John faction.

    This needless attrition caused the party a vital opportunity of making inroads into Cross River State, except in the Abi/Yakurr federal constituency where Alex Egbona won.

    One would have expected that the APC being the government at the centre and had all the federal appointments and might would have made a good showing. But it was never to be. One lesson is that all politics is local and the APC brand was alien to the people.

    The infighting within the party made the electorates confused as to who exactly they were going to vote for.

    The PDP on the other hand being the government in power at the state level had it’s own fair share of the problems.

    Through stick and carrot approach, the party was able to silence the rebellion within it and went into the elections. However, it suffered a devastating blow in the Abi/Yakurr federal constituency where everybody acknowledged as it’s stronghold given the person of HE Liyel Imoke.

    That lose was a signal that all wasn’t well within the party at the local and state level.

    It was a warning sign that the once cohesive party was showing signs of disintegration.

    Then came the last “congresses” for the selection of candidates for councillorship and chairmanship positions.

    Critical stakeholders and party members were completely left in the dark while names were being compiled for councillorship and chairmanship positions.

    It was who was closet to power that got nominated. In some wards and local governments rotation was jettison.

    Today some aggrieved members of the party are in court challenging the outcomes of that excercises. The courts are yet to decide and from the look of things, the local government elections might be imperilled.

    The dust from the selection process for the local government elections had hardly died down when the wards and local government congresses for the party’s position came up.

    Same strategy of impunity of lack of consultations again reared its head, but while the local government elections selection process was hurtful to some “lesser” men and women; the control of the party structures at ward, LGA and State level wasn’t going to be taken for granted; because the gladiators here were the la crème de la crème of the party.

    And their fears were justified. If they weren’t consulted during the “selection” processes for the local government elections and up to the congresses for ward, LGA elections; what will be their fate going forward in their political career.

    So while names were being compiled for the various offices across the state, other critical stakeholders took the excecise to the party at the grassroots allowing them their choice as to who becomes what.

    The NWC released the list of those congresses across the country including that of CRS after a critical evaluation of the reports of the various committees set up for the wards and local governments chapters.

    That list has rattled some key section of the party leading to forging a new list different from the original list addressed to the critical persons of the party hierarchy.

    The Excos of the wards and LG had already being inuagurated. The party had further disclaimed the “new” declaring it as forged as can be verified from the official PDP Twitter handle and website.

    It is sad that a party that was once cohesive and strong is showing signs of weakeness because of lack of inclusiveness and impunity.

    H E is the leader of the party in the state. That nobody is contesting. DD and Liyel Imoke were all leaders of the party as governors. That’s the tradition of the party.

    But as leader of the party, HE Ben Ayade should know better how things are done within the PDP family. He has been a Senator under the PDP and knows how decisions were taken including some that he was a beneficiary.

    Decisions within the PDP family are taken after much consultations and horse trading.

    Such decisions in some cases don’t go down well with a few persons or interest groups, but people are allowed to make their inputs. So even if the few do not agree, which is usual; such few are assured of their protection and reward.

    But a situation where past leaders and critical stakeholders of the party including sitting members of the state and national assemblies are shut out of the decision making process, bad blood is bound to develop.

    Attempts to retire and make non relevant members of the party who have toiled, held positions and built followership will create anger and rebellion.

    This is the time for our Leader HE Senator Ben Ayade to call his children together. Find out from them those things they disapprove of and how they would wish the party to be run or refocused.

    Certainly nobody will dictate to HE how to run his government, but government is not party. When it gets to party affairs, consultations of critical stakeholders and members is key to having a cohesive strong and healthy organisation.

    When a deliberate effort is made to shut out old hands within the party in an effort to create a new “structure” you run the risk of not having people who know the history of the evolution of the party and how things are done.

    Check the headship of the PDP right from the late revered Rev. Ikobi and tell me if the quality of leadership we have today can remember how PDP berthed in the state.

    So when people are “selected” without regard to their knowledge of the organisation they are meant to run, the tendency is rather than build on the successes of that organisation; they destroy it.

    The ball is in HE’s court to unite the party, how he will do that is what I don’t know; because when you descend into the arena you become muddied and can’t see clearly.

    Some including the outgoing Exco will agree with me that the party has been comatose since they took over.

    We need to re-energise this party. It is more in HE’s interest as the Leader because any misstep will have a collateral damage on all of us, but more on the LEADER.

     

     

    Note: The views expressed here are that of Eko Atu and does not represent THELUMINENEWS.

  • I Thought About Mercy Nku When I Heard Two Ayade Appointees Fought In Public

    I Thought About Mercy Nku When I Heard Two Ayade Appointees Fought In Public

    By Agba Jalingo – Lagos

    Since I heard about the koboko flogging, slapping and tearing of shirt incident between the Cross River state Commissioner for Sports and Cinematography, Chief Ofu Aya and the Chairman of the state Sports Commission, Emmanuel Elom, over office space, I have not been laughing over the matter.

    I was first reminded of the same frosty relationship between the immediate past holders of those same offices, Commissioner Asu Okang, who is now Information Commissioner and Hon. Orok Duke who is now the Special Adviser, Callywood. It is sheer dereliction for Governor Ayade to allow the infighting that bedeviled the Ministry and the Commission in his first term and stymied the growth of sports in the State to continue in his second term.

    I don’t want to go into how much our State lost because that is a whole new discussion. But I have been researching wide to ascertain what these two adults fighting in public over office space, have done in sports 1or are capable of offering Cross River sports development. Arguably, the results returning show clearly that they both are not only recycled in government, they also do not have any track record beffiting of the robes they are now adorned in. But in Ayade’s government, appointees don’t need to fit into anything other than the whims and caprices of those who generate the names of the “food-on-the-table” appointees. That’s all you need. Just lack food on your table and you will land an appointment on your lab.

    In my deep thought, I also wished we had a more serious governor who is interested in poaching people who genuinely have the capacity to contribute to developing our state.

    Cross River has consistently produced some of Nigeria’s best athletes both at the national and international stage until governor Ayade showed up. The State prided itself in competitive LG sports developmental programs that produced national stars but all that is just in the letters now as you are reading.

    For instance, Boki LGA born former Olympian and two time All African Games Gold Medalist, Mercy Nku was a product of those LGA competitions. Like several other Cross River athletes who emerged from those sporting events, Mercy Nku hit the tracks early, running in several junior competitions for the schools she attended in Cross River, and in many other competitions staged by the then Cross River Sports Council for young athletes in the local council areas of the state.

    Nku while recalling those days, had told journalists in an interview during her running days that “teachers in those days had a great influence on pupils. I started running early but not because I preferred to do so. During the inter-house sports competitions, 90 per cent of the events were on the tracks and because our teachers wanted us all to participate, most of us ended up picking a career in athletics. I was doing well and grew up to be discovered by national coaches during one of the competitions ORGANIZED BY THE STATE. In Cross River State, we had local government competitions that prepared us for the limelight.”

    In 1999, she made her big burst onto the scene, winning two gold medals for Nigeria in the All Africa Games in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1999 and also set the games records of 11.03 seconds in the 100meters race. It was an achievement that Nigeria celebrated as athletics fans got a relief that a replacement for the then ageing stars was fast evolving.

    But as fate will have it, Mercy added that:

    “My regret is that I was forced to retire too early from the track. I didn’t run to the level I had wanted because there was so much distraction. There was no support and I don’t mean financial aid. At a point I was just there floating without anyone to call for support or encouragement. There were so many enemies around me and whatever I did, they turned it against me. I was left alone, hated and unwanted. They saw me as a controversial person because I was always saying the truth about Nigerian athletics. Nobody wanted to listen to me. So I was forced to leave. But now, I feel happy and satisfied that I did my best as far as I could.”

    That support eventually came from Governor Imoke who later gave her a scholarship to study in Canada. I thought about her when I heard that those two adults where fighting in public along with their thugs and gangsters. I thought about Mercy and several other heroes who have won so many things for Cross River, particularly in the tracks and fields and rings. When I heard that these supposedly honorable men turned to urchins and decimated their dignity in public, I wished people like Mercy will have been given the chance to replicate that system that brought her up and give other children in Buanchor, Ukorshie, Effraya, Okoyong, the opportunity to burst into the national scene again. I even thought that those who behave like motor park touts will be shown the way to the garage where they belong, then I remembered it is Ayade’s government where no appointee ever gets punished for misbehaving. Yes, I thought about all that and even more!

    Thank you.

    *Yours sincerely,*
    *Citizen Agba Jalingo*

    #1125DaysToGo
    #HoldLeadersAccountable
    #CrossRiverHasTalent

  • NWC’s Decision on Cross River PDP ward and Local Government Congress is Victory Against One Man Dictatorship

    NWC’s Decision on Cross River PDP ward and Local Government Congress is Victory Against One Man Dictatorship

     

    By James Utsu

    The decision of the National Secretariat of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) to recognise the outcomes of the Ward and Local Government Chapter Congresses of the party in Cross River State held on March 7, 2020 and March 21, 2020 is a welcome development and quite commendable.

    By taking that firm and bold decision, the national leadership of the PDP has ensured the restoration of justice, fair play and equity in the fabric of the party in the state.

    Feelers from members of the PDP in the state indicate that the bold decision of the national leadership of our great party came at the right time and has saved it from monumental disaster of unimaginable proportion that would have befallen it, if they had allowed the rule of one man to prevail.

    Worth nothing is the fact that the decision of the party on the outcomes of the ward and local government chapter congresses tallies with the feelings and aspiration of founding members of the PDP, most of whom have been alienated from its activities in recent years.

    The PDP national leadership deserves commendation for taking such a laudable decision that has restored the confidence of members in PDP in the state, some of whom had prayed for a just intervention to save the party in the state from collapse.

    Since the posting of the list of the ward and local government chapter excos, as announced by the party’s National Organising Secretary, Col. Austin Akobundu (retired), members of the PDP in the state have been reinvigorated and are bracing up for a free, fair, and democratic state congress, which hopefully, will take place once the nation battles the current Coronavirus pandemic to acceptable level of success.

    Though, a handful of members of the party in the state who had thought that it would be business as usual are not happy because one man dictatorship has failed, they are advised to accept the decision of the national secretariat in good faith and join hands with the newly elected exco members of the 196 wards and 18 local government chapters to ensure the PDP continues to remain the strongest grassroots party in Cross River State.

    As contained in the letter communicating the decision of the national secretariat on the ward and local government chapter congresses, it is incumbent on the state chairman of the PDP, Chief Enok Edim to swear in the newly elected chapter exco with immediate effect as directed by the national working committee.

    Since the decision of the national secretariat on the matter became public knowledge, rumours have continued to make the rounds that some members of the party from the state have been lobbying the national secretariat to change their decision, and instead announce a new list of ward and local government chapter exco that would be in their favour.
    This move should be ignored by the national secretariat because these individuals desire to continue to alienate majority of staunch members from the activities of members.

    Your current decision on the new chapter is a blessing to the PDP in Cross River State.