CROSS RIVER APC ATTACK ON NIGERIAN MILITARY AND ITS WILD GOOSE CHASE
On Thursday, March 2, 2023, the Cross River All Progressives Congress (APC) held a press conference and rejected the defeat of Governor Ben Ayade and the party’s candidate for northern senatorial election by the opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).
Sen. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe (PDP) polled 76,145 votes to defeat Governor Ben Ayade (APC), who scored 56, 595 votes. Jarigbe polled the highest number of votes cast in four of the five local government areas that make up the zone.
At the press conference, APC chairman, Alphonsus Eba, Esq, openly accused the military of connivance, undue harassment and intimidation of electorate at the Presidential and National Assembly Elections (NASS) held across Northern senatorial district on Saturday, February 25, 2023 and robbed the party of victory.
Eba did not end there, he poured vituperations at the military, saying “they deployed armoured tanks through the aide of some of their sons, particularly in Ugaga community, and got us intimidated. He called for the trial and court marshaling of those who deployed soldiers for violating section 68 of Electoral Act.”
From the above statement, it is crystal clear that Eba is on a wild goose chase because Jarigbe won the election clean and square. Pointing accusing fingers at the military as being responsible for the abysmal outing of Ayade in the last NASS election has demonstrated his level of duplicitousness.
His incoherent accounts of what transpired at the election and how his principal and benefactor lost with a whopping 19, 550 votes to Sen. Jarigbe sounds like a drowning man looking for any object to hold on to just to survive.
May be, APC and Eba had some sinister motives and clandestine strategies ahead of the election only to wake like a fish doped out of water to see military all over strategic locations checking and parading flash points in a very civilized and professional manner. This, Eba could not stomach because he was caught napping on seeing smartly-dressed and stern-looking young soldiers ready to take on anybody who dares to disrupt the Presidential and NASS elections in the north.
Those who voted in the north would be quick to tell you that the election was model for a study on how to defeat demagogue in power.
Interactions with some voters, who had a brush with death during the last Ogoja/Yala federal constituency by-election showed that they were relaxed, not afraid to cast their votes for their preferred candidates and confident that their votes would count simply because the security was guaranteed.
And truly, their votes counted for Sen. Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, Peter Akpanke and Godwin Offionio, their preferred candidates. Thus, the lamentations and subsequent blaming the military for his woeful outing in the north, where he saw as APC fortress.
Eba’s wondering why tight security in the north, especially has shown him as a man has lost his sense of history by forgetting the traumatic experiences and human indignities his kinsmen and women have been subjected to in his and Ayade’s since the tussle to replace late Sen. Rose Oko started in 2020.
Eba has quickly forgotten how Ayade deployed policemen, tear-gassed his people and shut out some delegates at the PDP senatorial primary election for Cross River north that produced Dr. Stephen Odey as purported winner. The election held at Ogoja local government council headquarters on October 5, 2020, was marred by violence leading to emeegence of two senatorial candidates for one seat.
Again the APC loquacious chairman has easily forgotten how he and Governor Ben Ayade used Operation Sting to sting voters during Ogoja/Yala federal constiuency by-election in February 27, 2022 to pummel voters and PDP supporters. It was a display of political brigandage, new form of election riging and show of raw power planned and executed using ‘operation sting’ unit from governor’s security back-up.
On that day between 3:00pm-7:00pm, two tinted coaster buses, Anti-kidnapping van and other unmarked vehicles loaded with masked security operatives in company of some cult boys stormed some polling units at Yala and Ogoja and hijacked BVAS, some electoral materials and presiding officers to an unknown destination.
After doctoring the results, Eba-led team still had the temerity to return the “cooked results” with the same squad to INEC collation centre at Ogoja and forced INEC officials to accept it and declared APC candidate winner of that rigged election. That was new brand of winning election with newly-introduced BVAS then.
Having won the by-election, Eba boasted to those who cared to listen that subsequent election would be worst and those who think they can stop a moving train would get crushed in 2023. And true to his boasting, three days to the general election, Ayade thugs led by one Tompolo unleashed mayhem on PDP chairman’s house and that of elder brother of Peter Akpanke’s and destroyed cars and property under the supervision of Obudu police command.
Besides, Akpanke, the PDP’s candidate for Obanliku/Obudu/Bekwarra federal constituency was declared wanted by Ayade’s for alleged murder all in a bid to intimidate and harass Obudu people from coming out to vote. Amid all these, Eba became deaf and dumb because to him, that is how politics should be played.
And when it was time to finally crush his people to victory, God who knows the heart of man answered ‘old Ogoja’ people prayers and behold the heavy military and police presence that made it impossible for Eba to repeat ‘operation sting’ methodology of cruising to east victory. The people rather laughed last and voted Eba’s and APC candidates out for reining insults on them, chastising them with scorpions and giving them stones instead of bread. The heavy security presence could not give him a space to perpetrate his evil machinations, leading to Ayade and his APC being trounced.
Eba’s resort for court after being trashed thoroughly by PDP unstoppable train in the north is the last kick of a dying horse. Observers have described Presidential and NASS elections in the north as free, fair and credible. Even Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has adjudged the election in the north as one of the most peaceful and orderly. Indeed, the emergence of the above candidates has changed power configuration in the north.
Of course, it is right of APC to seek redress in court, but one wonders what technicalities APC are going to lay claims to even when Eba and his kinsman, Dr, Steve Odey, perpetrated all sorts of electoral frauds in their Echumofana and Yache wards in Yala local government area just to see how their candidates could pull through.
Even in the presence of the military, PDP agents at Yache ward in Yala were allegedly kidnapped by APC stalwart until election was over. In the same Yache ward, the collation officer disappeared and resurfaced almost 20 hours after election ended with a ‘cooked result’ at Yala collation centre in Okpoma. The ‘cooked result’ was intercepted by PDP agents who raised the alarm. Eba himself was alleged to have harassed PDP supporters and some voters sympathetic to PDP candidates out of their poling units and now had a free day to boost his ward election result. Eba said nothing about these in his media briefing.
However, we wish to state categorically clear that PDP is not afraid of court. We are already assembling our legal team in readiness to challenge the charades that took place in the central and south in the name of elections. In the above-mentioned two senatorial districts, APC ran riot, intimidated voters, doctored results and employed thuggery to win elections in Yakurr, Abi, Boki, Obubra and Odukpani. Evidences abound where APC big shots were arrested for electoral malpractices. The videos and pictures are there for all to see.
To Eba, what transpired at central and south is real election and a demonstration of democracy, which he wanted to replicate in the north before the people stood against it with their blood.
We make bold to say that the military did a professional job in the north and we urge them to continue in the same spirit as we head into Governorship and House of Assembly elections. Anybody who has intention of coming again to rig out the people wish would be resisted. So we call on our party men and women, our supporters and entire electorate to come out en mass to cast their votes for PDP as it would definitely count.
God Bless Cross Riverians.
Price Mike Ojisi
State Publicity Secretary
