The Lumine News

Tag: #APC

  • Obudu Urban Ward 1 APC Chairman Dumps Party, Obtains PDP Membership Card

     

    The Chairman of the All Progressive Congress APC in Obudu Urban Ward 1, Mr Godwin Ugbe, has resigned his membership from the party and as Chairman of the party in the ward.

    In the resignation letter made available to TheLumineNews, and addressed to the Chapter Chairman of the APC Obudu Chapter, Mr Ugbe noted that “I wish to use this medium to thank you and your party (APC) for the opportunity given to me to serve as the ward chairman of Urban ward 1 APC, as the experience I have gathered over time cannot be quantified.

    “Consequently, I wish to notify you of my resignation as member and ward chairman from your party (APC), with effect from today 10th January, 2024.

    “My reason for this action is personal without any grudges as I wish you and your party a very fulfilling year ahead”.

    The former ward chairman was seen with the membership card of the PDP

    But sources close to the former APC ward chairman hinted that his resignation is connected to the fracas he had with the Chapter Chairman of the APC.

    The chapter Chairman of APC had set up a committee to investigate an alleged misconduct of the former ward chairman.

    In the report slighted by TheLumineNews, the committee acted in gross violation of the constitution and usurped the powers of the Local Government Working Committee LGWC, to suspend the former ward Chairman.

    Reacting to the development, the former ward Chairman, alleged that the Chapter Chairman of APC, Mr Alpha Ublibli, informed him that the Commissioner for Sports Development, Hon Agnes Atsu, had instructed that he should be removed.

    Mr Ugbe noted that “since the commissioner is the leader of APC in my ward, I won’t be able to contend with her, the best thing is for me is to resign my position and membership of their party.

    “As I speak with you, I have left them. I registered in PDP yesterday and obtained my membership card. The PDP family in Urban Ward 1 will receive me today”.

  • Court Of Appeal Sacks Zamfara Governor, Orders Rerun

     

    The Court of Appeal in Abuja has voided the election of Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Lawal the March 18 governorship election winner.

    However, the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenged the victory of Lawal, who ran under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The tribunal had upheld Lawal’s election, but the APC proceeded to the Appeal Court.

    On Thursday, a three-member panel of justices annulled Lawal’s victory and ordered a rerun of the election in three local government areas.

    The affected LGAs are Maradun, Birnin Magaji and Bukuyun.

  • Despite The Hardship And Tinubu’s Inability To Fix The Economy, APC Allegedly Commence Permutation For 2027 General Elections

    Culled From Nesweekng

    Controversy is said to be brewing in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) over the high cost of contesting elections on the party’s platform due to the increase of the expression of interest and nomination forms since its formation in 2014.

    The cost of APC presidential and governorship forms in 2014, ahead of the 2015 general elections, was ₦27.5 million and ₦5 million, respectively.
    In 2019, it increased to ₦45 million and ₦22.5 million. It, however, climbed to ₦100 million and ₦50 million in 2023, respectively.

    A party stalwart have urged the leadership of the ruling APC to make the 2027 contest less expenssive, alleging that despite raking in billions of Naira from the sale of expression of interest and nomination forms before the 2023 elections, the party has failed to give an account of how the money was spent.

    In a statement on Tuesday, the former national vice chairman (North West) of the APC, Salihu Mohammed Lukman, lamented the increasing cost of contesting elections in the party.

    He expressed fears that by 2027, the APC might charge ₦250 million for expression of interest and nomination forms for the presidency and ₦125 million for the governorship.

    According to him, the APC is “progressively losing the little democratic credentials,” which encouraged Nigerians to expect the possibility of a progressive party emerging out of it in 2015.

    Reacting to the development, the APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, said, “The issue of cost of forms for next elections is all speculations.”

    On his part, a Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Abuja, Kari, however, told reporters that placing high fees has continued in the APC because it is the ruling party.

    He also attributed it to the systematic monetization of Nigerian politics and the activities of a select few influential individuals who have hijacked the party.

    “The fee for APC has been the highest because it is the ruling party. The underlying assumption is that anybody who gets APC ticket will likely get elected. It is an assumption that may be true. It may not be true,” he said.

    Kari stated that if the party leadership can put obstacles on the way to political participation through this constant hiking of the fee for nomination, “you have blocked the very essence of democracy, and that is exactly what is happening. So the regime of high fees is a huge stumbling block on democracy because it stops those who cannot pay from participating.”

  • Tribunal: Why C’River PDP, Onor Are Positive As Judgement Day Draws Closer

     

    As judgement day inches closer in the election petition case filed by the Cross River State PDP gubernatorial candidate, Prof Sandy Onor, tension has continued to rise in the state. This is coming even as Onor and the PDP have remained positive that the tribunal will annul the election.

    Onor believes that he and his party presented a valid case before the tribunal and is upbeat, that since the APC candidate and current governor of the state, Senator Bassey Otu and his deputy, Peter Odey were not qualified abi initio to contest the election, the tribunal will soon end their reign in the Government House.

    Penultimate week, all the parties adopted their written addresses to signal the end of the tribunal hearing, while the tribunal also reserved judgement.

    Dr J.Y. Musa, SAN, lead counsel to the PDP candidate said having led evidence to show that both Otu and Odey were not qualified, the votes awarded them by INEC were wasted. Through his counsel, Onor asked the tribunal to declare him winner of the election.

    In the written address, Onor dissected the brought to the fore, the lies told on oath by Odey concerning his dual citizenship as well as the issue of his membership of the PDP. He said as at the time of the election, the deputy governor was still a member of the PDP and could not have run the election under the APC.

    He also disclosed that Otu did not possess, neither did he present before INEC, the required minimum educational qualification to become governor. This is what he told the tribunal: “The 2nd Respondent(Otu) was nominated by the 4th Respondent(APC) as its Governorship candidate and the 2nd Respondent in turn nominated the 3rd Respondent(Odey) as his running mate and both contested in the Cross River State Governorship Election of 18th March, 2023 and were purportedly declared and returned by the 1st Respondent as winners of the election.

     

    “All the candidates for the election and their running mates, including the 2nd and 3rd Respondents filled form EC9/affidavit of personal particulars under oath as a mandatory requirement of the law. The 3rd Respondent by the information in his Form EC9 (Exhibit D54B), affidavit of personal particulars, acquired the citizenship of the United Kingdom but declared in the said form that he did not swear to an oath of allegiance to the United Kingdom.

     

    “Another issue of disqualification is the fact that the 3rd Respondent at all material time remains a member of the 2nd Petitioner(PDP) up till date as evident in Exhibit D55B which is the certified true copy of the 2nd Petitioner’s membership register of Mbube West Ward 1, Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State.

     

    “The 3rd Respondent did not resign his membership of the 2nd Petitioner before contesting election under the platform of the 4th Respondent(APC) The 3rd Respondent as a member of the 2nd Petitioner was elected to represent the Ogoja State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly in 2015 and 2019 under the platform of the 2nd Petitioner.

     

    “He continued to perform his parliamentary duties and collected salaries on the ticket of the 2nd Petitioner up till when he was sworn in as the Deputy Governor of Cross River State.”

     

    Onor also stated in his written address that Otu did not show the tribunal that he possessed the educational qualification as he did not provide any information to that effect in his INEC form. “By his own deposition on oath in Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) the 2nd Respondent failed to show that he has been educated to at least School Certificate Level and therefore not qualified to contest for the Office of the Governor of Cross River State at the time of the Governorship Election of Cross River State, held on the 18th of March,
    March, 2023.

     

    “Even in Exhibit D53B, the final list of candidates, the 2nd Respondent had no qualification shown against his name. It is not correct as submitted by the 2nd and 3rd respondents’ counsel in paragraphs 7.05 and 7.06 that the issue of the 2nd Respondent’s non qualification up to secondary school certificate level was abandoned as there was sufficient evidence in proof thereof was led and elicited by way of cross examination in support of the petitioner’s pleadings.

    “Under oath, in Exhibit D52B, Part C thereof titled “Schools Attended/Educational Qualifications with Dates”, the 2nd Respondent did not state his qualifications because there was none to state. The 2nd Respondent’s Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) obtained from the 1st Respondent has some purported certificates of the 2nd Respondent attached.

     

    “Whereas by the 2nd Respondent’s own deposition in his form EC9 (Exhibit D52B), he did not state that he has any certificates; and by the 1st Respondent’s(INEC) own publication of the Final List of Candidates (Exhibit D53B) it is not also stated that the 2nd Respondent has any certificate(s).”

     

    Onor insisted that having sworn on oath in his INEC form, that he had no educational qualification, he could not turn back to show WAEC certificates. Even at that, Onor said the WAEC certificates presented by Otu were forged.

    “We therefore urge this Honourable Tribunal to find and hold that the purported certificates later provided by the 1st Respondent when the Petitioners applied for the Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) of the 2nd Respondent is nothing but documentary afterthought and an exhibition of 1 st Respondent’s glaring partisanship in this matter.

     

    “Curiously, the WAEC Certificate attached to the Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) of the 2nd Respondent bears the name of a school different from the secondary school the 2nd Respondent stated in the said Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) that he attended. The name of the school in the 2nd Respondent’s form EC9 is Salvation Army Secondary School and the name on the 2nd Respondent’s purported WAEC Certificate of June 1977 is Secondary School Akai-Ubium.

     

    “What is apparent here is that the certificate attached to the 2nd Respondent’s Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) is in conflict with the contents or information supplied in the Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) and cannot be regarded as evidence of the 2nd Respondent’s education to School Certificate Level, thereby making both documents unworthy of belief, not being credible evidence.”

     

    He added: “In a frantic bid to cure the conflict in the said certificate and the Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B), the senior counsel to the 2nd and 3rd Respondents tendered another certificate from the Bar which is Exhibit 2 & 3 R4 which the Learned Senior Counsel stated that is the original certificate in his cross examination of RW1, Agwu Kenneth.

    “Clearly, there are material contradictions in the certificate attached to the 2nd Respondent’s Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) and the certificate tendered as Exhibit 2 & 3 R4, all dated June 1977. Exhibit 2 & 3 R4 is said to be an attestation of the certificate attached to Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B).

    “May we use this opportunity to itemize the differences in the two (2) certificates. (i) The secondary school certificate attached to Form EC9 (Exhibit D52B) is: (i)General Certificate of Education (GCE) while Exhibit 2 and 3 R4 is West African Senior School Certificate (WASSC); (ii) The certificate attached to form EC9 certifies that Otu Bassey Edet, the 2nd Respondent, attended Secondary School Akai-Ubium, while Exhibit 2 and 3 R4 certifies that same Otu Bassey Edet attended Salvation Army Secondary School, Akai-Ubium; (iii) The certificate attached to Form EC9 has no photograph of Otu Bassey Edet while Exhibit
    2 and 3 R4 has the current photograph of Otu Bassey Edet embossed thereon, even though it purports to be a June 1977 certificate.

     

    “It is very instructive to point out that embossment of WAEC certificates started in 2002, while the purported certificate of the 2nd Respondent was purportedly gotten in 1977. RW1 testified to this during cross examination.

     

    “We submit that with these material contradictions none of the certificates can be relied on as evidence of the 2nd Respondent’s education to school certificate level. In furtherance of this falsity, the 2nd and 3rd Respondents in their reply to the petition stated at paragraph 15 thereof that the 2nd Respondent attended Secondary School Akai-Ubium and graduated in 1977 and was issued with a testimonial (Exhibit 2 & 3 R16) upon his graduation but this Testimonial is dated 24th of May, 2022 from Salvation Army Secondary School and stating that Bassey Edet Otu participated in senior Secondary School Certificate/Junior Secondary School Certificate Examination in May/June, 1977, whereas the 6-3-3-4 system of education which introduced Junior and Senior secondary schools in Nigeria began in 1983. This is a fact of common knowledge in Nigeria which does not require proof. (See Section 124 of the Evidence Act, 2011).”

     

     

    In defending his case against the deputy governor over his qualification to contest the election, Onor said “it is our respectful submission that from the content of Exhibit D54B (Form EC9 of the 3rd Respondent), the relevant foreign laws tendered and marked as Exhibits D63A, D63A1, D63A2, D63A3, D63A4, D63A5, D63A6 and D63B, Section 182(1)(a) of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (as amended), the 3rd Respondent is not eligible or is disqualified from contesting as the Deputy Governor of Cross River State.

     

    “By the provisions of section 29(2) of the Electoral Act, 2022 the information submitted by each candidate to 1st Respondent shall be accompanied by an affidavit sworn to by the candidate which is Form EC9 and by section 29(4) of the Electoral Act, 2022 INEC is mandated to issue a CTC of the affidavit (Form EC9) to any person who applies to it on payment of the prescribed fee. Pursuant to the provisions of this section the petitioners applied to INEC for the 3rd Respondent’s Form EC9 for the 2023 elections.

     

    “It is from this Form EC9 admitted as Exhibit D54B that the petitioners got the information that the 3rd Respondent lied under oath that he did not swear to the oath of allegiance to the United Kingdom. It is further submitted that the argument of the 2 nd and 3rd Respondents in paragraph 7.55 of their final written address is suspicious as it is unreasonable to state that the 3rd Respondent did not submit Form EC9 to the 1st Respondent. In any case, the 3rd Respondent never produced any other Form EC9 of his before the honourable Tribunal other than Exhibit D54B.

     

    He took time to adumbrate on the alleged forged information concerning the deputy governor’s dual citizenship. He said “it is submitted that the courts have taken the position that submitting false information in Form EC9 which is the Affidavit in Support of Personal Particulars to INEC amounts to presenting forged or false certificate which is a disqualifying factor.

    “The British Nationality Act, 1981 and the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act, 2002, are foreign laws which regulate the acquisition of citizenship in the United Kingdom and the administration of the oath of allegiance and we have invited this Honourable Tribunal to interpret these laws The point must be made that personal documents of both the 2nd and 3rd Respondents were either tendered from the Bar or through persons other than the 2nd and 3rd Respondents themselves. Personal allegations were made against the 2nd and 3rd Respondents but they failed to turn up to testify in their defence. 6.1.16Even the 3rd Respondent who filed a statement on oath, did not turn up to testify; he chose to send his personal documents through proxies. We understand that they have been sworn in as Governor and Deputy Governor, respectively, and might consider themselves now too big to come to this Honourable Tribunal to testify, but the law remains the law; personal documents cannot be tendered from the Bar or through third party proxies who have no connection to the said documents.

     

    “With these conditions met, this Tribunal will find that there is a conclusive presumption of law that the 3rd Respondent swore to the oath of allegiance to the United Kingdom and the British Monarch. This is direct evidence against the 3rd Respondent and affecting him which he ought to have challenged by evidence coming directly from him, but the 3rd Respondent abandoned his witness statement on oath and chose not to rebut the evidence against him, thereby surrendering to the weighty evidence of the Petitioners and the presumption of law that he took the oath of allegiance.”

     

    He cited various legal authorities to back his position, including the assumption that having not been present at the tribunal to personally defend his case, he did not rebut the allegations against him.

    Onor argued that the deputy governor was not truthful when he said on oath, that he did not subscribe to the citizenship of the UK on oath. He told the tribunal that Odey did not show proof in this direction.

     

    According to him, the “3rd Respondent has also tacitly asserted in his Form EC9 (Exhibit D54B) that he did not subscribe to the oath of allegiance and going by the cross examination questions posed by all the Respondents’ lawyers including his lawyer to PW3, tending to show that he was granted some sort of waiver or his own case comes under an exception under the same law, the 3rd Respondent then has a bounden duty to prove that he was granted a waiver of any sort or that the Secretary of State disapplied or modified the effect of the law in his favor to enjoy any exemption from the compulsory oath.

     

    “ It is submitted that by the provisions of Section 140 of the Evidence Act, 2011 ‘When any fact is especially within the knowledge of any person, the burden of proving that fact is upon him.’ We submit that the 3rd Respondent has submitted false information to INEC that he did not subscribe to the oath of allegiance to the United Kingdom and the 3rd Respondent who has the burden of proving that contrary to the evidence led by the Petitioners, he has reasons or justification for claiming that he did not subscribe to the oath of allegiance woefully failed to discharge that burden.”

    On the issue of Odey’s membership of the PDP as at the time of the election, Onor said he had “established in evidence that at the time of the nomination, sponsorship and election of the 3rd Respondent by the 4th Respondent, he remained a member of the 2nd Petitioner.

    “To buttress this, the Petitioners tendered a certified true copy of the Membership Register of Mbube West Ward 1 of Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State admitted and marked as Exhibit D55B.

    “The said membership register was duly certified by INEC and produced from proper custody. By virtue of Section 77(2) and (3) of the Electoral Act 2022, INEC as the 1st Respondent is the custodian of the Register of Members of all the political parties in Nigeria, including the 4th Respondent. By the same provision, all political parties must maintain their register of members with the 1st Respondent.

    “To establish whether a person is a member of a political party, it must be shown that his name is on the register of members with INEC. In trying to disprove the Petitioners’ assertion that the 3rd Respondent is a member of the 2nd Petitioner, the 3rd espondent tendered Exhibit 2&3R17 (a purported Membership Register of the 4th Respondent). This exhibit lacks probative value and proves nothing, for the following reasons: (a) It was not produced from proper custody as provided for in Section 77(2) and (3) of the Electoral Act, 2022 (b). It did not show the date and time the 3rd Respondent became a registered member of the 4th Respondent.

     

    “We submit that what is in issue is not merely a question of membership of a political party but a question of the constitutionality or the legality of a member of the 2nd Petitioner being presented by the 4th Respondent as a candidate at the election. 6.2.4 My Lords, there are two fundamental issues touching the membership of the 3rd Respondent. One, our submission is that the 3rd Respondent is not even a member of the 4th Respondent by the 4th Respondent’s own admission in Exhibit D56B, the Counter Affidavit in Suit No: FHC/ABJ/CS/976/2021; the second point is that the 3rd Respondent did not resign from the 2nd Petitioner before or after decamping from the 2nd Petitioner.

    “We reiterate that the 3rd Respondent has been a member of the 2nd Petitioner and was elected on the platform of the 2nd Petitioner in 2015 and 2019 to represent the Ogoja State Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly. At the time of filing this Petition, the 3rd Respondent was still in the Cross River State House of the Assembly on the mandate given to him by the electorates on the platform of the 2nd Petitioner.

    “The 1st Respondent only lamely argued in Paragraph 4.27 of its Written Address that the 3rd Respondent resigned, decamped, defected from the 2nd Petitioner; no evidence whatsoever was adduced as required by law to show that the 3rd Respondent resigned. The 1st Respondent’s Counsel during cross examination only led the 4th Respondent’s witness, RW3, to state that he believed that resignation and decamping mean the same thing. Unfortunately, the effect of resignation and/or decamping is not a matter of fact but an issue of law. 6.2.7 The 1st Respondent’s counsel objected to the admissibility of Exhibit D55B which is the Certified True Copy of the PDP Register of members for Mbube West Ward 1 which was certified by the 1st Respondent on 27th April, 2023. Surprisingly, when RW1 (INEC witness) testified, none of the Respondents asked questions on the said register of members.

     

    “The Respondents did not just fail in exhibiting a letter of resignation as required by law, the 3rd Respondent did not resign from the 2nd Petitioner before or after decamping to the 4th Respondent because he wanted to be seen on the floor of the house that he has left the 2nd Petitioner while he refused to resign so as to hold on to the ticket of the 2nd Petitioner to derive benefit thereof. But this is not the law. In law, resignation from a political party and decamping from a political party are two different things with different legal implications.

    “It is not legislative coincidence that there is section 77 of the Electoral Act 2022 which requires every political party to maintain a register of its members with the Commission; it is for a time like this, a time when who is truly a member of a political party depends on the authenticity of the register and its custodian. By Exhibit D55B, the 2nd Petitioner’s Membership Register for Mbube West Ward 1, the name of the 3rd Respondent appears clearly as No 36; therefore, proving beyond every scintilla of doubt that the 3rd Respondent is a member of the 2nd Petitioner.

     

    “We further submit with emphasis that is the current membership register of the 2nd Petitioner for Mbube West Ward 1 and that is evident from the date of certification on the 27th day of April, 2023 which was after the election contrary to the submission of the 2nd and 3rd respondents which is in paragraghs 7.47 and 7.48 of their final written address.

    “ To prove the assertion by the 3rd Respondent that he is a member of the 4th Respondent, Exhibit 2 & 3 R17 was tendered through RW2. The said Exhibit is purported to be a membership register of Mbube West One Ward of Ogoja Local Government Area in Cross River State. The document has no date on it and no date of registration of any member written against his or her name and some of the persons written on the register did not sign against their names, including the 3rd Respondent who appears as number 001 without a date of registration against his name.

     

    “ In Exhibit 2 & 3 R17, the 3rd Respondent who said he decamped from the 2nd Petitioner to the 4th Respondent appears as No 001 indicating that he was the first to register in the Ward; for a party that has been existing in the Ward before the 3rd Respondent’s defection. This document clearly lacks credibility and cannot be relied upon in the face of the superiority of Exhibit D56B, the PDP Membership Register of Mbube West Ward 1.

    “This document was obviously made after the election of 18th of March, 2023 but in a futile bid to cloth it with credibility it was needlessly certified by a body not legally required to do so, and the purported certification backdated to 15th September. It is submitted that it is not the register of members and membership slip or card alone that proves that a person has left one political party and joined another political party.

     

    “A similar situation arose in the case of Rt Hon Prince Terhemen Tarzoor vs Ortom Samuel Ioraer & 2 Ors (2016) 3 NWLR (Pt. 1500) pg. 463 @ 423 para B – D, the apex court, per Okoro, JSC, held inter alia as follows “Evidence on record shows that by Exhibit R3, the 1st Respondent resigns his membership from the Peoples Democratic Party. He subsequently joined the All Progressives Congress.

    “This is confirmed by Exhibit R1: his membership card of APC, Exhibit R4 which is APC Membership of the ward where he registered.” We further submit that resignation from the 2nd Petitioner is a sine qua non to the validity of the 3rd Respondent’s purported membership of the 4th Respondent.

    The evidence of such resignation is lacking in the defence of the Respondents. We urge the Tribunal to hold that the 2nd Petitioner has proven that the 3rd Respondent is its member.”

  • APC NWL Vs Cross River : When The Voice Of Reason Is Ignored BY INYALI PETER

     

    Yesterday, August 23rd, 2023 the long awaited replacement of vacant National and Zonal Working Committee offices in the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC was filled and Cross River State which is the only South-South state governed by the APC is the biggest loser. Some of us had warned against the process and unevenness that depicted the choice of whom the leadership of the party in the state favoured to replace Dr. Betta Edu, the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation as National Woman Leader (NWL) but our good counsel as in many cases, hit the bricks wall. The consequences is starring at us all, today.

    It is traditional and constitutional in the APC that when a position becomes vacant, a replacement always comes from where the former occupant hails from. However, this time around, the National Executive Council of the party which has the power of the convention nullified the existing zoning and directed re-arrangement of positions.

    This meant that all vacant positions were thrown open for the best lobbiest to take. Unfortunately, Cross River State leadership didn’t take this into account because if it did, it wouldn’t have assumed erroneously that they can throw any name devoid of equity and simple logic and still retain the position simply because the last occupant hails from the state. Instead of deploying all its arsenals to lobby and negotiate to retain the position or least, press for higher or equivalent alternatives, some vested interests hijacked the process and decided to go about it surreptitiously.

    The right thing would have been to call an Extraordinary Stakeholders meeting where critical stakeholders of the party across the state would meet, discuss and agree on who to project. But this was thrown to the abyss and a certain powerful woman from Cross River South was allowed to impress her inordinate personal interest on the leadership who secretly forwarded her name to the national secretariat without proper consultation or consent of majority of the Stakeholders.

    But that wasn’t all. God created a second chance for them to correct their wrong when some overzealous page boys released the information and party members of good conscience protested. In limpid display of impunity, the leadership of the party in the state refused to listen to the voice of reason by pressing on with their plots. And now, the state has lost out completely. No Woman Leader. No alternative!

    Imagine for a moment the influence the candidate that had the support of majority of the stakeholders would have had in the national secretariat had they listened to the voice of reason! The truth is that majority of APC stalwarts in the state were unsatisfied with the choice of the candidate that was forwarded and the process that produced her but decided to maintain unholy silence to see how much influence those who brought her have in Abuja.

    When her name got to Abuja, the leadership of the party in South South consulted some leaders that were sidelined and they bluntly said she was not a product of collective decision. This empowered leaders from other states to unite against her interest and in the end, Edo won. Akwa Ibom even came closer at some point than Cross River because those with influence in the national that would have synergized with the state leadership to pursue her course decided to allow “them do their thing”.

    The bitter truth is that Governor Bassey Otu needs to re-consider those he listens to. It’s not normal that the only South-South Governor had failed to directly produce a Minister even when his state had two. He has failed again to retain the National Working Committee position he inherited or secured alternative to the state. These failures are largely due to pushing for candidates who emerge through a skewed process and with little acceptability amongst stakeholders. It’s still early but the signs we’re seeing are very dangerous for the State and the Governor. He needs to expand his team and consult more.

    As my friend Richie Romanus stated in his expository piece two days ago, the state has been so favoured in this administration. There’s need for urgent extraordinary stakeholders that should aim to achieve synergy and collaboration. Without mincing words, if all hands were on deck, Cross River wouldn’t have lost the National Woman Leader to another State. There are more to come, our leaders need collaboration to attract things to the state if not their advantage would amount to nothing.

    It’s hoped that going forward, this would serve as a lesson that would catalyst the needed adjustments in the interest of the party and state.

    Congratulations to Dr. Mary Alile Idele, the new National Woman Leader of APC. May her reign bring prosperity to our great party.

  • Cross River: Ayade, Onor, Others Files 13 Petitions At The Election Tribunal

     

    In Cross River State, the Secretary of the three-man Election Petition Tribunal sitting over the February 25 National Assembly elections in the state, A.D Bambur, acknowledged that they had received 13 petitions from the different political parties.

    Of the 13 petitions, three candidates challenged those INEC declared as winners in the three senatorial districts of the state, just as 10 others queried the conduct of the House of Representatives poll.

    Bambur said the tribunal had commenced sitting, and already granted leave to parties to inspect materials used for the elections, following their respective applications. He added that the parties were currently serving summons and petitions to each other.

    A passing look at the cases shows that Governor Ben Ayade, who lost his bid to return to the Senate to the incumbent senator, Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe, of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, filed petition number EPT/CRS/Sen/2/2023 against Jarigbe.

    Ayade vied for the Cross River Northern Senatorial District seat on the platform of APC.

    The PDP candidate in Cross River Central, Hon Bassey Eko Ewa, filed a petition listed as EPT/CRS/SEN/1/2023 against Rt. Hon Eteng Williams of the APC, who is the Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly.

    Cross River Southern Senatorial District petition is from Rt. Hon. Daniel Asuquo of the Labour Party, and others versus Mr. Asuquo Ekpenyong Jnr of the APC in suit number EPT/CRS/SEN/03/2023.

    Former House of Representatives member, Hon. Atta Ochinke, also filed a petition against APC’s Hon Victor Abang in Ikom/Boki Federal Constituency.

    The APC candidates for Ogoja/Yala Federal Constituency and Obudu/Bekwarra/Obanliku Federal Constituency, Hon. Jude Ngaji and  Rt.Hon. Legor Idagbo, are said to be at the Tribunals but their summons haven’t gotten to their opponents.

    The PDP governorship candidate, Senator Sandy Onor, has also vowed to challenge the process that made INEC to declare Sen. Bassey Otu as the winner.

    Onor alleged that the exercise was characterized by irregularities, including over-voting, and vote-buying amongst others.

    Hon. Thomas Aruku of the APC, who contested the Ogoja State Constituency seat, is also going to the tribunal to challenge the victory of Hon Rita Ayim of the PDP.

    Sunday Vanguard reports that there was still time for the submission of more petitions, as many of those who participated in the House of Assembly polls were putting finishing touch to their petitions before submission.

  • Jarigbe Agom Accuses Police, APC In Cross River Of Blackmail, Calls On IG TO Prosecute Alphonsus Eba

    Culled From Punch 

    Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe of the Peoples Democratic Party has challenged the Police in Cross River State to be professional in their conduct by not colluding in anyway with members of the All Progressives Congress in their cheap blackmail against him .

    Jarigbe, who defeated governor Ben Ayade of the APC to win the Cross River North senatorial seat, said despite the crushing defeat suffered by APC in Cross River North , members of the party were still all out to tarnish his image and reputation .

    Addressing the press in his office on Monday , the senator asked the Inspector General of Police , Usman Baba Alkali to put a stop to the show of shame going on in Cross River state where losers of election are hell bent on disparaging the winner .

    He specifically called for the arrest of the chairman of APC in the state , Alphonsus Eba. He further demanded a thorough investigation of alleged nefarious activities by DCP Francis Idu and the state’s Police Public Relations Officer , CSP Irene Ugbo .

    He said, “The Independent National Electoral Commission declared my party, the Peoples Democratic Party, and my humble self, winner of the Cross River North Senatorial District Elections held on the 25th of February, 2023.

    “We emerged victorious in that election with 76, 145 votes; while the candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, the sitting governor of Cross River state, H. E. Benedict Ayade, came second with 56, 595 votes. A clear difference of 19,550 votes. Our people made it abundantly clear that I was their choice.

    “But surprisingly , one DCP Francis Idu, in the Cross River State Police Headquarters, who is under the patronage of the state government and their lackeys is abusing his office by indulging Alphonsus Eba in his psychotic odyssey of writing frivolous petitions against me and other respected indigenes of Cross river North.”

    The lawmaker declared that it is a wonder of the criminal world for a man who was caught on camera disrupting collation of results at an Independent National Electoral Commission collation centre to turn around and start writing frivolous petitions against us, when he should be facing charges for electoral offences.

    According to him, “The height of this shameless alliance with Alphonsus Eba and these shameless elements in the Police, is a video my attention was drawn to, where some persons were paraded by the police in Cross River state for allegedly perpetrating electoral violence in the just concluded presidential and National Assembly elections held on the 25th of February, 2023.”

  • APC’s Campaign Of Calumny: Another Invitation To Anarchy – PDP

    8th February 2023.

    Press Statement.

    APC’s Campaign Of Calumny: Another Invitation To Anarchy

    The attention of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party Cross River State, has been drawn to a malicious, demonic, barbaric and devilish video circulating on different social media platforms, wherein the occultic, bloodthirsty and murderous APC campaign team, led by their Gubernatorial candidate, Southern Senatorial Candidate and Akpabuyo/Bakassi/Calabar South Federal Constituency Candidate, in a sacrilegious, unspeakable, despicable and abominable manner, carried out a burial ceremony of a man who is still much alive. For what appeared to be an occultic display, the APC procured a casket and inscribed the name of our Candidate Rt. Hon. Apostle Essien Ekpeyong Ayi, our Party Logo and the abbreviation R.I.P (Rest in peace) on the casket–a symbolic representation of the death and burial of a man who is still alive.

    Ordinarily, we would have preferred to ignore such ignoble display of infantilism, nothingness and tomfoolery, but given the criminal and abominable nature of such outlandish display, it has become imperative that we issue a statement and set the records straight. Hence, we make bold to state categorically that;

    1. It is quite regrettable how low the APC has reduced politics in our state. Prior to now, vicious campaign of calumny, subterfuge and violence were never part of our Politics, however, with the recent involvement of lowlifes, riffraffs, scallywags, and nonentities in the politics of our state, an unhealthy aspect of politicking has been introduced by the APC out of sheer desperation.

    2. For the past one week, the APC Gubernatorial candidate and his partners-in-mischief, like the infamous ringleader of the 1971 “commando- Girls” have continued to make inciting statements against various leaders of our party. Sensing a brutal defeat, especially in places like Akpabuyo Local Government and Calabar South, the never-do-well APC deployed their thugs to carry out wanton destruction of properties belonging to Chieftains of our party in Akpabuyo and Calabar South.

    3. As a Party, we condemn unequivocally this act of provocation and maiming of our supporters by the APC, as it has the tendency of inviting anarchy into the State.

    4. We condemn in the strongest terms, the destruction of properties belonging to our party faithfuls, maiming of our teeming supporters and the unspeakable, abominable and sacrilegious display of casket bearing the name of our Candidate for Akpabuyo/Bakassi/Calabar South Federal Constituency, Rt. Hon. Apostle Essien Ekpeyong Ayi, during the APC Gubernatorial rally in Calabar South.

    5. We call on Security agencies to investigate and arrest the perpetrators of such heinous and abominable acts. We call on our teeming supporters to remain calm even in the face of wanton provocation by the APC, as the APC is obviously displaying signs and symptoms of defeat.

    5. We reassure the good people of Cross River State that we are committed to the course of reclaiming Cross River State and call on all lovers of the state to vote massively for our party, the Peoples Democratic Party.

    Signed
    Prince Mike Ojisi
    (State Publicity Secretary)

  • APC Have Relocated Our Headquarters To Calabar – Bakassi Stakeholders

    By Elijah Ugani 

    Stakeholders of Bakassi local government area has accused the All Progressive Congress APC, under the leadership of Gov Ayade of relocating their local government headquarters to Calabar.

    This was disclosed during a stakeholders meeting with the PDP Campaign Council held at Ekpirikang, Bakassi local government area on Tuesday January 24th, 2023.

    Speaking on behalf of the youths, Pastor Enoch Otu, disclosed that “APC had nothing to tell us, they have disappointed us. We are waiting for them. The Chairman, Vice Chair and councilors have all ran away from Bakassi, they have relocated to Calabar because of kidnapping. We cannot see them. They are not attaining to us. We appeal to you to return peace to us. We want our leaders to stay with us to enable us tackle our problems”.

    Otu further decried the high level of insecurity in Bakassi and called on Sen Onor to step in if elected governor. “The high level of insecurity in Bakassi is caused by joblessness of the youths. We hardly sleep with our two eyes closed. A lot of our youths have relocated to Calabar”.

    The representative of the Christian Association of Nigeria CAN, Bakassi chapter, Rev Dr David Ewo, appealed to Sen Onor to ensure that the next set of leaders that will pilot the affairs of Bakassi are those who resides with the people “It is sad that our Chairman, Paramount Ruler, councilors are all staying in Calabar.
    As you become governor, please we want our next Chairman and councilors to be people who stay with us here”, he said.

    Responding, Sen Onor wonders why the local government Chairman and councilors don’t function from Bakassi, he however assured that when he takes over government, the local system will be restructured and Bakassi local government will function appropriately.

    His words “I don’t understand why Bakassi local government should not be functional here. As we take over office and constitute the local government, your Chairman of council and all councilors will function from here”.

     

  • Arrest Of PDP Supporters In Ogoja: Ayade/APC’s your Plan To Utilize State Security To Intimidate Voters

    Culled From Weetalknaija.com

    A team of Nigerian Police personnel, on Monday, raided Ogoja Urban, arresting over 30 supporters of Senator Jarigbe Agom Jarigbe and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The team of security men which came all the way from the State Capital, was alleged to be acting on the directives of the State Governor, Ben Ayade.

    Sources have said that the police team was drafted from Ogoja, Ikom and Calabar to effect the arrests on trumped up charges of destruction of billboards and obstruction of public peace. But another source said during the Nortfest (New Yam festival), Ayade ordered that all PDP billboards be brought down in the entire Ogoja Urban, alluding to the fact that indeed the PDP billboards were brought down and under the supervision of security operatives. Some of the people so far arrested are key supporters of Sen. Jarigbe and supporters of other PDP candidates in the north.

    Reacting to the hideous political machination, the PDP Chairman, Cross River State, Mr Vena Ikem Esq, said “I have information on the alleged arrest of our supporters by police authorities, yesterday, in Ogoja. The APC and the boys have been stimulating crisis in the hope of using the police force to clamp down on our supporters, especially in the northern senatorial district.

    “Governor Ayade has lost all semblance of credibility amongst our people, but he is desperate to return to the Senate. So we know his game plan depends entirely on utilizing the state security to intimidate voters. How that will work for him remains to be seen”.

    The PDP State Chairman assured PDP supporters and the general public that “we will use all means at our disposal to frustrate such nefarious plans; Ayade and the APC will exhaust themselves before time because we will follow up all their shenanigans,” avowing that “Nigeria is still a country of law and order.”

    Confirming the arrest, the Police Public Relations Officer, Irene Ugbo, said: “Yes, I am aware of the Police arrests in Ogoja. They arrested them in connection with alleged destruction of APC billboards. When they bring the suspects, we would screen them and fish out the culprits and those innocent would be freed and those found culpable would be charged to Court.

    “The Police frown at destruction of billboards and we have earlier issued a statement about that.”