Duke, 2 others protest Cross River APC governorship primary

Three of the governorship aspirants who participated in Monday’s governorship primary in Cross River state has accused the national Vice Chairman, South South of the party, Prince Hilliard Eta of collaborating with others to create confusion within the party in the state.

They said  such action is threatening the chances of the party in both the Presidential and governorship election.

Speaking at a news conference in Abuja, the three aspirants namely former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Edem Duke, John Upan Odey and Prof. Nyong Eyo asked the party leadership to cancel the primary and fix a new date for the conduct of a fresh primary.

Speaking on their behalf, John Odey said the governorship primary never took place in two of the three Senatorial districts in the state while it was manipulated in favour of Senator John Owan Enoh, adding that allowing such travesty of justice to prevail will amount to denying the party the chance of winning the state.

Odey said “Our primaries was scheduled to hold on Monday this week. Events leading to that primaries is t(e reason why we are here today to register a string denouncement about what happened in the state.

“A day before the primary was to hold, the Vice Chairman, South South of the party, Hilliard ETA came to the state and called a meeting of stakeholders. Before that he invited the committee to in his house and told them that the Presidency and indeed the leadership of the party has anointed one us and should be returned.

“We were disturbed about that and in the day of the stakeholders meeting we asked him if it was true that he was supporting one candidate. He said he had a right to choose one aspirant over others and we felt there was something fundamentally wrong with that for a leader of a party to take sides in the middle of a contest.

“Arrangement was made for all aspirants to go and inspect the materials which was done and agreement reached for the materials to be moved that night to the various Senatorial zones and local government and to be kept in the police stations in the various places.

“But shortly after, different people came and collected those materials for the various local government areas and incidentally, they were representatives of one of the aspirant, Senator John Uwa Enoh.

“Apart for materials for Calabar area that were kept in the police stations till the next day, other materials were taken to an unknown areas. In northern Cross River where I was waiting to vote, the materials never got there. Northern Cross River has five local government with 53 wards and in all these wards, there was no single election that day.

“We complained about this and later that night, they took ballot papers to the home of one of the key supporters of Senator John Uwa Enoh in Obudu, where they kept those materials and brought people to thumbprint. What I am saying is that in five local government, without contradiction, no election held.

“In Central Cross River and the south, the materials were just carted away and results fabricated. In the few wards where semblance of an election was going on, very few number of ballot papers were allotted there because some of us had strength there.

“What we are saying is that the whole process was a fabrication, it was a hijack and we are saying that the right thing should be done in a party like the APC. Before now, three of us were opponents, but right now, we are standing together to fight a joint evil.

“We had this same problem earlier in the year when certain people tried to hijack the state congress leading to the issue of two state EXCO. We have again found ourselves in a similar situation where one person is again trying to take over the whole party.

“The APC in cross River state is such a big party that no one person should take and put in his pocket. I am from northern Cross River and my brothers here are from Southern Cross River, while the other person involved is from Central.

“We represent two out of three Senatorial district and so, we can say that majority of cross rover state is standing here. One person cannot hijack what is meant for all of us.

“We are here to say that the collusion that has happened between the national Vice Chairman, south south and Senator John Owan Enoh is threatening to derail the possibility of the APC doing well in the governorship and Presidential election next. We are here today to register our protest.

“Outside our own group, there is also a parable group that purport that the Minister of Niger Delta is the candidate of the party. All these confusion we are getting from Cross River state is from one Senatorial zone, the two of them laying claim t9 the candidacy of the party are from the same Senatorial zone. So, we want the right thing to be done so that we can have peace. We are tired of the same people bringing confusion to the party in the state.

“We are going to submit a formal petition and if the leadership refuse to listen to us, our supporters will not be encouraged to work for this party. Let me add that in a whole Senatorial zone, there was no election and that is where the current governor comes from.

“So, we are in a situation. Where the party is not being helped with the activities going on in the state. You become uncompetitive if a party is chased out of a whole Senatorial, district and this is what is happening because the members in that zone did not participate in the voting on that day.

“The guidelines says that in every ward, there should be committee which should be swapped. But in our own case, nothing like that was done. Materials were just handed out to individuals. In other words, we are saying that the primary should be cancelled and a new date set for another exercise in the state”.