As the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) primaries draws nearer, UBONG INYANG writes on the increasing tension and rancor in the Cross River State Chapter of the party.
It is no longer news that the PDP in Cross River has declared war on itself. In fact, there is so much tension in the political space of the state as the crisis has degenerated from bad to worse with politicians deploying various means to outdo each other. The situation has boiled over as some major stakeholders tried to seize the political leer of their states ahead of the conduct of party primaries or in a desperate attempt to checkmate the excesses of party members.
The event of last Monday, where angry youths, believed to be loyalist of some top aspirants stormed the party secretariat in Calabar to demand for the release of the November 1 delegate list is one of such bloody confrontations. Analysts say it is a testament to the fact that harmony within the party had been thrown to the dogs. In fact the crisis within the party had been stretched to a breaking point with intractable ligations taking centre stage.
While the home front was boiling with protest, opposing camps consisting of elders and key stakeholders of the party which has been at daggers drawn with the leadership of the party in the state, also took the battle to Abuja calling on the National leadership of the party to sack the state executive committee. Among the stakeholders and elders who are presently pushing for the sack of the state executive committee are: Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, Hon. Ernest Irek, Sandy Onor,Director-General of Jeddy Agba campaign organization, Barr. Venatius Ikem, Dr. Julius Okputu, Barrister Andrew Ashong, Hon. Larry Agim, Hon. Valentine Ewo and a host of others. Their call came on the heels of the controversy which attended the outcome of the ward congress by state executive committee four days after the conduct of the exercise.
But as the group is hell bent on ensuring that the state executive committee is dissolved, the State executive committee itself is alleging that the Electoral Panel headed by Alhaji Shuaib Oyedokun, which conducted the ward congress in the state had been compromised.
The State Secretary of the party, Hon. Godwin Etta who gave an insight on how the result of the ward delegates’ congress was allegedly doctored by the committee sent from the PDP national headquarters, on African Independent Television (AIT) programme, Kaakaaki, the state party secretary, said: “After the adhoc ward delegates elections of November 1, we had humbly requested for the photocopies of the results that were collated. The committee was rather very unwilling. But at our insistence, it obliged us the photocopies. These photocopies are with the police, the INEC and the SSS, and duly signed by these bodies acknowledging receipt.”
According to Honourable Ettah, suspicion about the integrity of the committee shortly after the exercise, began when the committee discovered that the electoral panel had sneaked out of their hotel when there was an arrangement to check them into an Abuja-bound flight.
Ettah offered further insight on what he described as the committee’s duplicity: “There arose confusion where the electoral committee suspiciously checked out of their hotel room at 6am when we actually left them at the same hotel at 4am. There was an arrangement to fly them out of the state later on Sunday, a day after the congress, but much to our shock, we discovered that there was a secret plan by some interested party to fly them out of Calabar to Abuja. You must have heard that the state party secretary went with the team, it is true that I flew with them to Abuja, but on arrival, the team was divided.”
Further alleging that the committee was already compromised, Ettah said: “The committee members were asked who provided them the private jet that flew them to Abuja and they responded that it was the FCT Minister. But do you know the truth? The truth is that the aircraft is actually owned by a certain lawyer.
As part of the scheming, allegedly by the committee to tinker with the ward delegates results, the state party scribe disclosed: “Since I was not a member of the panel, I was not allowed to follow them to the national secretariat of the party where they had purportedly gone to return the collated results.
“So what happened was that two members of the committee suddenly disappeared upon our arrival at the Abuja airport and their whereabouts remained unknown until 9pm. So what happened during those 12 hours?
I later went to the national secretariat and mounted guard but they were nowhere to be seen. By the time we knew it, all the results that were collated and distributed in Cross River State and duly acknowledged, had been tampered with and fraudulently doctored.”
Alleging that the committee was predisposed to prosecuting an agenda, Ettah hinted: “In fact, we gathered on good authority that a member of the committee who was to go to another state for same exercise, but because he is notoriously fraudulent, was diverted to Cross River State to perpetrate the act.
“By the time we knew it, 262 names had been replaced. I have the photocopies of the authenticated result sheets of all the wards, distributed and duly signed by the Secretary of the committee. We insisted that the committee should compile the results of the three names on every sheet as winners or delegates who emerged from the exercise. What the members of the committee did was to tamper with most of the names and left just a few. The fact on ground is that the situation as it relates to the adhoc delegates results has changed upon the arrival of the committee in Abuja. It will shock you to hear that a committee member who was supposed to be part of the exercise in Enugu was to later have his name feature prominently as a delegate from Cross River State. How do you reconcile this?” the state PDP scribe queried.
On the suspension of some party members from the party, Hon. Ettah said: “Two days after the exercise, the state party exco started receiving petitions from the 262 people who were duly elected and who felt their names ought to be on the list but were not, based on available information to them. So we met as a body to consider the petitions that flooded our office.
It was these petitions that led to the preliminary inquest and consequent suspension of those who were responsible for the change of 262 names. Based on the petitions, we met and summoned those accused of having a hand in it to come forward and defend the petitions against them. Just as they described the suspension as laughable, they also described their summons as laughable and refused to appear before the exco.”
Due to this, political analysts are of the view that the call by the state executive committee for the cancellation of the congress result is a clear indication that it has lost control of the party. one question that is presently been asked by Cross Riverians is whether the party, with all its crisis, would be strong enough to challenge the opposition All Progressive Congress(APC) which is battling to unseat the ruling PDP in 2015.
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