From Judex Okoro, Calabar
Thursday, May 20, 2021 would ever remain green in the political history of Cross River state. It was a day Governor Ben Ayade took the bull by the horns and made a statement about his political future by defecting to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). That marked the end of sitting on the fence in PDP and a foray into another political landscape.
While members of APC who saw Ayade’s dramatic movement to their party as a big catch in all ramifications were in the seventh heaven and buzzing, some of his former members in PDP family were as happy as a clam that he has left having been engaged in internecine feud with PDP stakeholders.
To APC in the state, it was time to get a piece of the pie and they buttered up. Between May and June, both the old and new members of APC had a whale of time as there were beehives of activities within the party. First, there were series of defection rallies and then registration of new members across the 196 wards in the state; there were series of stakeholders meeting to discuss the modus operandi in terms of sharing of elective offices from ward to state structures.
To cap it all and ensure a rancour-free congress and douse political tension, the governor convened a critical stakeholders’ meeting at Perigrino hall and openly declared that he did not want any interference in the congresses from ward to state levels. He enjoined leaders to concentrate on their wards and local government chapters and produce their officers through consensus. But where it was not possible through consensus, then they should go into elections.
This statement emboldened party members and characteristic of the political class, scheming, intrigues and political gerrymandering became the game. Stakeholders mobilised their supporters and headed home in readiness for the congress, which is one of the ways of deepening internal democracy in political parties.
Prior to the congresses, Governor Ben Ayade, the leader of the party and some stakeholders were locked in a discreet battle over who controlled the party structure from ward to state levels.
While some stakeholders expressed fear that the new defectors might hijack the processes, others expressed optimism that the party led by Ayade would be fair to all and reposition ahead of 2023.
And true to type, mixed feelings trailed the ward and local government congresses of the party. Some party members including Dr. Eneji Chris Ogar, former zonal chairman, North, Egere Patrick, the former youth leader North, and one Alh Yusuf, Calabar South expressed disappointment at the outcome of the congresses, arguing that the processes were not only flawed in all ramifications, but skewed against old APC members and vowed that it would not stand.
According to them, party guidelines were not followed; there were no free and fair processes as there were reported cases of imposition across the state which was against what the governor told us at one of the stakeholders’ meetings held at Peregrino Hall. To them, the will of the majority of party members were truncated and that cannot stand the taste of time, adding that they are democrats and progressive minded.
But Chris Ojonde, the former Vice chairman of Boki local government council, trumped up the ward and local government congresses, maintaining that it went well and in line with wishes of the people as it was mostly on consensus. According to him, APC has been enmeshed in crisis and so the coming of Ayade is an opportunity for everybody to surrender his personal ambition and allow him to reposition the party by electing neutral party executives to lead us into victory. He argued that the consensus arrangement brought in by Ayade is the best option for the congress, adding that such an arrangement would reduce tension, acrimony and dissensions after the congress.
And ahead of October 16, 2021 nation-wide state congress, Ayade and his loyalists once again deployed their political sagacity by discreetly lobbying for consensus and the zoning of the party offices and later micro-zoning even as some stakeholders disagreed with the arrangement.
Sources close to the zoning committee led by Sen Victor Ndoma Egba revealed that some key stakeholders had lobbied majority of members of the committee to zone the chairmanship slot to Ogoja, while a few wanted it zoned to Yala all in the North senatorial district.
Those in favour of Ogoja, mostly the older politicians in APC, argued that such an arrangement would ensure fairness and equitable distribution of all party offices across all chapters. The stakeholders further rooted for Dr Peter Ojie, the Senior Special Adviser to the Governor on Political Affairs. It was rumoured that Ojie was allegedly offered state chairmanship slot before he defected to APC and had been lobbied extensively for it.
But Ayade’s lobbyist threw spanners in the works for Ojie when sub-committees were set up across all the local government chapters to micro-zone all offices allotted to their zones. The sub-committee members peopled by Ayade’s spin-doctors narrowed the zoning arrangement to their die-hard loyalists to ensure total takeover of the APC structures at that level.
Following the card on the table, the micro-zoning committee in the North senatorial district headed by Rt Hon Legor Idagbo, representing Bekwarra/Obudu/Obanliku federal constituency, micro-zoned it to Yala where Alphonsus Eba, the Cross River State Director-General of Due Process hails from. Eba (a.k.a Okadigbo) has been Ayade’s chairmanship candidate in PDP before the duo defected to APC. When some party leaders including the immediate past party chairman, Sen Mbu Jnr, raised eyebrows, he was pressured into succumbing to the micro-zoning arrangement in which most of the key party leaders were again schemed out in favour of ‘Oga’s’ candidates.
Ayade’s night of consensus maneuverings
Friday, October 15, 2021 could be described in the annals of APC political history in Cross River as the ‘night of consensuses. On that fateful day, at Peregrino Hall in Governor’s Lodge, the cream de la cream in APC were gathered there before 8:00pm. The roll call includes minister of state for Power, Mr GoddyJeddy Agba, three APC members of the House of Representatives (Rt Hons Miks Etaba, Alex Egbon and Legor Idagbo), Speaker of the House of Assembly, William Eteng, former Senate Leader, Sen Victor Ndoma Egba, Sen John Owan Eno, Sen Bassey Otu, Sen Florence Ita-Giwa, Pastor Usani Usani, former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Prof Eyo Etim Nyong, all political appointees and party chieftains. Present too were some chairmanship aspirants including Ogbiji Nyiam, an SA to a former Minister, and James Alicha Okpamu.
The stakeholders meeting held on the eve of the state congress was the climax of all consultations Ayade had embarked upon before the congress proper. To some political observers, it was a mere formality just to endorse Ayade’s consensus candidates and a sort of mere merry-making.
Before the meeting, it was gathered that Ayade had mobilised his think tank led by chief of staff and Alphonsus Eba and they relocated to Abuja where they moved round all the critical stakeholders that have raised objection to Eba’s candidature preaching peace and unity of purpose.
Eba was said to have promised some of them that he may be an Ayade’s favoured candidate, but that he would run an all-inclusive party if given opportunity to serve. He was also said to have convinced them that he not only had the capacity to run the party, but that only consensus arrangement can guarantee peace and tranquility among party members especially ahead of 2023.
Besides, the governor was said to have equally deployed some former party chairmen, who were also in PDP with him, to reach out to some die-hard old APC members who stood against the consensus. Some of the chairmen, a source disclosed, had actually contacted their boys to soft-pedal and play along with the governor’s choice of Eba just as they called some of the remaining candidates to drop their ambition as the party would carry everybody along this time.
The governor on his return from France before the meeting had equally reached out to the close party allies and promised them that things would work better if Alphonsus was given an opportunity. He was said to have told some of them to trust him for once and let them work as a team to deliver APC in 2023, adding that in-fighting does not pay anybody. Source close to the party leadership, revealed that Ayade had also conceded some party positions to some stakeholders to douse tension and give them a sense of belonging.
Party members speak out
Hailing Ayade’s zoning and consensus strategies, council member, Hydropower Producing Development Areas Commission, HYPPADEC, Utum Eteng, said state APC only existed in name as it was plagued with the chronic ailments of a grossly factionalised party, adding that his coming to APC is a divine intervention and has used his experience to re-arrange the state APC, which before now was in very bad shape.
He said: “Ayade’s ingenuity vide the consensus approach in the party congresses has brought peaceful outing and worthy of celebration. Everybody is competent to wish to become the state chairman but only one can emerge.
“As one gives kudos to the state party leader so should as a matter of objectivity give kudos to former Senate leader Ndoma-Egba, SAN, chairman of the state zoning committee, who with other members of the committee, zoned the party positions to different levels for the ease of choice reducing the usual APC style acrimony. It’s a job well done.
“For me as a person, zoning the state chairmanship to Yala local government is apt, a master stroke that have saved and secured the true future of the APC in Cross River. The choice of Barr Alphonsus Eba, vide the consensus approach, is the climax of the collective ingenuity I have prayed for,” stated the former member of Ken Nnamani-led Presidential Committee for the Review of the Constitution and Electoral Review.
Corroborating Eteng, a party chieftain and former senatorial aspirant in the last general election, Chief Chris Agara, said: “For once in Cross River APC, has a leader and by the party constitution, the governor is automatically the leader of the party in the state. The congress is arguably the most peaceful congress in Cross River State and probably in the country. This is as a result of the hard work of the leader and governor of the state. He has done a good job by bringing the party together. Today we have one APC.
“So the peaceful outcome of the congress is a reflection of the internal mechanisms behind discussion, consensus building and agreements that were reached before the open congresses that you saw. There was quite a lot of concentration and reach out among leaders who agreed on the modalities of the congress. And you will see that all the who-is-who in APC was there and nobody was left out.”
Advising them to close ranks, the Obubra-born politician stated that “the peaceful outcome of the congress is a reflection of the internal mechanisms behind discussion, consensus building and agreements that were reached before the open congresses that you saw. There was quite a lot of concentration and reach out among leaders who agreed on the modalities of the congress. And you will see that all the who is who in APC were there and there was nobody left out.”
Speaking also, the newly-elected chairman of the Cross River chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Alphonsus Eba, Esq, said: “Governor Ben Ayade’s marching orders to unite the party in the state; the problem of the APC in the state was leadership and we have that today.
“My cardinal aim is to promote peace, love, unity and growth in the party and urged people to judge him based on this.
“As former Director General of Due Process, I hope to bring due process into party administration in Cross River State. With the solid foundation being laid for the party by my leadership, I want to be judged based on my PLUG agenda”.
But kicking against the consensus arrangement, a party leader from Ogoja, Chief Mathew Monjok, said: “I don’t know what Ogoja has done that this present administration does not want Ogoja to have juicy political appointments. “In PDP, Ayade did all to block Ogoja people from going to the Senate until the court decided otherwise. Again, we are faced with the same scenario after we were assured that it is the turn of Ogoja to produce the party chairman.
“Statistics made available have shown that Yala like Obudu is already overloaded with political appointments including the Vice Chancellor of UNICROSS, chairman of SUBEB, chairman of Internal Revenue Services, the state Auditor General just as the next House of Representatives member for Ogoja/Yala Federal constituency is coming from Yala. So what does Ogoja have now?”
Bemoaning the entire processes so far, a member of the state exco, who doesn’t want his name in print, said: “We have missed the point ab initio on the issue of consensus. Consensus means agreement by majority of those concerned and all aspirants allow one of them to fly the party’s flag. But if you have ten aspirants for a position and eight of them agree to step down for one, the remaining one who did not step down should be allowed to contest against the so called preferred aspirant; you don’t force an aspirant on the people in the name of consensus.
“We have a very flawed system from the wards to the local governments and now to the state. The fourteen local government chairmanship aspirants the governor came with from PDP are the ones he allegedly imposed as chapter chairmen in APC. Now, Alphonsus Eba (Okadigbo) is the new chairman of APC. If I know APC as much as I do, then it’s not yet Uhuru for the new executive members.”