Judex Okoro, Calabar

As the race for the pending by-election for Cross River northern senatorial zone hots up, stakeholders have have insisted on zoning the slot to Ogoja community for equity and fairness.

The Independent National Electoral
Commissn, INEC, had on May 21, 2020 announced plans to conduct by-election for Cross River Northern senatorial zone following the death of Senator Rose Oko on March 23, 2020.

The stakeholders, in a separate interviews, maintained that for over fifty years running, the people of Ogoja have never tasted the Red Chamber even as it is one of the oldest local government areas in the country.

According to them, out of the five local governments in the northern zone only Ogoja has never produced a senator even as Yala and Obanliku has produced twice each.

Those who have represented the zone in the past include Senators Joseph Wayas, former Senate President, (Obanliku) Kanu Agabi, SAN, (Bekwarra), Adede Musa (Obanliku), Greg Ngaji ( Yala), Ben Ayade ( Obudu) and late Rose Oko ( Yala).

In an interview in Calabar at the weekend, one of the stakeholders and a former member House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Peter Igbodor, decried the consistent betrayal Ogoja people have passed through, revealing that it was unanimously agreed in 2019 that after Rose Oko it would be the turn of Ogoja.

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Igbodor, who represented Ogoja/Yala federal constituency between 1999 and 2007, wondered why the north is killing the egg that lays the golden egg.

He said: “When we, (the stakeholders) met in Chief Linus Okoms house in 2019 this same issue came up and after brotherly deliberations, we agreed to give Rose Oko another chance not because she is from Yala but on sympathy grounds.

“In that meeting we collectively agreed that after Rose it’s Ogoja. Now that our Lord took her, politics have taken sway .

“What happened to that loved decisions? Ours is a case of betrayal by our brothers and sisters due to politics. Why can’t we allow an Ogoja son or daughter be addressed as senator?

Corroborating Igbodor, Ntufam Justin Justin Agba Agba, a senior citizen from Obudu local governemnt area, said it is the highest level of injustice to deny Ogoja people another opportunity to produce a Senator this time round.

Agba, 71, and a retired civil servant, stated that “it is unfair to keep marginalising a segment of the north in the sharing of elelcted political offices”, adding “that now all the other communities have had their turn in the Senate, Ogoja should take theirs.

“I, therefore, advise all other aspirants who are not from Ogoja local government area to, as a matter of equity and fairness, step down. I equally advise all parties to give preference to Ogoja politicians who have shown interest in the senatorial seat.”