Political dark clouds have started to gather in Cross River State, a largely serene state in Southern Nigeria which tends to indicate that Governor Ben Ayade’s re-election bid promises to be stormy.
Ayade has been pursuing an ambitious industrialisation agenda that aims at re-positioning the economy of the state in a post-oil era and to ensure jobs for all citizens of the state.
Laudable as the governor’s agenda appears, the main opposition, All Progressives Congress (APC) has firing at the seeming dynamic governor claiming that he is not good enough for the state in 2019, the general election year. Apparently not persuaded, some concerned groups are busy singing the praise of Governor Ayade and endosing him for a second-term in office.
At the moment, the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC) and some public functionaries as well as some pro-Ayade activists are locking horns over the legality of the endorsement of the governor all over the place for a second term in office. Our local sources in Calabar, the state capital, say about 10 of the 15 local government areas have endorsed him.
IPAC Chairman Sunday Michael is not comfortable with the ongoing public campaigns of some power seekers ahead of the 2019 general elections. His argument is that the electoral legislation in the country clearly spells out the time for such electioneering outreach.
But the state’s Information and Orientation Commissioner, Mrs. Rosemary Archibong and the governor’s Special Adviser on Inter Party Affairs, Austin Ibok do not appear to be on the same page with IPAC as they are thinking otherwise.
IPAC is arguing that the display of a banners or posters bearing the faces of power seekers was in contravention of the Electoral Act of 2010 as amended, pointing out that the Resident Electoral Commissioner had already warned of consequences of jumping the gun.
Brushing IPAC’s claim aside, Mrs. Archibong said that the endorsements are coming from a group of people with no political associations, and when confronted with different facts that stated otherwise by hosts Agba Jalingo and Jonathan Ugbal, she insisted it was not staged managed and had no political undertone.
Ibok said the endorsements were in order even as he wondered why there was a ruse over such activities given that same was happening elsewhere. IPAC is however, standing their grounds, insisting that any form of endorsement by political parties is condemnable.