By Obio Monday
The Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Cross River State, Barr. Alphonsus Eba has revealed that the APC in the state has began the process for the re-election of the Governor-elect, Senator (Prince) Bassey Edet Otu, in 2027.
Barr. Eba disclosed this in Calabar, during a media parley with newsmen in Calabar.
He said Senator Otu’s eight years as governor of the state is not negotiable, as the state has accepted that zoning is the best way to go.
Eba said:
“We have started the process for the re-election of Prince Bassey Edet Otu for the next 4 years after he takes his first oath by 29th of May. Cross Riverians have come to accept that zoning is the best way to go, so his 8 years is not negotiable and we know ahead of time that he will deliver.”
The APC Chairman warned that those that did not work for the party, will not be considered for political appointment.
“We won’t allow anyone to distract us and I have warned them, don’t go and patronize any merchant to think that he can give you appointment and I have said it boldly that this party will not fold it hands and allow funny characters to come and take glory for our hardwork.
“We will support and allow the governor to succeed but we will not allow the mistakes that we made under Governor Ben Ayade to repeat itself. In his (Ayade) kindness, he tolerated a lot of things and that is why people abused it and at the end of the day, it was not a good one for us.
Barr. Eba accused appointees of Governor Ayade of collecting money from the governor during the election and working against him at the field, resulting in Governor Ayade losing his election bid to return to the Senate.
“Appointees of government will collect money and go to the field and work against a man who has kept food on their table for 8 years”. Eba alleged.
Eba vowed that those who were involved in anti-party activities during the 2023 election will be punished.
“Anybody that was involved in anti-party activities must give account. We will not condone it. No amount of blackmail can ever distract my focus. We are focused on the tribunal now, we are focused on forming government and I have declared, ‘monkey work, monkey chop, baboon no work, baboon no chop ‘ and I’m glad because the governor himself and the incoming governor have approved of this.”.
On the non-payment of salaries of civil servants and political appointees, Barr. Eba appealed to Governor Ayade to pay their salaries.
He said:
“The issue of civil servants has nothing to do with us. They are not people under us. We only made appeal to the governor to help delay payments of salaries so that we can work on this (anti-party activities). Please just pay civil servants and political appointees”.
