APC councilors in Cross River threaten to dump party

APC members of local councils in Cross River State numbering over 100 have threatened to cross carpet to another party over poor pay, failure to release funds, and lack of legislative training.

The councilors made this remark on Friday after a meeting at the Ikom Local Government Council headquarters.

George Ajangson, who spoke on behalf of the councilors, told reporters that the state government had not treated them fairly.

Mr. Ajangson said: “As councilors, we are the closest to the people, but we are underfunded by the state government; there is no release of money for capital projects and there is no legislative training to improve the legislation”.

He said the councilors agreed to start an impeachment process against the 18 council presidents in the state.

“The state government had handed over N150 million to each local government president for capital projects, yet no councilors have been brought in or given any projects to execute.

“Unfortunately also, of the 22 months we have been in office, we have only received legislative votes for six months, a situation that is painful and worrying,” he said.

Ajangson urged the state government to immediately release the councilors’ furniture and wardrobe allowances without delay.

The councilman’s threat is like aggravating Governor Ben Ayade’s political problems ahead of the 2023 general election.

Meanwhile, the court recently fired the speaker of the Cross River House of Assembly and 17 other legislators in the state for defecting from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to APC.

The court is expected to rule on April 6 in a similar case against Governor Ayade.