APC Nat’l Women Leader says party in talks with LP to win Cross River governorship election
The National Women Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Dr. Betta Edu, has disclosed that her party has opened discussions with the Labour Party to form an alliance ahead of the Saturday, March 11 governorship election in Cross Rivers State.
Edu disclosed this on Saturday while speaking on an Arise TV morning programme.
Recall that the Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, won the highest number of votes in Cross Rivers State in the just-concluded Saturday 25 presidential election leaving the APC and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s candidates in second and third places respectively.
This development has led to suggestions that the ruling party is in danger of losing the state in the March 11 governorship election, especially given the loss of the outgoing Governor Ben Ayde in his senatorial bid in the Saturday, February 25, elections.
However, Edu disagreed with the prediction, insisting that the APC still remains the party to beat in the state.
And doubling down she said despite losing in the presidential election in the state her party still won most national assembly seats in the state including two senatorial seats and all but one House of Representatives seats.
“I guess you know that all other senatorial seats in Cross Rivers state were won by APC and also want to put this to the fore that the house of representatives’ seats were won by ACP except in the North zone. So, APC won in the Central, APC won in the South. We only lost in the northern part of the state and when you see the difference between the APC and the Labour Party that won the state, you will see that it’s a little margin and that was because of the Northern senatorial district,” Edu said.
Speaking on the APC chances in the governorship election, the former Commissioner expressed confidence that the party’s candidate, Senator Prince Otu has the full support of the people and will emerge victorious.
She also said the ruling party are in talks with the Labour Party on a possible alliance that will further bolster the APC’s chances in the March 11 election.
“But definitely going into the next election, our candidate in the APC Senator Prince Otu is very popular. He has a full support on ground, and he has the support of cross riverians and we’re very sure he’s going to win. Remember the PDP in Cross River didn’t come second, they came third, a very far third, so PDP is basically out of the picture.
“We’re going into the next election, Labour Party doesn’t have a candidate and most of the people who voted for the Labour Party are actually full supporters of the governorship candidate of the APC and they would vote for him.
“For PDP, we’re not worry about them, they’re not a threat to us. The Labour Party, we’re discussing with them and working hand-in-hand with them because they do not even have a governorship candidate, they would work with us in APC and we will achieve victory for senator Otu.”
Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)
