APC stakeholders in Cross River kick against plot by council chairmen to lure Ayade into conducting council poll before May 29

There is palpable tension in the camp of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as stakeholders have raised alarm over plot by the incumbent 18 Local Council chairmen to lobby the state chief executive, Governor Ben Ayade to conduct Council elections before the May 29 handover date.

The party stakeholders wonder why the council chairmen should be pressurising Governor Ben Ayade to conduct Local government elections barely 37 days before his exit which is contrary to the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) certified date of October 2023.

Recalled that the Cross River State Independent Electoral Commission (CROSIEC) chairman, Prof. Mike Ushie had postponed the 2023 Local government election to October 21, 2023 as against the earlier announced May 24, 2023 date.

Prof. Ushie in a statement had cited budgetary constrain as reason for the shift in date of the election as the approved 2023 Local Government elections was captured in the 2023 appropriation with no supplementary provision in the 2022 budget.

The action according to him was in line with Section 24 (2) of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended. Political parties were directed to sign and collect the rescheduled timetable at it’s headquarters in Calabar and the guidelines remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, the tenure of the current 18 council chairmen and 196 councilors would end on June 1, 2023 meaning the incumbent governor’s successor Senator Prince Bassey Otu, the Governor-elect is to appoint caretaker committee members for the 18 council areas in the state.

An investigation by newsmen revealed that soon after the 2023 general elections and following the emergence of APC as the winner, council chairmen have been mounting pressure on Governor Ben Ayade and the party leadership to conduct local government elections on the earlier scheduled May 23 date.

Information reveals that the 18 council chairmen are claiming that Ayade and the party leadership had promised to compensate them with second term ticket it they work for the success of Senator Prince Bassey Otu and all APC candidates insisting that this is payback time as they are unsure the Governor-Elect and his team would pander to their demand.

A Government House source who confided in newsmen Monday said in a meeting held with the governor recently the council chairmen impressed on the leader of the party to order the state chairman to commence the electoral process in collaboration with CROSIEC that would culminate in local government elections before the May 29, handover date.

It also disclosed that the chairmen had reminded the Governor that they had delivered and therefore should be given automatic tickets as compensation apprehensive that they may be short-out by the incoming government when their tenure expires on June 1, 2023.

According to the source, Governor Ben Ayade was said to have advised the chairmen to meet with the Governor- Elect, Senator Prince Bassey Otu to resolve the issue of automatic tickets for the council chairmen assuring that once he gives approval for the conduct of Local Government Council election, he will conduct it with immediate effect.

He averred that the state party chairman has no such right to pronounce automatic ticket for council chairmen as doing otherwise may cause division in the party and bad blood thus due process should be followed.

Barrister Utum Eteng, one of the APC stakeholders from Yakurr Local Government Area who was also a member of the APC state campaign organisation said there are laid down rules and regulations that guides the conduct of elections and therefore would be an aberration for a government to just wake-up and issue an order to CROSIEC to conduct elections when the present tenure of chairmen ends on June 1, 2023.

Bassey E. Bassey another stakeholder from Calabar said it is the height of desperation for power and an attempt to arm-twist Ayade into pleasing them on the pretext that they worked hard for the success of the party at the last polls and queried whether the chairmen were the only people who worked for the party during the 2023 general elections.

By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)