C’ River 2023: Ejagam nation faults weaponizing ethnicity in political campaigns by guber candidate

There is unease in Cross River State ahead of the 2023 governorship elections as prominent persons from Ejagam speaking Local Government Areas in the state have visibly condemned the use of ethnicity during political campaigns by Senator (Prof.) Sandy Onor, the Peoples Democratic Party governorship candidate.

The people’s voice was echoed by the former Deputy National Chairman-South of the All Progressives Congress Ntufam Hilard Eta from Calabar Municipal Council and Senator Ndoma-Egba, former Senator leader and ex-chairman of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) from Etung Local Government Area berated Senator Onor for saying it is the turn of Ejagam speaking people to produce the next governor of Cross River State in 2023 contrary to the Back-To-South Agenda in the power-rotation equation in the State.

The duo bared their minds and reasoned that since Mr. Donald Duke, the former governor of Cross River from the southern senatorial district handed over office to Senator Liyel Imoke from the central senatorial district and at the end of the administration, succeeded by the incumbent Senator (Prof.) Ben Ayade from the Northern Senatorial district, it would be tantamount to committing political suicide for someone from the central senatorial district where Senator Onor hails from, to lay claim to the coveted slot.

In his reaction, a PDP chieftain who spoke on condition of anonymity said that both Etta and Ndoma-Egba are only trying to play the APC card since the rotation arrangement in Cross River State has ended with Governor Ayade’s administration hence the opening up of the political space for candidates irrespective of which part of the State they come from to run for the office.

And furthermore, a member of the Caterpillar Movement, the campaign organization of senator (Prof.) Sandy Onor said that members of the APC are only crying more than the bereaved as they want to use the power-rotation arrangement to field a candidate who cannot match the political wit of their principal candidate to beat in the 2023 governorship elections.

By: Archibong Emmanuel
(Snr. Reporter)