Politics

BREAKING: APC postpones guber primaries in Cross River

Published

6 years ago

September 30, 2018

The Cross River State governorship primary slated for Sunday in the various wards has been postponed to Monday due to late arrival of materials.
Briefing Journalists in Calabar on Sunday, the National Vice Chairman of the party in the South South, Ntufam Hilliard Etta said the postponement was due to the late arrival of the seven-member election committee members sent to the state.

While denying the allegation that he was frustrating the process by allowing some persons to hijack materials, Etta said when the committee members arrived the state, they had to pay courtesy calls on some security outfits including the Police, the Department of State Security and other security outfits.

“I have heard the allegation that I have connived to hijack election materials. Let me assure all our members that nothing is farther from the truth. We have just returned from visits to security services and INEC and the materials are in the custody of the Ali Magaji committee. The materials will be distributed and by tomorrow, election will commence in all the 196 wards in the state.

Etta said it was wrong for anybody to say that he convened a state executive meeting in a private residence on Saturday, saying the constitution of the party does not give him the authority to convene state executive committee meeting “excerpt in very serious circumstances.”

The National Vice Chairman however, said as an indigene of the state and a national officer in charge of the South South zone, he cannot stay aloof in the selection of a governorship candidate, saying “that makes me a conspirator.”

His words: “l am not empowered to convene a state executive committee meeting and by the constitution of the party, you cannot hold that meeting in a private house.

“But I must say that as a leader, I am interested in who becomes my governorship candidate,” he said.

“It is not because amount a leader that I don’t have preferences. I am a conspirator and I have the right to convene a private meeting based my interest.”

“I was a victim of injustice during the early days of my political career. I have the right to support any governorship aspirant of my choice,” he stated.

Earlier, two governorship aspirants, former Minister of Culture and Tourism, Chief Edem Duke and Prof. Eyo Etim Nyong had alleged that materials meant for the conduct of the electioneering had been hijacked by the National Vice Chairman, claiming that he was in favor of a particular governorship aspirant.

The two aspirants, who threatened protest votes against any favored aspirant, claimed that information available to them showed that the committee members were not interested in conducting a free and fair election.

But barely an hour after their briefing which was held at the Transcorp hotel in Calabar at 2pm, Etta and Owan-Enoh emerged to debunk their allegation, with Etta claiming that members of the committee only arrived Sunday evening and the materials were still in their custody.