Cross River State can be described as a one-party state as demonstrated in the last local government elections in which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) swept the polls with opposition parties trailing behind with just five councillorship seats out of 196 wards.
Besides, Governor Liyel Imoke’s politics of accommodation and humility in service have weakened the hitherto political bigwigs who were poised to oppose PDP and his administration. This, of course, has made it virtually impossible to have dissenting voices and has brought all shades of opinion into the ruling party. The fight now is within the party.
With this development, the race for the 2011 presidential election in Cross River state seems a one-way win-win for President Goodluck Jonathan. The political class and major power blocs in the state have all collapsed for the emergence of the incumbent in the forthcoming PDP primaries.
Investigations by Daily Sun reveal that all the political heavy weights in the state are either directly or indirectly involved in the Jonanthan/Sambo 2011 project. For instance, there are three major groups including Goodluck Support Group (GSG), South-South Democratic Voice (SOSODEV) and Jonathan Consolidation 2011. They have spread their tentacles in all nooks and crannies of the state drumming support for Jonathan.
Co-ordinated by Mr. Eko Atu, Lord Silver and Bassey Ibor respectively, these groups have been mobilizing seriously. The Goodluck Support Group is said to be one of the pet projects of Imoke, and to ensure the success of the groups, elected officers in the state are said to be contributing heavily to their funding.
Speaking to Daily Sun on their activities to install the president, the state co-ordinator of the Goodluck Support Group, said, “Within the next few days, President Jonathan team will know that Cross River is in support of him and his team. That is authentic.
Now that the time-table is out, we will go into works because we are not leaving anything to chance”.
Atu, who is one of the loyalists of Imoke and the Director-General, state Rural Development Agency(RUDA) contended that “the group was already mobilising delegates across the country ahead of the PDP National Convention to face any contenders for the party’s presidential ticket and we are waiting for anybody to challenge him (Jonathan) at the convention. We are sure he will win the PDP ticket.”
Not relenting, he said the group will also mobilise people to take part in the next voters registration and elections, stressing that “we will do everything possible to work towards a credible elections”.
Equally drumming up support for Jonathan’s presidency, Ibor, who is the Cross River State co-ordinator of Jonathan Consolidation 2011, said “for Cross River, President Goodluck Jonathan will definitely complete the 8-year term joint ticket which he started with his late boss, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua because we will vote for him en masse.”
The group stated that “any attempt to stop a faithful and committed leader as President Jonathan, would be seen as an act of disservice to the collective psyche of Nigerians and would be a big disappointment to many Nigerians. Vowing to fight on until he clinches the PDP ticket.”
To show total support for Jonathan, the Cross River Elders Forum in an enlarged meeting held recently unanimously endorsed Jonathan/Sambo ticket for 2011, and passed a vote of confidence on the administration.
The enlarged forum chaired by Chief Victor Effiom, a veteran journalist, had in what they called “Calabar Declaration” resolved to not only canvass for Jonathan’s emergence, but declared the state safe for him and called on all sons and daughters of the state to queue behind them.
The elders forum comprising all statesmen, retired technocrats and politicians across the 18 area councils. It also resolved to engage in a high level consultation and campaigns on how to deliver Jonathan in the pending PDP primaries. Notable among them includes Ambassador Akpan Obi Odu, Etubom Anthony Ani, Ambassador M.T Mbu, Chief Linus Okom, Senator Joseph Wayas, Senator Adede Musa and Prof. Evara Esu, former Vice-Chancellor, UNICAL.
The forum maintained that the South-South, especially the Cross River people, for too long had been relegated to the background and would now at this time, join the mainstream politics.
Besides, the women are also mobilizing for the project. It was learnt that women leaders including Mrs. Theresa Ezema, PDP, women leader, Mrs. Grace Ekanem, Senator Florence Ita Giwa, Ntunkae Grace Eyo Ita and a host of others are deeply involved in the fight to return Jonathan to Aso Rock. These women are said to be making tacit overtures to some powerful Igbo women for support.
For Atiku Abubakar, there are strong indications that he is gradually making in-roads into the state through some National Assembly members who are discreetly working for him. Atiku and some incumbent law-makers are said to have entered into agreement to work for him while he in return sponsor their election back to national assembly.
Sources close to Atiku’s camp in Calabar confided in Daily Sun that the former Vice-President’s strategic team has penetrated some powerful politicians in the state, and promised them juicy appointments if they can deliver. This group, it was learnt, has been working on the delegates with a view to swaying them to Atiku’s side.
One Ntufam Innocent Ntui, a PDP stalwart from the Central Senatorial Zone, admitted that though his “boss Atiku” has come into reckoning unlike before, he admitted that it was a herculean task selling the former Vice-president in the state because virtually everybody is rooting for the incumbent.
His word: “I am an Atiku man, but the ovation now is totally against him, and I doubt if he will secure even one-third of the delegates’ votes because Imoke is in total grip of the party and the sentiment is much.”
It was learnt that the state might not be a fertile ground for him as his impact is not felt at all. Most of them who claim to be co-ordinating for the former Vice-President are relatively unknown politicians and seen in political circles as light weights.
Daily Sun gathered that Atiku,s campaign machinery has penetrated the PDP caucuses across the state and has succeeded in wooing some die-hard politicians, especially automatic delegates in the state and National Assembly members, and this group is said to have been traversing the length and breadth of the state trying to mobilize support for him.
It was learnt that most of the big-wigs are afraid of identifying openly with Atiku’s project for fear of being blackmailed out of Governor’s favour.
Chief Mike Agbor, a PDP stalwart from Bekwarra in Northern Senatorial District, admitted that the race will be tough in the state considering the massive support for Jonathan. Agbor, who claimed to have worked with Atiku during the PDM days, however, maintained that in a democracy, people are free to express their opinions, adding that in a contest of this nature a winner will emerge.
But political observers argue that Atiku and his group will not go far because the clamour for Jonathan is like a “tsunami” that can sweep off every opponent in the state.
This, indeed, signals the total surrender of the state to the incumbent president, and marks the beginning of a new era of politicking in the state where for the first time all dissenting voices, ethnic groups, power blocs and political god-fathers come together to front one presidential candidate.
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