By Stanley Ekpenyong, Calabar
The immediate past Cross River state Governor, Senator Liyel Imoke, and Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, are set for a battle over the People’s Democratic Party, PDP ticket for Cross River 2023 Gubernatorial election.
The two political leaders are said to be oiling their political machinery in preparation for what watchers of the State’s politics say will be a titanic duel between a home-based godfather and an “offshore” godfather.
This is as a section of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC stakeholders in the state are reportedly rooting for an industrialist and a Commissioner for Lands during the administration of former Governor Donald Duke, Architect Bassey Ndem Eyo, for the party’s Gubernatorial ticket.
Recall that the State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, defected to the APC from the PDP last May, taking with him many bigwigs of his former party.
His defection has since altered Cross River’s political outlook which before now, was a one-party( PDP) state.
Ayade, from the Northern Senatorial District of the State, has vowed to enthrone a successor from the Southern Senatorial district, Architect Eyo’s district, in the spirit of equity and fair play and in accordance with the existing rotational governorship principle in Cross River.
This magazine has it on good authority that Imoke has called Wike’s bluff and is going all out to push the gubernatorial aspiration of his friend and Senator representing Cross River South in the Senate, Gershon Bassey.
Wike, on the other hand, is bent on installing Senator Sandy Onor representing Cross River Central in the Senate as the State’s next Governor.
Wike and the Senator’s friendship dates back to the time both men were Local Government Chairmen in their respective States.
Back then, Senator Onor, The Source was told, worked assiduously for the emergence of Wike as the National President of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria, ALGON, a favour the Rivers state Governor say he now wants to reciprocate by rewarding Senator Onor with the PDP ticket and, subsequently, deliver him as Governor.
Matters come to a head during a recent meeting of Cross River PDP stakeholders at the Abuja residence of Imoke.
The meeting which was held at the instance of Governor Wike was said to have taken a dramatic twist when the Rivers State Governor, in an imperial and magisterial fashion, emphatically told the gathering that Senator Onor and nobody else will get the PDP ticket.
Narrates an insider privy to what transpired at the meeting: “The gathering which included His Excellency Senators Imoke, Gershom Bassey, Jarigbe Agom, Sandy Onor, State Chairman of the party, Barrister Venatius Ikem, former Governor Donald Duke and the PDP National Chairman, Senator Iyorchia Ayu, was indeed summoned by Wike and it held at Imoke’s Abuja residence.
“At the meeting, Wike emphatically declared that what every one of them has heard about his support for Senator Onor’s gubernatorial ambition was after all not a rumour.
He told them that he called for the meeting to formally inform them that Sandy will fly, willy-nilly, the PDP flag in next year’s gubernatorial election.
Wike further told his bemused audience that Senator Sandy Onor gave him solid support during their ALGON days and that he was, therefore, reciprocating that gesture by sparing nothing to ensure that he installed him ( Senator Onor) as the next Governor of Cross River State.
He boasted he has never lost a political battle and was not prepared to lose the battle to get Sandy into office as Cross River Governor.
“The River State Governor went on to explain that he decided to call for the meeting so that they will hear directly from the horse’s mouth and stop treating his support for Sandy as a mere rumour.
Further revealing what happened at the Abuja meeting, another insider said: “Turning to Senator Gershom Bassey who is Imoke’s choice for the PDP guber ticket, Wike advised him to quietly collect a return ticket back to the Senate, promising to fully fund his Senatorial campaign”
Meanwhile, the Imoke/ Gershom camp has scoffed at what it described as Wike’s empty posturing concerning the PDP ticket.
A member of the camp who pleaded anonymity “because we have been instructed not to make sensitive comments”, told The Source that “by the time the PDP guber primary election for Cross River is done and dusted, Wike and his vassals in this state will come to the grim reality that only Cross Riverians and not outsiders will determine their future, including who becomes their next governor”
“Cross River is not an outpost of another state. Forget the empty posturing, the outcome of our party’s guber primary election will exposure some people’s emptiness. Just watch and see”, he further said.
In the APC, elements of the party in the state rooting for Architect Ndem Eyo hinged their choice on his urbane, detribalised and cerebral nature. They say he also has a deep war chest to run a guber campaign.
“Like our current Governor, Professor Ayade, Ndem is detribalised, he sees the entire state as his constituency and this can be gleaned from the number of Cross Riverians from the three senatorial zones and even non-Cross Riverians working in his companies. This is the type of Governor a culturally and ethnically diverse state like Cross River needs at this moment”, said a top Cross River APC chieftain.
Besides, Architect Ndem Eyo, according to party stalwarts pushing for his candidacy, performed creditably well as a Commissioner and when in charge of Tinapa.
They described him as the brainbox of the Donald Duke administration.
Said another party bigwig: “He didn’t abandon the state after coming as an appointee but rather established industries here and created jobs for our youths unlike some of his colleagues who abandoned Cross River at the end of their appointment
“He has invested billions of his money in the State and employs hundreds of people, he is also a team player and a servant leader who helped militants get amnesty and restored peace to Akpabuyo and Bakassi.
“I can also tell you authoritatively that Architect Ndem Eyo has a huge war chest, deep pocket to prosecute a guber campaign.”
