Cross River: Why PDP is in Trouble

By Stanley Ekpenyong, Calabar

Cross River’s political firmament is not looking good for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, following the defection of the State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, from the party to the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

The Governor defected to the APC on May 20, 2021, citing the need to sucket Cross River to the centre as his primary reason.

The intense passion and excitement among the people generated by the Governor’s movement to the APC appear a fatal blow to the PDP in the state.

“Unless a miracle happens, our party may not survive this tsunami. Never in our wildest dream did we contemplate this haemorrhage in our party.

“We thought Ayade was bluffing when he said that if he moved, Cross River would move with him”, a PDP top-notch from the Southern Senatorial district of the State lamented.

Another party stalwart who did not want his name in print also expressed surprise at the rate at which thousands of young Cross Riverians are registering in the APC following Governor Ayade’s defection “as if something is propelling them”

According to him, more surprising to his party, the PDP, is the fact that contrary to their projection, all the Commissioners, except four, followed the Governor into the APC and virtually all members of the 25- member House of Assembly are also with the Governor in his new party.

Essentially, it has been a broom revolution of sort in Cross River since Professor Ayade joined the APC. Apart from House members, Commissioners and political appointees who left with him, all the elected Chairmen and Councillors in the 18 Local Government Areas of the State have also joined the APC.

Some National Assembly members have equally defected.

All wards, Local Government and State structures of the PDP in the State have collapsed into the APC. Some APC members in the state now refer to the PDP as “defunct PDP”.

At a recent APC stakeholders integration dinner in Calabar which had in attendance several political heavyweights in the state, including former Senate Majority Leader, Senator Victor Ndoma Egba, Former Minister for Niger- Delta Affairs, Pastor Usani Uguru Usani, former Presidential aide, Obono Obla, APC Governorship candidate in the 2019 election, Senator Owan Eno, Senators Bassey Otu and Florence Ita- Giwa among others, the Governor had declared ” if you are not here ( in the APC fold), you are nowhere” in an apparent reference to what analysts have described as the dwindling fortunes of the Cross River PDP and the rapid acceptance of the APC in the state.

Meanwhile, delighted at the turn of the event, Ayade, speaking through his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Christian Ita, has thanked the people of the State “for their love and solidarity”.

“The State Governor, His Excellency, Professor Ben Ayade, notes with delight, the infectious broom revolution sweeping across the entire length and breadth of Cross River State since he joined the All Progressives Party (APC).

“His Excellency, particularly, salutes the love of millions of  Cross River youths who have so far, without prompting, taken up membership cards of the All Progressives Congress, APC in solidarity with him.

“His Excellency restates that no individual or group no matter how highly placed can stop this mass movement.

“Events of the past weeks show clearly it is a movement Cross Riverians have been yearning for. They only needed a trigger to ignite it.

“His Excellency recognises that no other love and appreciation for what he has done in Cross River these past six years can be greater than this massive solidarity”,  Ita said in a press statement.

The statement further stated that “His Excellency appreciates and thanks Cross Riverians for their understanding as to why he moved to the APC which is to socket Cross River to the centre.

“The effusive show of love Cross Riverians have showered on His Excellency has made him realise that the best investment anyone can make is an investment in the people.

“Consequently, His Excellency hereby announces that he will  further expand the frontiers of Government and put food on more tables as soon as certain discussions with the federal government crystalize”

Observers are of the view that the expansion of the frontiers of Government by Ayade, which saw him appointing thousands of people into his Government, especially the youth which has been termed “food on the table” by some social commentators, is the masterstroke that has triggered the broom revolution in the state.

Said a keen follower of the unfolding political reality in Cross River: “The truth is that there is no family in Cross River, no kindred and no village that does not have at least one of their sons or daughters as an appointee in the Ayade Government.

“Under such circumstances, do you expect such Appointees and those who depend on them for survival to abandon the man who puts food on their table?”