by crossriverwatch admin
There is an alternative National Progressive Political Party known as All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Country.
It is a golden opportunity to end the pernicious and decadent One Party Dictatorship fraudulently foisted on the hapless people of Cross River State of Nigeria since 2003 by then the Governor Donald Duke in collusion with the present Governor Liyel Imoke through rigged election, corruption, harassment, intimidation and hounding of the opposition.
It is time for the people of the Cross River State to emancipate themselves from slavery and bondage.
The one Party Dictatorship was discarded in Eastern Europe and Africa almost 25 years when the wind of change inspired by the then President of the defunct Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev introduced a program of fundamental social, political and economic change known as Perestroika (rebuilding society and economy) and Glasnost (candor or openness of government).
So we cannot be romancing one party dictatorship at this point in time. One Party Government breeds bad leadership, corruption, sycophancy, oppression, tyranny and politics of suffocation. We cannot exhume the ghost of the one party government in our State! It is tantamount to a dictatorship!
We therefore need somebody to initiate a sort of Perestroika and Glasnost in Cross River State after 15 years of crippling One Party Government of PDP that has emasculated opposition and thrives on ‘conclave democracy’ introduced by the erstwhile Governor, Donald Duke, where anointed and patronized candidates are given mantle of leadership whether they are performing or not.
Such One Party structure simply introduces mediocrity and impunity, like we have consistently seen! The will and desire of the electorates are mortgaged to the dictates and wimps of the One Party Government.
The present state of suffocation and strangulation of democracy is caused by the One Party Dictatorship of the Peoples Democratic Party under the thumb rule of Governor Liyel Imoke. The PDP’s brand of guided democracy is akin to the herd mentality.
This is why some of these aspirants are not ashamed to tell you ‘I am Imoke’s boy’! How on earth would somebody who wants to lead the State present himself as somebody’s “boy”?
In the PDP there are numerous Governorship Aspirants or pretenders indulging in a game of hide and seek pretending that they want to lead the State. None of the battery of Governorship aspirants has openly come out to talk to the people on why they want to be Governor. Each and every one of the army of aspirants is waiting for the Governor’s anointing!
The so called aspirants are contented with using proxies in the Social Media to make noise. They are too timid to engage the people. It may well be a case of not having anything to offer the people. You cannot give what you do not have. They are waiting for Governor Imoke to deploy and use the State apparatuses to impose them on us. They are living in a fool’s paradise.
There will be no more impositions! No more electoral robbery!
We in APC will never tolerate electoral heist in the State. There must be free, fair and credible elections in the State come 2015. We want to return power to the people where it rightly belongs.
I pity the people of Cross River North. I support their aspirations, yearnings and expectation for the seat of the Governor of Cross River State of Nigeria come 2015 but I bet they will never realize their dreams under the umbrella of the PDP.
I urge them to join the APC in their numbers in order to realize their dream. The PDP is undeniably double speaking. The APC is unequivocal as far as the dream of the North to produce the next Governor is concerned.
The time for change has come. The APC is a New Deal. I urge you to read the Manifesto of the Party to appreciate the point I am hammering here. The APC has great package for our teeming Youth Population and Women.
Governor Mimiko of Ondo State was a Minister in Obasanjo’s Government. Obasanjo did not want him to be Governor. Governor Mimiko resigned his ministerial appointment and membership of PDP even though Obasanjo had tried to intimidate him by publicly calling him a thief and warning him to desist from contesting the governorship election otherwise he would unleash the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on him. However, Obasanjo’s threats and intimidation did not deter him. He decamped to the Labor Party, contested the election, and won!
The APC will give the Governorship to Cross River North. It is sealed, signed and delivered. But the PDP is merely deceiving the people of the North. Governor Liyel Imoke has a hidden agenda. He is playing games. Otherwise why is Governor Imoke encouraging his friend – Gershom Bassey – to run for Governorship?
I am aware that before he travelled to the Obudu Cattle Ranch to hold a meeting with aspirants in the PDP from the North, there were nocturnal meetings in Calabar with Gershom Bassey who was equally encouraged to run.
The game plan is that there will be confusion and implosion in the North so much so that Gershom Bassey will take advantage to win the PDP Governorship Primary Election.
There is a grand plan by Governor Imoke to impose Gershom Bassey. This is why Gershom Bassey is allowed by Governor Imoke to attend the State Executive Council. This is why Gershom Basseyu has illegally remained the Chairman of the Cross River State Water Board Limited since 1999. This is the principal reason why recently Gershom Bassey’s company was awarded a contract of about N5 Billion to execute the Greater Ikom Water Supply Project without the slightest regard for accountability and transparency.
Gershom Bassey has consistently enjoyed great patronage from Governor Imoke and former Governor, Donald Duke, for the past 15 years. He therefore has a huge political war chest that none of the aspirants in the PDP from the North can match him.
Only the Social Movement represented by the APC can match and stop in their tracks all those who have accumulated monies/resources from our general patrimony and the coffers of the State for the past 15 years and are now ready to deploy their ill gotten wealth to wage war against us.
The APC will revolutionize democracy in the State and transfer the vortex of power to the people. It will end the democracy of the small elite exploiting the general populace. It will put to an end the retrogressive concept of conclave democracy premised on godfatherism, secret cultism and cabalism.
Okoi Obono-Obla is a lawyer, activist and chieftain of the APC.
Twitter: @ obonoobla
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