By Sylvia Etta
Days after Senator Liyel Imoke inaugurated the guber campaign council for the Peoples Democratic Party with an appeal to aggrieved and defected members to come back to the party, National Vice Chairman, South South of the opposition All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Hilliard Eta has advised defectors to be wary of such appeal as it is meant to nail them completely from political reckoning.
Eta said PDP had reached a crescendo in the celebration of impunity; crass insensitivity, corruption, lack of internal democracy and has only an edge over the APC which has a rich history of democratic successes in the area of imposition of candidates.
He noted that as the PDP could not perfect on internal democracy, “one wonders what kind of benefit the defectors would stand to gain in going back to their vomit?”
Describing Senator Liyel Imoke’s appeal as ‘’tempting and cajoling’’, the APC Chieftain contended that “even though the defector’s discretions were required on the issue, but they should realize that the mood indicates that the appeal by the governor was intended to covertly drag them into opposition against the APC government that is waiting in the wings.’’
He added that: “When Buhari takes over power by the announcement of the presidential elections result in February 14 or 15 as the case may be, we would have had a Cross River state with APC waiting in the wings where an Army of opposition politicians of the reactionary conservatives stock are being raised.
“They would form a new generation of politicians who would be clamoring for change at odd hours. So on that note, I advise our brothers either on the side of change now or still contemplating over change to be wary of the current temptation to remain with the conservatives. It could be cajoling!’’
Eta who bared his mind during an interview recorded electronically and made available to CrossRiverWatch by his Special Adviser, Media and Publicity, Mr. Bassey Ita, predicted that APC will win in the state during the coming elections.
He also reminded Cross Riverians to recall that the political history of the state has shown that the state has never remained an opposition to the central government.
He maintained that “Buhari’s victory in the presidential poll will signal a smooth change of baton in the state; that is because Cross Riverians would not want to vote and remain in opposition PDP considering their antecedent loyalty and dignity in the politics of the country.”
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2 commentsOn Don’t Return To PDP, APC Tell Defectors In Cross River
We need to advance to a stage where election results are actually based on the number of votes cast. The current situation where votes are arbitrarily allocated is the cause of the rigging. A fool-proof system where the PVC can only be used once and the votes are electronically counted is the way forward. The power of incumbency will also fade.
There must also be a ban on gifts by politicians. This would allow voters to cast their votes based on their consciences. That way, they will be able to vote out non-performing governments that failed to implement needed policies to change the lives of the citizens.
Those in Labour Party are aware of their innate strength and ability to bring down PDP. They repesent the body and soul of the former PDP. That is why they are panicking, if not why are they rushing back to the field instead of waiting for swearing in as usual? Their time is up!