By Aplefe Ojong
Inspired by the outcome of the March 28 presidential elections which saw the emergence of its candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari as President-Elect,the All Progressives Congress[APC] in Cross River state has been involved in last minute push to clinch the governorship polls billed for April 11.
Last weekend the party held a motorcade rally round Calabar after an airport reception for its governorship candidate, Mr.Odey Ochicha.
National Vice Chairman, South South of the party, Hilliard Eta who is an indigene of Cross River state told journalists in an interview in Calabar recently that the state would be worse off if the people allow the Peoples Democratic Party[PDP] clinch the governorship seat.
According to him with a debt profile of over N400 billion it would be wise for the electorate to give the leeway to the APC through the ballot to take up the challenge of fixing the huge indebtedness of the state adding that ‘’aside the debt issue,the APC central government will enlist the state to benefit in its policy agenda.’’
Eta said, “there are so many benefits that accrue to any state that aligns with the central government, but if we do not align by voting for the APC to take the lead in the coming elections I do not know what justification we would have to go to the federal government for help.”
To accentuate his position the APC chieftain recall that “Rivers state suffered the issue of portable drinking water because the Amaechi’s government never had access to a loan facility from the World Bank since the federal government of President Jonathan refused to give a guarantee for the loan. Remember that was not to be because Amaechi had pulled out of PDP and so the two could not align or agree.’’
Eta urged “Cross River electorate should turn out en masse on Saturday April 11 and vote the All Progressives Congress [APC] candidates at all levels to victory so that our state will not be seen to be a lone ranger and for us to benefit from the APC’s people-oriented manifesto when implemented by the incoming federal government.”
He urged the masses to shun those campaigning for the PDP and Labor Party leadership of the state adding that they do not have the collective destiny and progress of the people at heart.
Also ,the party’s governorship candidate for the April 11 polls, Mr.Odey Ochicha said the state was in an economic mess due to the misgovernance of the PDP led government and urged the electorate to save the state from the looming quagmire by voting the All Progressives Congress [APC] in the coming polls.
He reassured that the APC under his watch will in concert with the central government remodel Cross River, modernize it and make it a true paradise in keeping with its nomenclature as the literary paradise.
Ochicha who spoke in a separate interview in Calabar last weekend maintained that his government will prioritize agriculture, manufacturing and tourism with the basic aim of creating jobs and developing world class infrastructure adding that this can only be perfected through a robust partnership with the Federal Government that will open the vista for more foreign investment in the state.
He said the state can only be important in national political reckoning through the victory of the APC at the April 11 election.