It is not in doubt that a majority of politicians in Cross River State belong to the erstwhile ruling political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The party in Cross River understandably won the just concluded National Elections though with an unusual challenge. It also hopes to win the governorship election coming up on the 11th of April.
It would seem, however, that the outcome of the Presidential election which the PDP lost woefully to the newly formed APC has made the victory in the State lose its sweet taste. Not many politicians believe the state under PDP will fare well. Not many even believe the incoming PDP government will remain in the Party for long!
This is understood against the background of a very dismal economic outlook of the state whose allocation has been virtually mortgaged to banks to secure loans for major capital projects that cannot in the short term contribute any meaningful revenue to the state coffers.
It is worst that most of the state agencies that in the past absorbed some politicians have been sold off or privatised in the last 16 years.
Political leverage from the center has sometimes cushioned the very difficult situation in the State sometimes through direct injection of funds in es-spirit-d-corps fashion and sometimes by direct executive orders to reduce the amount banks can deduct from the state’s allocation even against documented agreements freely reached between banks and the state!
With the loss of power at the center, the very extreme involvement of the state government in the election that it’s party just lost and even the open abuse or if you like ill will towards the now President elect exemplified by the open celebration of “they came and they fell…” comment of the present Governor during the outgoing President’s tour to the state, a lot remains to be seen how the new administration can otherwise manage it’s relationship with the incoming administration, without decamping out rightly.
The problem with decamping, as simple as it looks portends grave danger to the new administration. If PDP is resilient enough to find a National figure under which it can rebuild towards the next general election will remain formidable despite the governor moving out.
The populace seems largely sold on the umbrella as it is and that gives any serious politician a head start in mobilisation.
Secondly, how the new administration will manage to succeed in the face of the state’s bleak economic outlook will be a miracle because expectations are very high for a departure from the politics of deliberate imposition of poverty as a control measure on the people as a state policy.
Whether in PDP or APC, the resistance to that will remain as it has started already. It might just as well find full expression in the next general election in 4 years time, not 8!
I will keep my advice to myself but the need to point out the pitfalls is incumbent on me as a party member. Managing the umbrella skilfully will be tricky now that we have options!
The John Okons of the polity had better find solace far from the party secretariat because they have no role in a challenging environment.
They can only be called to come and chop!
They have chopped and can now leave serious minded people to manage the damage they have caused or shamelessly decamp with their pyrrhic victory to another political party to find refuge!
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