The crisis that has been rocking the All Progressives Congress in Cross River State may have taken another shape in the last 48 hours and dimmed her political chances in the state with the purported suspension of Niger Delta Affairs minister, Usani Uguru Usani, from the party in the state.
Sources within the party confided in www.calitown.com that Usani’s suspension maybe linked to “his inability to demonstrate leadership at the highest level in our party. His tactics have been divisive and seem certain to tear us apart if we do not stand up and ask him to leave”, one source said.
But one Emmanuel Okon, thinking otherwise, points fingers at Mary Ekpere-Etta, Hilliard Etta, Mary Ekpere’s husband and APC Deputy Chairman South-South, and John Ochalla, Acting Chairman of APC, Cross River State, as the masterminds behind Usani’s current suspension.
Okon posted on one social media platform that “…Usani is believed to have exposed the deals the Ettas, Ochalla and some members of the APC Exco have with Governor Ayade and Former VP Atiku. They have been collecting money from Atiku to drown APC-CRS for both Atiku and Ayade to find it easy in the forthcoming polls. Since Usani is a known no-nonsense man, he did not take the case likely, because according to him Cross River must deliver the Buhari – Osinbajo ticket come 2019.” He also alludes to the fact that Ekpere-Eta is an Ayade appointee and is working to keep her job while Hillard Eta, her husband is fingered as having been patronised with contracts from Ayade. Ochalla too is mentioned as having done a contract too. “It is for their selfish need that all of this is happening”, another source added.
The APC in CRS observers say, has never been able to put her act together and become a potent alternative to the PDP in the state. She has also been unable to “capitalise on the shortcomings of the Ayade administration and her unpopularity with the electorate, to swing power her way. I can tell you for certain that their endless bickering has given Ayade victory; mark my words”, an observer said.
