As it has become the norm, a broad spectrum of politicians will today, January 1, 2017, converge on Itigidi, Abi Local Government Area, Cross River Central, as guests to former governor Liyel Imoke, to rub minds, re-engineer political alliances and trade political stakes, www.calitown.com has just been informed.
While attendees will be sumptously feted, all talk will centre on an assessment of the PDP government in the state. Several politicians laying claims to having worked to enthrone Gov. Ayade without visible benefits are believed to be making the journey to see if Imoke can cut them a deal. But political observers think that, while Imoke may intercede for those aggrieved, it may be a different ball game entirely to persuade Gov. Ayade into working from what one observer describes as “the Itigidi political pilgrimage script”. The argument is that Ayade has functioned as his own man, politically, defying Imoke and co as he asserts himself. Ayade’s recent romance with another former governor, Donald Duke, suggests that so many political wishes may not be actualized by the political ‘pilgrims’ hitting Itigidi this morning.
It was not very clear at press time if Ayade will make the trip with his wife Linda, like he did last year. Recall that it was at last year’s event that the political tension between Ayade and John Owan Enoh, the senator representing the Cross River Central Senatorial district in Nigeria’s senate, first came to the fore. Enoh arrived the occasion with a massive crowd of supporters and was rumoured to have deliberately left the occasion to Ugep, before Ayade left, flaunting his seeming political acceptance in the senatorial region in Ayade’s face. The result was a political face-off which saw Ayade turn his back on Enoh’s associates as he reeled out a river flow of political appointments. The www.calitown source in Itigidi confirmed that Imoke is in Itigidi, waiting to host an event that has overtime become the political pilgrimage grounds of the PDP and her wagon of followers.