Stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Cross River State, have swiftly moved and aborted the planned removal of Alphonsus Eba, state chairman of the APC, in what would have been a calculated and phased political manoeuvre.
The first kite to this removal was flown last week Tuesday, April 4th, 2023, when a chieftain of the APC and Coordinator of the Governorship Campaign in Yala Local Government Area, Henry Onwe, addressed a select corps of journalists in Calabar, berating the chairman for losing many polling units, several wards in Yala LGA as well as in the senatorial district, something Onwe insisted is unacceptable for a state chairman of a ruling party like the APC.
Onwe also made significant reference to the loss of the senatorial election by Ben Ayade to Jarigbe Agom, opining that, Ayade would have become the Senate President of he didn’t lose the election, a position the state and people of the Northern Senatorial District of CRS would have benefitted significantly from.
Pointing to the results from Echemofana ward in Yala LGA, where the State Chairman comes from, for instance, Onwe insisted that Eba ought to have won effortlessly going by the enormous resources available to him but he failed disastrously.
He was piqued that after notable electoral failures, the chairman is now accusing people of anti-party activities. “Those who did not win their polling units did anti-party and therefore would not be given appointments as if it is his prerogative to give appointments to party faithfuls. After all, he lost several polling units too in his immediate ward”, Onwe said.
“Eba ought to have since resigned without any prompting judging by the results of the election in the Northern Senatorial District where he comes from. APC lost the Senatorial election, two House of Representatives seats, five State House of Assembly positions, making it apparently the only district to suffer such humiliation, and incidentally Mr Eba hails from there.”
“If Eba talks less, we will be able to tighten loose ends within the APC in Cross River State. I am of the opinion that he should instead be cautioned about his ways and means and not be removed. Removal will breed bad blood and chaos. Don’t forget too that Eba is Ayade’s man and removing him will be a second political loss for Ayade after the senatorial election loss, let Eba stay for now please”, one stakeholder who doesn’t want his name in print told www.calitown.com, when contacted. While we were handed a full list of persons within the party in the state who have insisted that Onwe and his group soft pedal, we however were not permitted to make the list public.
Meanwhile, a statement signed by Erasmus Ekpang, Publicity Secretary of APC in the state, says the call for the resignation of the state Chairman of APC was totally wrong and unnecessary.
