Liyel Imoke, former governor of Cross River State, has declared that because Nigeria has moved from being the number one country in Africa to being fifth now, in less than than three years, citizens must come together and ensure that there is a takeover of political power from the All Progressives Congress, APC.
Imoke who made this disclosure in Calabar, at a stakeholders meeting of Cross River State Coalition of Political Parties, bemoaned the suffering presently being experienced in the country and attributed it to political and administrative failure. “We are now faced with a major challenge; the selection of leaders who will have love for state and nation. In the meetings going on in Abuja that I have been a part of, I have been critically mandated to explore viable options to engage in the coalition”, he added.
On why the coalition should be embraced by stakeholders drawn from all the political parties, the former governor was emphatic that, “we cannot allow a dictatorship to emerge and continue as a viable option in this country. If you look at our country now, my party the PDP, has become the property of the APC, infact a subsidiary. The Labour Party has been infiltrated and other parties have been taken over by individuals who have no interest of Nigerians at heart, it is not a path to follow. The combined votes of Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi in the last elections, clearly beat the APC by a wide margin, there is a lesson for us all that we can win if we work together.”
National Vice Chairman and Zonal Chairman South – South of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, and former Niger Delta Affairs minister, Usani Usani, present at the meeting, said “in joining the coalition of political parties, there must be a promise of commitment so that we do not trail the path of disappointment. If we give you a candidate by imposition, don’t vote for him.”
Gershom Bassey, Ray Ugba Morphy, Ekpo Okon, Akin Ricketts etc, political leaders from from the PDP, APC, Labour Party, SDP, ADC, were prominent political attendees at the event from CRS.
