By Omini Ikpi
It appears certain that the Senator representing Cross River Southern Senatorial district in Nigeria’s Senate, Bassey Otu, will serve his teeming supporters a most sought after Christmas gift as www.calitown.com sources are insisting that Otu may formally declare for the Labour Party “in a ceremony billed to hold on Christmas Eve, Wednesday, December 24, 2014”, at a venue we are yet to confirm.
This past Thursday when www.calitown.com got in touch with the Senator, he sent in a text saying, “I am in a meeting please”. That meeting we can confirm was one in a series of meetings held in Abuja to perfect his defection to the Labour Party. All through these past days, our sources say the CRS Labour Party Chairman, Austin Ibok, was shuttling between Calabar and Abuja, returning only yesterday, Saturday, December 20, 2014, after he was spotted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, boarding the 1.45pm Arik Air flight to Calabar. Ibok is believed to have midwived the defection process and appears to have also perfected the paper work in line with the guidelines set by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Otu’s defection and public declaration “are his response to the bad PDP primaries that they want to use and force on us a candidate we as a people are uncomfortable with. Imoke can vote for his candidate, we will vote Otu and defend our votes, we are waiting”, a resident of Calabar who prefered anonymity told www.calitown.com.
Widely believed to enjoy ardent political followership within his senatorial district, Otu is thought to have been felled by a political process targeted at his exclusion and blocking too his return to the Senate for a second term.
